lunes, 30 de septiembre de 2019

Superfluous Books


I am correcting the proofs of the second volume of my Las mejores citas de pensadores españoles. Whenever I perform this task, the words of the Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset come to mind. Let me quote from memory and translate myself: "The work of charity most needed in our time is not to write superfluous books."
This thought stresses me. Is my book superfluous, needless, irrelevant, unnecessary?  Am I going to add yet another useless and needless title to bibliographies?
But fear not. There are plenty of dictionaries of quotations in every language. Most do not quote Spanish writers. Some may cite Ortega, Cervantes in dubious translations. And to add insult to injury these books never tell where the quotation is coming from.
The Spanish-speaking student of Hispanic Culture can find here the best of contemporary Spanish thought written by writers and thinkers of the XX and XXI centuries. This is a short chrestomathy of XX century Spanish thinking.
I rest at ease. This book will be helpful to many, I am sure.

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