There is No Road

by Antonio Machado, Dennis Maloney (Translator), Mary Berg (Translator)

With an insightful introduction by Thomas Moore, this volume presents the wisdom and philosophy of one of Spain’s most important poets. Born in 1875, Machado, along with Juan Ramon Jimenez and Miquel de Unamuno, formed the famed "generation of 1898," which ushered in a new Spanish poetics. In this series of brief poems, Machado utilizes traditional Spanish verse forms to create a wide-ranging collection. "Machado, in these Sappho-like fragments, takes us down not only the road less traveled but the road not seen, where transformation and transfiguration come not from self-made millions but from changing ‘love into theology’"—Thomas Rain Crowe

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

About the author

Antonio Machado was a Spanish poet and one of the leading figures of the Spanish literary movement known as the Generation of '98, a group of novelists, poets, essayists, and philosophers active in Spain at the time of the Spanish-American War (1898).

Reviews

[Abby · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars!

"Beyond living and dreaming what matters most is waking up."

I loved the repetition of themes and sentences across the fragments, it really brought the pieces together. This book feels like it was written in a rush to get down all these varying ideas (but a rush in a good way, not as though it wasn't thought through or sloppy).

I could honestly add about 50 quotes, but I'll just leave it with these few.

"The best of the good people know that in this life it's all a question of proportion; a little more, a little less..."

"Every man wages two battles: in dreams he struggles with God and awake, with the sea."

"Traveler there is no road; you make your own path as you walk."

[Kerfe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of short philosophical poetic observations, Machado sometimes hits, and sometimes misses. But there's more than enough hits to make the book worth reading.

[Shaindel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wasn't familiar with Antonio Machado's work until I interviewed the translators, Mary Berg and Dennis Maloney, for my radio show.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/onword/2...-

This little pocket volume is a collection of various meditative proverbs by Antonio Machado. It is a wonderful little collection to just carry with you, dip into, and think about--almost like reading chapters of the Tao te Ching.

One of my favorite proverbs:

XLVII

Man has four things
that are no good at sea;
anchor, rudder, oars,
and the fear of going down.