Pedreira's autograph on Miguel de Unamuno at the Federico de Onís Seminar: The new surprises of Puerto Rican Literature

Abstract

This article studies an autograph of Antonio S. Pedreira that is preserved in the Federico de Onís Research Seminary of the University of Puerto Rico. That autograph consists of a notebook of the graduate course on Miguel de Unamuno that he offered in the University of Puerto Rico. The purpose of this research is to analyze Pedreira's hispanism to determine if there is a contradiction in his literary and academic work between his essay work, dedicated to Puerto Rican literature, and his teaching work, dedicated to the teaching of Spanish literature. The study proposes that Pedreira's hispanism was not foreign but rather transatlantic, since teacing Unamuno, Lope or Azorín, among various Spanish authors or themes, served Pedreira as an instrument to discover and affirm the cardinal themes that backbone throughout his life and work: the Puerto Rican identity.