Berta Isla

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la morte non assomiglia alla vita, non ha il minimo senso che una segua l’altra, e ancor meno che la sostituisca. Alone in the park with their baby son, she’s buttonholed by a pair of Irish diplomats – so they say – who claim Tomás is an MI6 agent “invading” their country, as one of them spills lighter fluid on the baby’s pram, ready to spark up. The honour of key text instead goes to TS Eliot's poems, particularly Little Gidding, lines from which echo throughout the novel and the characters' thoughts. Supponi per assurdo che tuo marito un giorno sparisca e tu non sappia più ricostruire che fine egli abbia fatto. Como cualquier novela, esta, teje una historia y lo que hace Marías, y que creo que marca su estilo, su tónica, es centrarla en la complejidad del "yo" (es lo más íntimo, lo más interno de uno) consigo mismo y con respecto "al otro". Son historias con mucho fondo, las dota de mucho peso.

Marías ha forjado una obra maestra [...]. La gran literatura vuelve a estar escrita en español, para privilegio nuestro.»Il finit par révéler qu'il se voit comme une sentinelle, un vigile, parmi des milliers de nous, capables d'intervenir pour le bien commun [...] de la plupart ( p.380), quel que soit le gouvernement, Harold Wilson, James Callaghan, Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher. Tiene mucha imaginación cuando crea y recrea una historia. Qué magistralmente define, cómo hila, qué riqueza de ideas, de expresiones, de reflexiones, de citas … es un premio leerle, es muy gratificante, es más que un entretenimiento. Para releer más de una frase y de un párrafo por su abundante contenido.

Case in point are the trials and tribulations of love and marriage and, more importantly, the hidden secrets each individual carries during his or her lifetime. At the same time, Berta Isla is a subtle reflection on the nature of fiction and the novel’s ability to serve as a tool to explore the many nuances of human nature. Marías’s intense, sentimentally charged narrative seems to underscore that only the art of the novel is capable of making visible facets of the human condition that seem invisible to the common eye. Moreover, literature is the only tool available for unveiling what lies dormant in our most hidden emotions and our many masks and desires. Javier Marías was a Spanish novelist, translator, and columnist. His work has been translated into 42 languages. Born in Madrid, his father was the philosopher Julián Marías, who was briefly imprisoned and then banned from teaching for opposing Franco. Parts of his childhood were spent in the United States, where his father taught at various institutions, including Yale University and Wellesley College. His mother died when Javier was 26 years old. He was educated at the Colegio Estudio in Madrid. Finché qualcosa si incrina, finché qualcosa non va nella direzione in cui deve andare; finché iniziano a filtrare la paura, il sospetto, la luce dietro l’ombra.Here it is in a pinch. Something happens and something happens and then something happens. You get my drift. What I truly admire about Marías is his words. He is elegant, wistful, charming, deceiving, scheming and chatty. He leads you down the path and then the path changes. He talks about world views. He talks about marital problems. He gets under your skin like no one else. You can love him; hate him but he is a very, very good writer. No sólo la incertidumbre y la espera, también la irracional expectativa, las fantasías, se convierten esenciales para el corazón de una persona". Full of humour and intelligence … More sinuous and satisfying than many of its precursors … Ranks as Marías’s best novel in years.” —Daniel Gascón, Times Literary Supplement