Tragic Lucidity: Discourse of Recuperation in Unamuno and Camus

Presenting the work of Miguel de Unamuno and Albert Camus as paradigmatic, the present study examines the significance and function of the «tragic» in a modern context, using a historical, socio-political approach. This approach permits the tragic to be seen as a product of specific historical circumstances, rather than as a fundamental, metaphysical aspect of the human condition, first revealed in Greek Tragedy and still evident today. In addition, a connection is made between Unamuno's and Camus's controversial political positions taken at the end of their lives and their insistence upon a tragic human condition.