By Julia Alvarez. 309 pp. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. $18.95. he had four girls. Enough said.'' Those are the words that the mother of the Garcia sisters, introduced in Julia Alvarez's acclaimed novel ''How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents,'' wants inscribed on her tombstone.y Julia Alvarez. 309 pp. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. $18.95. he had four girls. Enough said.'' Those are the words that the mother of the Garcia sisters, introduced in Julia Alvarez's acclaimed novel ''How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents,'' wants inscribed on her tombstone.
The Lxx translates it with the Greek verb sozo, which means to rescue one from peril, danger or suffering, to protect from loss or destruction, to heal, to make whole, to keep alive, to preserve life (physical but especially spiritual - compare Ps 6:4, Ps 86:2).
Sophrosyne is usually translated as temperance, moderation, prudence, self-control, or self-restraint. The idea of this harmonious balance is the basis of two famous Greek sayings: ânothing in excessâ and âknow thyselfâ â itâs the exact opposite of arrogant self-assertion or hubris.he word has only appeared in English within the past sixty years (W H Auden used it in 1944) but it has resonated with some moderns because the idea is quite close to that of wholeness.