The Path to Rome has just been published in Spain by Libreria Catolica. I have included the original review, at the bottom of this message, for my growing Hispanic audience. Thanks to my dear friend GM for the translation. They seem to publish some fairly interesting books on a reasonably wide range of subjects including Carlism (which caught my political eye).
Like the author himself, most reviewers of Belloc's The Path To Rome considered it to be his best book. This classic of travel literature is the charming story of a pilgrimage to the Eternal City which Belloc undertook, on foot,in fulfillment of a vow.
The language of Belloc is muscular and full of the exuberance of youth, flowing playfully and magically to build the description of a trip, of passed times, of people who know how to live their lives, of a world loaded with treasures, of an old and fascinating Faith.
Belloc’s prose designs a mosaic of simple pleasures that brings us back to a remote and heroic life, while at the same time his underlying messages and anecdotes continue to bring smiles to our faces and inspire deep and complicated meditations.
It is the masterpiece of a consummate storyteller, overflowing with contagious enthusiasm and comforting vitality.
Robert Speaight: “More than any other book (of Belloc's) it has been lovingly thumbed and pondered... the book is a classic, born of something far deeper than the physical experience it records.¨
G.K. Chesterton: “He will be a lucky man who can escape out of a world of freezing folly into the flaming and reverberating folly of The Path To Rome¨
And finally...
El propio Belloc y la mayoría de sus críticos consideraron “El Camino de Roma” su mejor obra. Este clásico de la literatura de viajes es la historia encantadora de una peregrinación que el autor hizo a pie hasta la ciudad eterna, en cumplimiento de un voto.
Las palabras de Belloc, musculosas y llenas de exuberancia juvenil, fluyen mágicas y juguetonas para construir una descripción de un viaje, de un tiempo pasado, de gentes que todavía saben vivir la vida, de un mundo cargado de tesoros, de una fe antigua y sorprendente.
La prosa de Belloc traza un mosaico de placeres sencillos que nos devuelve a la vida ancestral y heroica a la vez que sus guiños y anécdotas nos siguen arrancando incesantes sonrisas y profundas y enjundiosas meditaciones.
La obra maestra de un consumado contador de historias, desbordante de un contagioso entusiasmo y de una vitalidad reconfortante.
Robert Speaight: “[De los de Belloc] éste es el libro que ha sido más amorosamente hojeado y que ha proporcionado más material para la meditación... Es un clásico, nacido de algo mucho más profundo que la experiencia física que narra”.
G.K. Chesterton: “Afortunado el hombre que pueda escapar de ese mundo de gélida locura a la resplandeciente y estruendosa locura de El Camino de Roma”
No comments:
Post a Comment