Nivola is a term created by

Miguel de Unamuno Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (; ; 29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca. His major philosophical ...

to refer to his works that contrasted with the

realism Realism, Realistic, or Realists may refer to: In the arts *Realism (arts), the general attempt to depict subjects truthfully in different forms of the arts Arts movements related to realism include: *American Realism *Classical Realism *Liter ...

prevalent in Spanish novels during the early 20th century. Since his works were not fully novels, or "novelas" in Spanish, Unamuno coined a new word, "nivolas", to describe them.

Origin of the term ''nivola''

The term ''nivola'' appears for the first time as a subtitle for Unamuno's book '' Niebla''. With this term, the writer was trying to express his rejection of the dominant principles of realism as expressed in novels: the psychological characterization of the characters, the realistic environments, and the third-person omniscient narrator. He expresses this in his prologue to ''Niebla'': ''Niebla'' is the story of Augusto Pérez, a single man, philosophical and melancholy, who dedicates his time to long walks, and reflection, with his dog Orfeo. Augusto falls in love with Eugenia and idealizes her in a similar way to

Don Quijote Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *Don (river), a river in European Russia * Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name * Don, Benin, a town in Benin * Don, Dang, a village and hill station in Dang district, G ...

's idealization of

Dulcinea Dulcinea del Toboso is a fictional character who is unseen in Miguel de Cervantes' novel ''Don Quixote''. Don Quixote believes he must have a lady, under his personal view that chivalry requires it. As he does not have one, he invents her, makin ...

. He dedicates himself to winning her love. The most famous passage of the novel occurs towards the end when the principal character decides to confront the real author,

, to ask for advice about his destiny. The encounter degenerates into a confrontation in which the author decides to kill his character, which leads to the character's death a few pages later.

Characteristics of the ''nivolas''

A ''nivola'' has the following characteristics: *Predominance of ideas over form: Just as in his poetry and plays, Unamuno's ''nivolas'' give priority to content over form. In fact, novels like ''Amor y pedagogía'' (''Love and Pedagogy'') approach the genre of a thesis novel (''novela de tesis''), cultivated by

Benito Pérez Galdós Benito María de los Dolores Pérez Galdós (; 10 May 1843 – 4 January 1920) was a Spanish Spanish Realist literature, realist novelist. He was a leading literary figure in 19th-century Spain, and some scholars consider him second only to Mi ...

or Blasco Ibáñez among others. *Scarce psychological development of the characters: the characters of the ''nivolas'' are often defined by a single personal quality which some see as making them seem somewhat flat, in contrast to the multifaceted characters of realist novels. The characters of ''Niebla'', ''Amor y Pedagogía'' or '' Abel Sánchez'' are incarnations of an idea or a passion, which impedes them from relating to the world in a normal way. *Scarce realism in the environment: Except for his first novel ''

Paz en la guerra Pas or PAZ may refer to: Places * Paz, Croatia, a village and castle ruin in Istria, Croatia * Pads, Iran or Faz, a village in Razavi Khorasan Province, Iran Organisations * Pavlovo Bus Factory or ''Pavlovsky Avtobusny Zavod'', a Russian bus co ...

'' (''Peace in War''), and perhaps his last, ''

San Manuel Bueno, mártir (1931) is a short novel by Miguel de Unamuno (1864–1936). It experiments with changes of narrator as well as minimalism of action and of description, and as such has been described as a nivola, a literary genre invented by Unamuno to descri ...

'' (''Saint Emmanuel the Good, Martyr''), Unamuno's novels hardly describe the place or time in which they develop. In this way they accent their abstract nature. *Rapid writing process: in contrast to the slow and progressive writing of realist novels, Unamuno's nivolas, according to him, resulted from a hasty birth without a long period of preparation, documentation and planning. Beyond ''Niebla'', the following works can be classified as ''nivolas'': ''Abel Sánchez'', ''Amor y pedagogía'' and ''La tía Tula'' (''Aunt Tula''). Arguably a ''nivola'', ''San Manuel Bueno, mártir'' contains greater psychological development and narrative description than the other works, and is generally considered Unamuno's masterpiece.

Origin of the term ''nivola''

Characteristics of the ''nivolas''

Further reading