Javier Cercas

C mo enfrentarse a quienes manejan el poder en las sombras? C mo vengarse de quienes m s da o te han hecho? Vuelve Melchor Mar n. Y vuelve a Barcelona, donde es reclamado para investigar un caso vidrioso: est n chantajeando con un v deo sexual a la alcaldesa de la ciudad. Cargado con su pesar por no haber encontrado a los asesinos de su madre, pero tambi n con su inflexible sentido de la justicia y su rocosa integridad moral, Melchor debe desmontar una extorsi n que no se sabe si persigue el simple beneficio econ mico o la desestabilizaci n pol tica, y, para hacerlo, se adentra en los c rculos del poder, un lugar donde reinan el cinismo, la ambici n sin escr pulos y la brutalidad corrupta. Por ah , esta novela absorbente y salvaje, poblada de una pl yade de personajes memorables, se convierte en un retrato demoledor de la lite pol tico econ mica barcelonesa, pero sobre todo en un furioso alegato contra la tiran a de los due os del dinero y los amos del mundo. Un furioso alegato contra la tiran a de los due os del dinero y los amos del mundo.

TERRA ALTA - En uhyggelig forbrydelse ryster det ellers så fredelige Terra Alta: Ejerne af områdets største virksomhed, Adell Grafik, findes myrdet i deres hjem efter at være blevet tortureret på det grusomste. Den unge betjent og ivrige romanlæser Melchor Marín bliver sat på sagen. Han er ankommet fire år forinden fra Barcelona med en mørk fortid og med en handling i bagagen, som har gjort ham til en legende inden for politikorpset. TERRA ALTA vandt pris Premio Planeta 2019

Javier Cercas is one of the most enjoyable and innovative novelists at work today. Well known among English-language readers as the author of Soldiers of Salamis (winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize), The Anatomy of a Moment and The Impostor, Cercas is also Professor of Spanish Literature at the University of Girona. In 2015, following in the footsteps of George Steiner, Mario Vargas Llosa and Umberto Eco, as Weidenfeld Visiting Professor in Comparative European Literature at St Anne's College, Oxford, Cercas gave a series of five lectures on the novel today, which have since been revised and are now published in English for the first time as The Blind Spot. Starting with Don Quixote and his own experience as a writer, Cercas launches out into a consideration of the most challenging fiction of the last hundred years, from Kafka, Borges, Perec, Calvino and Kundera, to Sebald, Coetzee, Barnes, Foster Wallace and Knausgård. First, he defines and celebrates certain aspects of the novel in the twenty-first century which are also features of Cervantes' masterpiece: its essential irony and ambiguity, its total commitment to innovation, its natural, joyful and omnivorous desire to cram the whole world within its pages, and its intricate concern with fiction and reality. Then he moves on to consider the actual meaning of the novel, the uncertain and discredited role of the writer as intellectual, and the role of the reader in the creation of a form whose aim is to tell the truth by telling lies. The result is a dazzling short book which provides a new interpretation of novel from Cervantes and Melville to the present, and which will be as stimulating for readers and writers of literature in the twenty-first century as E. M. Forster's Aspects of the Novel or Milan Kundera's The Art of the Novel were in the last.

Lord of All the Dead is a courageous journey into Javier Cercas' family history and that of a country collapsing from a fratricidal war. The author revisits Ibahernando, his parents' village in southern Spain, to research the life of Manuel Mena. This ancestor, dearly loved by Cercas' mother, died in combat at the age of nineteen during the battle of the Ebro, the bloodiest episode in Spain's history. Who was Manuel Mena? A fascist hero whose memory is an embarrassment to the author, or a young idealist who happened to fight on the wrong side? And how should we judge him, as grandchildren and great-grandchildren of that generation, interpreting history from our supposed omniscience and the misleadingperspective of a present full of automatic answers, that fails to consider the particularities of each personal and family drama? Wartime epics, heroism and death are some of the underlying themes of this unclassifiable novel that combines road trips, personal confessions, war stories and historical scholarship, finally becoming an incomparable tribute to the author's mother and the incurable scars of an entire generation. Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean

INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER - A novel of the Spanish Civil War, a modern classic, and a searing exploration of the unknowability of history, by the acclaimed author of Outlaws In the waning days of the Spanish Civil War, an unknown militiaman discovered a Nationalist prisoner who had fled a firing squad and taken refuge in the forest. But instead of killing him, the soldier simply turned and walked away. The prisoner, Rafael S nchez Mazas--writer, fascist, and founder of the Spanish Falange--went on to become a national hero and ultimately a minister in Franco's first government. The soldier disappeared into history. Sixty years later, Javier Cercas--or at least, a character who shares his name--sifts through the evidence to establish what really happened that day. Who was the soldier? Why didn't he shoot? And who was the true hero in the story? Every answer yields another question in this powerful and elegantly constructed novel about truth, memory, and war.

Nueva edici n de Soldados de Salamina, novela imprescindible del siglo XXI, revisada a fondo por el autor y rematada por un esclarecedor ep logo escrito por l mismo. A finales de enero de 1939, apenas dos meses antes del final de la guerra civil, un grupo de prisioneros franquistas es fusilado cerca la frontera francesa por soldados republicanos que huyen hacia el exilio. Entre esos prisioneros se halla Rafael S nchez Mazas, fundador e ide logo de la Falange, poeta y futuro ministro de Franco, quien consigue milagrosamente escapar y ocultarse en el bosque mientras los republicanos lo persiguen; hasta que un soldado lo descubre, lo enca ona y, mir ndolo a los ojos, le perdona la vida. Sesenta a os m s tarde, un novelista fracasado descubre por azar este enterrado episodio b lico y, fascinado por l, emprende una investigaci n para aclarar sus circunstancias y desentra ar su significado. Qui n era de verdad Rafael S nchez Mazas? Cu l fue su verdadera peripecia de guerra? Qui n fue el soldado que le dej escapar? Y por qu lo hizo? Qu secreto escond a su mirada? Novela revolucionaria y deslumbrante, Soldados de Salamina cosech un extraordinario xito de cr tica y p blico y catapult la carrera de uno de los novelistas m s prestigiosos de la actual narrativa espa ola. Desde entonces no ha dejado de leerse en todo el mundo con creciente admiraci n. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION This new edition of Soldiers of Salamis, a fundamental novel of the 21st century, has been thoroughly revised by the author and finished off by an enlightening epilogue written by the author himself. An award-winning, wholly original and absorbing work of fiction by a modern master, at whose heart lies an investigation into the nature of historical truth. In the final moments of the Spanish Civil War, fifty prominent Nationalist prisoners face a firing squad. Among them is Rafael S nchez Mazas-writer, fascist, and founder of the Spanish Falange. As the machine guns begin to fire, S nchez Mazas escapes into the forest. When a militiaman discovers his hiding place, S nchez Mazas faces death for the second time that day. But the unknown soldier simply turns and walks away. S nchez Mazas becomes a national hero and ultimately a minister in Franco's first government. The soldier disappears into history. Sixty years later, as Cercas sifts through the evidence to establish what really happened, he realizes that the true hero may not be the one who was celebrated, but, rather, the soldier who chose not to shoot. Who was he? Why did he spare S nchez Mazas? Every answer Cercas uncovers leads to another question in this powerful and elegantly constructed novel about truth, memory, and war.

