الحدث العجيب! سكان العاصمة يقررون -دون أي اتفاق مسبق من أي نوع- على التصويت بـ"أصوات بيضاء" على سبيل الاعتراض على الحكومة الحالية والأحزاب السياسية المتاحة.. وهو حق مكفول في الدستور، لكنه يؤدي إلى أزمة حكومية كبيرة نظراً لتخطي نسبة التصويت الأبيض 83% من إجمالي أصوات الناخبين في العاصمة..الحكومة ا...
كل الأسماءتحدثت في الأسبوع الماضي عن ساراماغو وعن روايته (العمى)، تلك التجربة الجميلة التي شجعتني على تكرارها مع الرواية الوحيدة المتبقية له في ذخيرتي (كل الأسماء)، لا يشي هذا العنوان بشيء، فلذا كان علي أن أتجاوزه وأغوص في نهر ساراماغو المتدفق.هذا هو ساراماغو، السرد المتعدد الأصوات، جرعة السخرية ...
‘Liking is probably the best form of ownership, and ownership the worst form of liking.Saramago had a gift for delivering such potent messages in such a simple manner, focusing a vast array of complex ideas into a simple parable that easily penetrates to your heart. His short story, The Tale of t...
‘It is not only great works of art that are born out of suffering and doubt.’Do we allow ourselves to be tricked into substituting simple pleasures and convenience for authentic reality? Do we willingly allow ourselves to be submissive pawns in a game of corporate and political control? Nobel Lau...
A story of a school history teacher, whose archaic name, Tertuliano Máximo Afonso, is a constant prick and an incessant irritant to him, only dealt with timid avoidance and shameful efforts at courage. This passage paints him well ;"Tertuliano Máximo Afonso does not belong to that extraordinary g...
3,5 αστέρια.Είναι ένα από τα ελάχιστα βιβλία που οι εκδότες δεν το αφήνουν να πεθάνει επανεκδίδοντάς το αέναα. Το συγκεκριμένο είχε φτάσει στην 21η έκδοση το 2009 σύμφωνα με το αντίτυπο που έχω. Φαίνεται πως βρήκαν άλλη μια κότα να τους γεννάει χρυσά αυγά στο διηνεκές, αυτό δείχνει και η σταθερή ...
”Listening is the most dangerous thing of all, listening means knowing, finding out about something and knowing what’s going on, our ears don’t have lids that can instinctively close against the words uttered, they can’t hide from what they sense they’re about to hear, it’s always too late.”Juan ...
Hints at stories. Hints at stories, with a familiar voice—not the familiarity of mere recognition, but the familiarity of intimacy. Those of us who’ve read a lot of Marías will understand, hopefully, that I’m not speaking of the narrator’s voice, but rather the author’s voice, Marías’ voice, a vo...
Waiting on line I perspired. Some of those in front, along the winding ess curve of bodies, left while others passed through the entrance. My turn, the person in the booth remained invisible behind the grill and mesh netting. Through a small window slot near the bottom I asked the dark female voi...
The Strange Workings of TimeThe act of telling a story takes up time, it prolongs time and, in doing so, prolongs life.It preserves memories while we are alive, but it can also preserve them beyond our death. Paradoxically, story-telling might even help us to accept death. As Marias’ protagonist,...
A Spaniard in the WorksI suppose you could say that not a lot happens in “All Souls”, but that would only be true if you don’t count looking, thinking, loving, remembering, even being:"Oxford is a city in syrup, where simply being is far more important than doing or even acting."Marias uses first...
This book is a gift. A few days ago, showing the center of Madrid to a visiting friend, we stopped at the bookshop patronized by Javier Marías. In Librería Méndez they are usually well stocked on his books. Because of its connections with Opera, I had wanted to read this particular one, but as ...
At the simplest level, Volume One was about a conversation between an old man and our protagonist, Jacques Deza. But of course, nothing in Marias' hands (or mind) is ever that simple. There are, let it be said, tangents. The Spanish Civil War, espionage, Deza's ex-wife, a mysterious, single dr...
The need for a Marias book is a physical uncompromising yearning, . A novel 1,200 pages long broken down into three volumes. Can you imagine, three volumes of Marias magic to quell the need. A magic carpet ride for a month or more.Marias jumps in right away through his main character Deza, can th...
Δεύτερο βιβλίο του Ρεβέρτε που διαβάζω μετά τον Λοχαγό Αλατρίστε, μου φάνηκε κι αυτό εξίσου καλογραμμένο και ακόμα περισσότερο ενδιαφέρον! Η ιστορία διαδραματίζεται στην Μαδρίτη του 1868, όπου ένας μεσήλικας δάσκαλος της ξιφασκίας παραδίδει μαθήματα της τέχνης αυτής σε παιδιά εμπόρων, πολιτικών κ...
A strange, if uneven, collection of short stories, probably best serving the interests of the Marías aficionado. This is not the volume I’d recommend to someone new to the author; I’m reluctant to recommend it to anyone who is familiar with the author. Some creepy mofos inhabit the mind of Señor...