A orillas del gran silencio (Editorial Calambur) is the anthology of Antonio Machado that includes unknown manuscripts of the poet published by the professor of the Spanish Literature Department of the University of Jaén (UJA), Rafael Alarcón Sierra.
The book, which takes as its title a verse by Machado himself, consists of three parts: an introduction, an extensive anthology and an appendix, as explained by the UJA in a statement.

In the first part, the author explains his trajectory and evolution in a clear way, almost like a reading guide, without shying away from Machado's extraordinary complexity.

Likewise, the anthology does not lack any of the great compositions of the Sevillian poet, occupying a necessary space between his complete work and the scholarly selections, insufficient to get a complete idea of his poetry.

Finally, in an appendix, Rafael Alarcón transcribes several unknown drafts by the author, such as poems on Leonor, Guiomar and their complementary, from manuscripts preserved in Seville and Burgos, on which the author has been working for several years.

Professor Alarcón explains that "it is the first time that these poems appear in an anthology aimed at the general public" and that "a new Machado for the 21st century emerges from their reading".

"Antonio Machado is a modern classic, he is a living author, edited and read, loved and popular, even beyond our borders and our language, his work has permanently influenced the poetry of the twentieth century, and continues to do so in ours, every poet who has drunk from the generous source machadiana has become one of his apocryphal," says the author of the work.

In this sense, Rafael Alarcón considers that "his lesson of intimate poetry, which leads to an interior symbolism, forms the backbone, the trunk of the tree of modern Spanish poetry".

"His awareness that individual feeling has a collective ethical root, a critical sense of his history, his society and his time, makes his poetry become a comprehensive reflection on the soul of the world, of man and of poetry," he concludes.

English version Hector Hdez,.