Norma L. Hutman shows her skill as literary critic and translator in her study on Antonio Machado, the poet of the Generation of ’98. She begins with the Generation itself: its precursors, its philosophy, and a concise introduction to the important members.
Working closely with a few representative poems, the author concentrates on Machado’s thematic constants, with their overlay of autobiographical, national, or universal implications. Time permeates all aspects, for memory must connect past and present, both personal and historical. Thus time may elucidate the continuity of grief symbolized in a fountain or contrast Spain’s former glory and present misery in the famous lines, “Miserable Castile, who yesterday did reign,/wrapped now in rags . . .” (p. 121). Recurring images and cycles (the changing of seasons and of the day, water, the mountains, and other natural symbols) demonstrate Machado’s use of nature to enhance the theme of temporality.
The painstaking translations and introductory material will please the English-speaking public; the work is also tempting to the Spanish scholar, thanks to the intensive treatment of major themes.
