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 describe his work. Its plot centers on the life of a parish priest in a small Spanish village. It was written in a period of two months at the end of 1930 along with two other stories, and was included on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum. The possibility that they may form a trilogy in three significant parts, or "partos" (births) as Unamuno suggested in the Prologue to the 1933 edition, has only recently been considered. Setting The events of the novel occur in Valverde de Lucerna, a small village located on the edge of an idyllic lake. Legend tells that submerged beneath that lake exists a hidden city. The physical village and the legendary city serve as symbols of the spiritual and the material. Both the mountain and lake acquire a human dimension in the character of Don Manuel, evidenced in the quote “Ya toda ella era don Manuel, don Manuel con el lago y la montaña” ("now everything was don Manuel, don Manuel with the lake and the mountain.") The mountain and lake have also been interpreted as symbolizing powerful faith and superficial faith, respectively, due to the frequent appearance of the mountain's reflection in the lake. This reflection does not penetrate the surface of the lake. The fictional location in San Manuel Bueno, mártir was perhaps inspired by a real place, as suggested by the real life lake San Martín de Castañeda, in Sanabria, at the foot of the ruins of a convent to St. Bernard where to this day lives a legend of a submerged city (Valverde de Lucerna) sleeping at the bottom of the lake. Plot The novel tells the story of the local Catholic Priest (Don Manuel) in fictional Valverde de Lucerna, Spain as told through the eyes of Angela, one of the townspeople. Throughout the course of the story Manuel is adored by the people of the town. He is constantly in the service of the townspeople. He refrains from condemning anyone and goes out of his way to help those whom the people have marginalized. Instead of refusing to allow the holy burial of someone who committed suicide,