Miguel de Unamuno – 1864-1936
We know that there was a close relationship between Miguel de Unamuno and Antonio Machado. Although Machado’s letters to Unamuno have been preserved, the letters from Unamuno were lost, quite possibly during the poet’s tragic escape from Franco’s army shortly before his death. Because of this we do not know what Unamuno may have said in his letters to Machado, but we have an anecdotal account which reveals how he felt about the poet. Miguel Pérez Ferrero describes an incident when Unamuno visited a café in Madrid where the Machado brothers had a tertulia, and upon arriving at the door he said: "I am here to greet the man with the shabbiest clothes and the purest soul of any person I know: Don Antonio Machado." [1] In the biography of his brother, José Machado tells us that Unamuno hardly ever came to Madrid without making an effort to meet with Antonio and Manuel. José also describes the last time they saw each other, and he tells us that there were few things which affected Antonio as deeply as the death of Unamuno, shortly before the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
I intend to translate some of Unamuno’s work on the subject of religion, including his essay, "My Religion" ("Mi religión") which serves as an introduction to his religious thought and provides the foundation for everything he wrote on this subject. Although Unamuno’s religious poems express his basic philosophy of life, most have not been translated into English. I will therefore translate the poems dealing with religion from his first two books of poetry: Poems (Poesías) and Rosary of Lyrical Sonnets (Rosario de sonetos líricos), and I will translate the entire book, The Christ of Velazquez (El Cristo de Velázquez). (So far I have translated "My Religion" ("Mi religion") and the poems from Poems (Poesías), and I will post more translations when they are completed.)
To see a discussion of Unamuno’s religious thought the reader may consult my articles: "Unamuno and the Religion of Uncertainty," "The God of Miguel de Unamuno," and "The Psalms of Unamuno," which are also posted on this web site.
Mi religion – My Religion (Full text, .pdf)
[1] Miguel Pérez Ferrero, Vida de Antonio Machado y Manuel 2a Edición (Madrid: Austral, 1953), p. 196.