Хавьер Серкас — библиография

In 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?

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 misleading
perspective 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.

In February 1981, just as Spain was finally leaving Franco's dictatorship and during the first democratic vote in parliament for a new prime minister, Colonel Tejero and a band of right-wing soldiers burst into the Spanish parliament and began firing shots. Only three members of Congress defied the incursion and did not dive for cover: Adolfo Suarez, the then-outgoing prime minister, who had steered the country away from the Franco era; Guttierez Mellado, a conservative general who had loyally served democracy; and Santiago Carillo, the head of the Communist Party, which had just been legalised.
In The Anatomy of a Moment, Cercas examines a key moment in Spanish history, just as he did so successfully in his Spanish Civil War novel, Soldiers of Salamis. This is the only coup ever to have been caught on film as it was happening, which, as Cercas says, 'guaranteed both its reality and its unreality'. Every February a few seconds of the video are shown again and Spaniards congratulate themselves for standing up for democracy, but Cercas says that things were very quiet that afternoon and evening while all over Spain people stayed inside waiting for the coup to be defeated ... or to triumph.

Un crimen terrible sacude la apacible comarca de la Terra Alta: los propietarios de su mayor empresa, Gráficas Adell, aparecen asesinados tras haber sido sometidos a atroces torturas.
Se encarga del caso Melchor Marín, un joven policía y lector voraz llegado desde Barcelona cuatro años atrás, con un oscuro pasado a cuestas que le ha convertido en una leyenda del cuerpo y que cree haber enterrado bajo su vida feliz como marido de la bibliotecaria del pueblo y padre de una niña llamada Cosette, igual que la hija de Jean Valjean, el protagonista de su novela favorita: Los miserables.
Partiendo de ese suceso, y a través de una narración trepidante y repleta de personajes memorables, esta novela se convierte en una lúcida reflexión sobre el valor de la ley, la posibilidad de la justicia y la legitimidad de la venganza, pero sobre todo en la epopeya de un hombre en busca de su lugar en el mundo.

Kes on kangelane? Kas t?de on olemas? Mida m?tleb mees, kes kingib vaenlasele elu? Kas saab olla hea kirjanik, olles t?eline t?bras? Millal surnud p?riselt surevad? Kes p??stab tsivilisatsiooni? „Aga teate mis? Rahus ei ole kangelasi… Kangelased on kangelased ainult siis, kui nad surevad v?i kui nad ?ra tapetakse. Ja t?elised kangelased s?nnivad s?jas ja surevad s?jas. Elusaid kangelasi pole olemas, noormees. K?ik on surnud. Surnud, surnud, surnud.” Javier Cercas (1962), ?ks Hispaania n??disaegse proosakirjanduse suuri meistreid, elab Kataloonias ning on Girona ?likooli hispaania kirjanduse ?ppej?ud ja p?evalehe El Pa?s kolumnist. Oma romaanides tugineb Cercas dokumentaalsetele faktidele l?hiajaloost ning vastuolulistele ja intrigeerivatele t?esti elanud isiksustele. „Salamise s?durid” (2001) on Cercase l?bimurderomaan, mis on koha leidnud viimaste k?mnendite Hispaania m?juvaimate teoste seas. Romaani teljeks on riigi viimaks vennatapuni viinud ideoloogia ?he looja, luuletaja Rafael S?nchez Mazase lugu, eelk?ige dramaatiline episood kodus?ja l?pup?evilt, kui tal ime l?bi ?nnestus mahalaskmiselt p?geneda ja hiljem t?nu vaenlase leeri kuuluvate lihtsate s?durpoiste inimlikule abile ellu j??da.

Kes on kangelane? Kas tõde on olemas? Mida mõtleb mees, kes kingib vaenlasele elu? Kas saab olla hea kirjanik, olles tõeline tõbras? Millal surnud päriselt surevad? Kes päästab tsivilisatsiooni? „Aga teate mis? Rahus ei ole kangelasi… Kangelased on kangelased ainult siis, kui nad surevad või kui nad ära tapetakse. Ja tõelised kangelased sünnivad sõjas ja surevad sõjas. Elusaid kangelasi pole olemas, noormees. Kõik on surnud. Surnud, surnud, surnud.” Javier Cercas (1962), üks Hispaania nüüdisaegse proosakirjanduse suuri meistreid, elab Kataloonias ning on Girona ülikooli hispaania kirjanduse õppejõud ja päevalehe El País kolumnist. Oma romaanides tugineb Cercas dokumentaalsetele faktidele lähiajaloost ning vastuolulistele ja intrigeerivatele tõesti elanud isiksustele. „Salamise sõdurid” (2001) on Cercase läbimurderomaan, mis on koha leidnud viimaste kümnendite Hispaania mõjuvaimate teoste seas. Romaani teljeks on riigi viimaks vennatapuni viinud ideoloogia ühe looja, luuletaja Rafael Sánchez Mazase lugu, eelkõige dramaatiline episood kodusõja lõpupäevilt, kui tal ime läbi õnnestus mahalaskmiselt põgeneda ja hiljem tänu vaenlase leeri kuuluvate lihtsate sõdurpoiste inimlikule abile ellu jääda.