Voices is a collection of poetic aphorisms written over several decades by Antonio Porchia and translated by W.S. Merwin. Spontaneous, succinct, and wise, these aphorisms have the spiritual character of the world's great religions-especially Buddhist and Taoist epigrams-and the subtle attention to language of our best literature. 
Voices is Porchia's only book, which he augmented and revised throughout his life. By the time of his death, it had become a classic, published in over a dozen different Spanish-language editions; today there are also translations into German, French, and Italian. 
This new bilingual edition, revised and updated with an introduction by Merwin, brings back into print one of Latin America's great literary enigmas.

Voices

Antonio Porchia

Chicago: Big Table

Antonio Porchia (1886–1968) wrote one book, a slender collection of poetic aphorisms that became a classic in the Spanish-speaking world. With affinities to Taoist and Buddhist epigrams, Voices bears witness to the awe of human existence. Revised and updated with a new introduction by translator W.S. Merwin, this bilingual volume brings back into print one of Latin America’s great literary treasures.
He who tells the truth says almost nothing. * I know what I have given you. I do not know what you have received. * Only a few arrive at nothing, because the way is long. * Out of a hundred years a few minutes were made that stayed with me, not a hundred years. * When I come upon some idea that is not of this world, I feel as though this world had grown wider. * This world understands nothing but words, and you have come into it with almost none. * We become aware of the void as we fill it.
Antonio Porchia (1886–1968) was born in Italy. After his father died, he emigrated to Argentina with his mother and seven siblings, and as the eldest child, started working at the age of 14. He was self-taught, and his only book, Voices, caught the attention of a noted French critic who assumed him to be a scholar of Kafka and Buddhism, rather than the humble man who loved to tend his garden. Today, Porchia’s aphorisms are published in more than a dozen Spanish-language editions as well as in German, French and Italian.
W.S. Merwin’s awards include the Pulitzer Prize, the Tanning Prize, the Bollingen Award, and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the NEA. He is the author of dozens of books of poetry and translations. He lives in Hawaii.

Voices (English and Spanish Edition)

Literature & Fiction

United States

Copper Canyon Press

VOCES

Luces de Galibo

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Books by Antonio Porchia