Fiktionen har erstattet virkeligheden i den verden, vi lever i, og de middelmådige mennesker i den virkelige verden interesserer os ikke. Digterne, de gør. Mario Vargas Llosa En fascinerende roman uden fiktion gennemsyret af fiktion. Det er ikke forfatteren, der skaber fiktionen. Den skaber Enric Marco. Hvem er Enric Marco? En mand fra Barcelona på mere end halvfems år, der udgav sig for at være en overlevende fra de nazistiske lejre, og som blev demaskeret i maj 2005 efter i tre år at have ledet den spanske forening af overlevende, holdt hundredvis af foredrag, givet snesevis af interviews, modtaget vigtige udmærkelser og ved én lejlighed at have rørt de spanske parlamentarikere til tårer, da de var forsamlede for første gang for at hylde de republikanere, der havde været deporteret til Det Tredje Rige. Sagen løb hele verden rundt og forvandlede Marco til den store bedrager og den store skurk. Nu, næsten et årti senere, forfølger Javier Cercas i denne hypnotiske thriller, som også er et bord dækket med mange retter – fortælling, reportage, essay, biografi og autobiografi – denne persons gåde, hans sandhed og hans løgne, og gennem denne efterforskning, der undersøger næsten et århundrede af Spaniens historie, dykker han med en passion som en kamikazepilot og en hudløs ærlighed dybt ned i det inderste af os selv: ned i vores ubegrænsede evne til selvbedrag, ned i vores konformisme og vores løgne, i vores uslukkelige tørst efter følelser og ned i vores modsatrettede behov for fiktion og virkelighed. Præmier og udmærkelser for Bedrageren Premio de Las Letras Regio´n de Murcia for den litterære løbebane – 2018 Premio Letterario L. Mastronardi Citta´ di Vigevano – 2018 Longlisted for The Man Booker International Prize 2018 New York Times Critics’ Top Books of 2018 Premio Letterario Isola d’Elba ‘Raffaelo Brignetti’ – 2016 Premio Friuladria ‘La Storia in un Romanzo’, Italia – 2016 Prix du Livre Européen – 2016 Premio Taofen (Beijing) for den bedste udenlandske roman i kinesisk oversættelse – 2015 Premio Arzobispo Juan de Sanclemente – 2015 Premio Speziale Internazionale Ceppo di Pistoia – 2015

La adaptaci n gr fica de una novela imprescindible de la narrativa espa ola. Hacia el final de la guerra civil se produjo, cerca de la frontera con Francia, un fusilamiento de prisioneros franquistas. Uno de ellos escap con vida, gracias a un joven soldado republicano, y se pudo refugiar en el bosque. Se trataba de Rafael S nchez Mazas, poeta, fundador de Falange y futuro ministro de Franco. Sesenta a os m s tarde, un novelista en horas bajas desentierra este episodio b lico y, fascinado por l, se propone investigar y aclarar sus circunstancias. Soldados de Salamina, novela de Javier Cercas publicada originalmente en 2001, ha sido aclamada como un cl sico moderno de la literatura por, entre otros, Kenzaburo O , Susan Sontag, George Steiner o Mario Vargas Llosa. Presentamos ahora una minuciosa adaptaci n gr fica a cargo de Jose Pablo Garc a, uno de los autores de c mic espa oles con m s proyecci n internacional. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION In the final moments of the Spanish Civil War a writer and founding member of Franco s Fascist Party is about to be shot and yet miraculously escapes into the forest When his hiding place is discovered he faces death for the second time that day but is spared this time by a lone soldier The POW becomes a national hero and a member of Franco s first government while the soldier is forgotten Sixty years later Cercas s novel peels back the layers of truth and propaganda in order to discover who the real hero was Elegantly constructed and told with self deprecating melancholy humor Soldiers of Salamis is a wholly original work of literature by a modern master

La segunda novela de Javier Cercas, un juego de espejos kafkiano, con pr logo del autor. El mismo d a que conoce a Daniel Berkowicz, su nuevo vecino e inesperado compa ero de trabajo, Mario Rota se tuerce el tobillo. Estos dos imprevistos simult neos se alan el principio de la intrusi n de la contrariedad y el desconcierto en su mon tona vida de profesor de fonolog a en una universidad del Medio Oeste americano, pero sobre todo desencadenan una pesadilla erizada de amenazas, presagios e inminencias en la que el lector no tiene m s remedio que acompa ar a Rota hasta el sorprendente final de su peripecia. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION The Tenant. This is Javier Cercas' second novel, a Kafkian game of mirrors, with a prologue by the author. The same day he meets Daniel Berkowicz, his new neighbor and unexpected co-worker, Mario Rota twists his ankle. These two simultaneous unforeseen events signal the beginning of an intrusion of displeasure and bewilderment in his monotonous life as a phonology professor at a university in the American Midwest, but above all, they unleash a nightmare overflowing with threats, omens, and impending occurrences in which the reader has no choice but to accompany Rota to the surprising end of his adventures.

