Oxford District, Reino Unido
Antonio Machado’s first published book, Soledades (1902) had a short life. The critical reception followed Machado’s own dismissal and considered Soledades as a false start, heavily influenced by French Symbolist aesthetics, whilst overlooking its continuities with Machado’s subsequent work. The present study argues that its poetics reveal an ethical concern related to cultural memory. Drawing from deconstructive approaches, the analysis foregrounds the strategies of hospitality embedded in the fabric of the collection, that would become a trademark of Machado’s legacy, discussing some of the stylistic strategies—citation, riddle, ellipses and chiasmus—that are expressive of a poetic hospitality.