Signs by the Roadside

Fülszöveg

Ivo Andric Only what has not been given a form or a name endures, that which has never left the infinite and eternal landscape of non-existenőe. In the form of a journal, Andric's Signs bythe Roadside is a series of short texts that can be written in the course of a single day, reflecting the writer's mood atthe time, opinion on a particulartopic or person, an impression from a trip or a thought that preoccupied him. Kept for many years and written in no particular order, these notes were compiled by the writer in a book which became the mirror of his soul, and not merely a journal. These texts are not organised chronologically, like a traditional journal, but rather according to the spontaneous activity of the soul, which reacts intensely and emotively to daily stimuli, transforming them into meditations and visions, into pictures of landscapes and people. Spontaneous and carefree, Signs by the Roadside is a superior example of a spiritual journal. Its text grows and develops like... Tovább

Fülszöveg

Ivo Andric Only what has not been given a form or a name endures, that which has never left the infinite and eternal landscape of non-existenőe. In the form of a journal, Andric's Signs bythe Roadside is a series of short texts that can be written in the course of a single day, reflecting the writer's mood atthe time, opinion on a particulartopic or person, an impression from a trip or a thought that preoccupied him. Kept for many years and written in no particular order, these notes were compiled by the writer in a book which became the mirror of his soul, and not merely a journal. These texts are not organised chronologically, like a traditional journal, but rather according to the spontaneous activity of the soul, which reacts intensely and emotively to daily stimuli, transforming them into meditations and visions, into pictures of landscapes and people. Spontaneous and carefree, Signs by the Roadside is a superior example of a spiritual journal. Its text grows and develops like organic tissue: one fragment leans upon the next, in a neverending sequence. This fragmentation and the spontaneous blending of shorter texts into bigger entireties, creating an opus, is one ofthe main characteristics of Andric's literary technique. As he himself remarks atone point: "I have never, actually, written books, but rather seamless and scattered texts which, in time, were, more or less, inserted logically into books or compilations of short stories." This method is particularly noticeable in Signs by the Roadside. Brief notes spontaneously interconnect and form larger chunks, thus encompassing a broad spectrum of life and its manifold reality, much like the way these thoughts flow into the mind ofthe poetic soul. Vissza