A True Story

The International Bestseller of the Spanish Civil War - Winner of the Independent Foreign Fiction PrizeIn the final moments of the Spanish Civil War, fifty prominent Nationalist prisoners are executed by firing squad. Among them is the writer and fascist Rafael Sanchez Mazas. As the guns fire, he escapes into the forest, and can hear a search party and their dogs hunting him down. The branches move and he finds himself looking into the eyes of a militiaman, and faces death for the second time that day. But the unknown soldier simply turns and walks away. Sanchez Mazas becomes a national hero and the soldier disappears into history. As Cercas sifts the evidence to establish what happened, he realises that the true hero may not be Sanchez Mazas at all, but the soldier who chose not to shoot him. Who was he? Why did he spare him? And might he still be alive? Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean

A true story packed with fiction, from the admired Spanish writer, Javier Cercas

M s de quince a os despu s de la publicaci n de Soldados de Salamina, Javier Cercas regresa a la Guerra Civil con una novela m s ntima y personal, que indaga en el pasado m s inc modo de su familia. Ninguna familia escapa a su herencia. Sobre los vencedores y los vencidos, y los secretos que todos callamos. Esta es la novela que Javier Cercas se hab a estado preparando para escribir desde que quiso ser novelista. O desde antes. El monarca de las sombras narra la b squeda del rastro perdido de un muchacho casi an nimo que pele por una causa injusta y muri en el lado equivocado de la historia. Se llamaba Manuel Mena y en 1936, al estallar la guerra civil, se incorpor al ej rcito de Franco; dos a os despu s muri combatiendo en la batalla del Ebro, y durante d cadas se convirti en el h roe oficial de su familia. Era t o abuelo de Javier Cercas, quien siempre se neg a indagar en su historia, hasta que se sinti obligado a hacerlo. El resultado de esa indagaci n es una novela absorbente, plet rica de acci n, de humor y de emoci n, que nos enfrenta a algunos de los temas esenciales de la narrativa de Cercas: la naturaleza radiante, poli drica y misteriosa del hero smo, la terca pervivencia de los muertos y la dificultad de hacerse cargo del pasado m s inc modo. Exploraci n a la vez local y universal, personal y colectiva, novela belicosamente antibelicista, El monarca de las sombras da una vuelta de tuerca inesperada y deslumbrante a la pregunta sobre la herencia de la guerra que Cercas abri a os atr s con Soldados de Salamina. ENGLISH DESCRIPTION Over fifteen years after publishing Soldados de Salamina / Soldiers of Salamis, Javier Cercas returns once again to the Spanish Civil War, now with a much more intimate and personal novel that dives deep into his family's darkest past. No family is ever able to escape its past. This is the novel that Cercas has been preparing to write since he decided to be a writer, or even before then. El monarca de las sombras / The Monarch of Shadows is about the search for an almost forgotten young man who fought for justice and died on the wrong side of history. His name was Manuel Mena and he joined Franco's army when the Civil War broke in 1936. He died two years later in the battle of Ebro, and for decades he was the family hero; and was also Javier Cercas' great-uncle. For a long time Cercas refused to research Mena's story, until he felt compelled to do so. The result of his inquiries is a gripping novel, full of action, humor, and emotion, one that offers recurring themes in Cercas' narrative: heroism's radiant and mysterious nature, the Dead's stubbornness to stay alive, and the struggle to face one's uncomfortable past. El monarca de las sombras / The Monarch of Shadows gives an unexpected and dazzling twist to the question posed by Cercas years ago in Soldados de Salamina / Soldiers of Salamis, about the legacy left by war.

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER INTERNATIONAL 2018A TRUE STORY THAT IS PACKED WITH FICTION - FICTION CREATED BY ITS MAIN CHARACTER, ENRIC MARCOBut who is Enric Marco? A veteran of the Spanish Civil War, a fighter against fascism, an impassioned campaigner for justice, and a survivor of the Nazi death camps? Or, is he simply an old man with delusions of grandeur, a charlatan who fabricated his heroic war record, who was never a prisoner in the Third Reich and never opposed Franco; a charming, beguiling and compulsive liar who refashioned himself as a defender of liberty and who was unmasked in 2005 at the height of his influence and renown? In this extraordinary novel - part narrative, part history, part essay, part biography, part autobiography - Javier Cercas unravels the enigma of the man and delves with passion and honesty into the most ambiguous aspects of what makes us human - our infinite capacity for self-deception, our need for conformity, our thirst for affection and our conflicting needs for fiction and for truth. Translated from the Spanish by Frank Wynne