4th
A New Man
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mill%C3%A1n-Astray
From somewhere in the auditorium, someone cried out the motto “¡Viva la Muerte!” As was his habit, Millán-Astray responded with “¡España!”; the crowd replied with “¡Una!” He repeated “¡España!”; the crowd then replied “¡Grande!” A third time, Millán-Astray shouted “¡España!”; the crowd responded “Libre!” This was a common Falangist cheer. Later, a group of uniformed Falangists entered, saluting the portrait of Franco that hung on the wall.
Unamuno, who was presiding over the meeting, rose up slowly and addressed the crowd: “You are waiting for my words. You know me well, and know I cannot remain silent for long. Sometimes, to remain silent is to lie, since silence can be interpreted as assent. I want to comment on the so-called speech of Professor Maldonado, who is with us here. I will ignore the personal offence to the Basques and Catalonians. I myself, as you know, was born in Bilbao. The Bishop,” Unamuno gestured to the Archbishop of Salamanca, “Whether you like it or not, is Catalan, born in Barcelona. But now I have heard this insensible and necrophilous oath, “¡Viva la Muerte!”, and I, having spent my life writing paradoxes that have provoked the ire of those who do not understand what I have written, and being an expert in this matter, find this ridiculous paradox repellent. General Millán-Astray is an invalid. There is no need for us to say this with whispered tones. He is an invalid of war. So was Cervantes. But unfortunately, Spain today has too many invalids. And, if God does not help us, soon it will have very many more. It torments me to think that General Millán-Astray could dictate the norms of the psychology of the masses. An invalid, who lacks the spiritual greatness of Cervantes, hopes to find relief by adding to the number of invalids around him.”
Irritated, Millán-Astray responded: “¡Muera la inteligencia! ¡Viva la Muerte!” (“Death to intelligence! Long live death!”), provoking applause from the Falangists. Pemán, in an effort to calm the crowd, exclaimed “¡No! ¡Viva la inteligencia! ¡Mueran los malos intelectuales!” (“No! Long live intelligence! Death to the bad intellectuals!”)
Unamuno, unfazed, continued: “This is the temple of intelligence, and I am its high priest. You are profaning its sacred domain. You will succeed, because you have enough brute force. But you will not convince. In order to convince it is necessary to persuade, and to persuade you will need something that you lack: reason and right in the struggle. I see it is useless to ask you to think of Spain. I have spoken.” Millán-Astray, controlling himself, shouted “Take the lady’s arm!” Unamuno took Carmen Polo by the arm and left in her protection.
The Cult of Death the Bridegroom is not so easily dismissed as Unamuno could wish – just look at the Romantic poets and Keats. Nevertheless, the “Fascists” missed a moment here. Now would have been the time to place negative theology and the Spanish drive-to-death upon a lucid theoretical footing. Now would have been the time to make peace with Catalonia, to make war on Death itself. Wasn’t it Chesterton who said, man must drink death like water, and love life like wine?
Taking Death as a Bridegroom may seem strange, but it is certainly not a danger in our times. Unamuno sided with Life. Can Mythopoeia give us a theology that embraces and reconciles both?
