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Manuel Rivas Spain
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Manuel Rivas was born in La Coruña, the Atlantic city, in
Manuel Rivas is without
doubt one of the most important contemporary Spanish authors. From novels and
short stories, children’s books, poetry and plays to essays, he covers every
genre, varying his stylistic methods between the colloquial language of the man
on the street in his home of Galicia and a lyrical tone. Rivas’ literature can
be defined as transfrontier, transgressive of genres, an avant-garde of active
melancholy. A 'vagabond' literature of 'walkscape', inspired
by the Charles Chaplin's adventures in The
Tramp, where the casual and the causal collide. For Rivas,
literature gives voice to the memory of the wounds suffered by the body, land,
and language.
El lápiz del
carpintero (“The
Carpenter’s Pencil”) is set during the Spanish Civil War. It tells the moving
love story between Marisa, daughter of a rightwing family, and the Republican
doctor Daniel, who has been imprisoned in Santiago de Compostela jail. When
Daniel manages to escape and spend a few hours with
his wife during a train journey, an adventure as incredible as it is beautiful
begins.
I have learned more
about the Spanish Civil War by reading The Carpenter’s Pencil by Manuel
Rivas than through all the history books.
Günter Grass,
Nobel Prize of Literature 1999
El lápiz del carpintero brings together the taste of popular legends from around the world.
A beautiful novel, full of humanity and tenderness.
Arturo
Pérez-Reverte
Los
libros arden
mal ("Books Burn Badly") refers to an event that took place
shortly after Franco took power: the book-burning in the port of Coruña. In this choral piece, Rivas gives voice to normal
people like the well-read lawyer Ricardo Samos, who
lends the Franco regime an intellectual foundation, or his wife Chelo, a secret resistance activist. With this colourful
tapestry of stories, Rivas creates a detailed panorama of twentieth-century
Spain from which we only reluctantly turn away.
Words are not
just words. They are the body of language and literature; the flesh, the blood,
the bones – the life itself. This principle is fundamental in the books of
Manuel Rivas. And thanks to him, the latest novel from this Galician author
arouses much more than the reader’s interest and admiration; it also stirs
their emotion, curiosity, enchantment and pleasure.
Le Monde
An
exceptional book by an exceptional writer.
The
Independent
With
calm passion, with poetic vehemence. That is how
Manuel Rivas expresses himself in his most ambitious novel, both in form and
content.
Begoña Piña, QUE
LEER
Rivas’ latest novel Todo es silencio (“All is
Silence”) is again set on
With his latest novel, we regain the pleasure of
reading once more.
El Imparcial
Rivas'
language makes all his characters unique.
El País
The
press on ¿Qué
me quieres, amor?:
An
imaginative prose rife with discoveries. A sensitive and precious novel.
ABC
A gifted writer
with great sensitivity and imagination. Manuel Rivas perceives the blend of cruelty and
tenderness behind human gestures.
El Mundo
Represented for Alfaguara
Original
editions and rights sold (selection):
Novels:
El
lápiz del carpintero, Madrid: Alfaguara 2002, 201 p.
(Original title in Galician: O lapis do carpinteiro,
Ediciones Xerais de Galicia)
Film directed by Antón Reixa 2002
Bosnia & Herzegovina: BTC
Sahinpasic • Brazil: Objetiva 2002 • Bulgaria: The Small Press • Croatia: A.G.M. 2001 • Finland:
Tammi 2001 • France: Gallimard 2001, Folio
2002 • Germany: Suhrkamp 2002 • Greece: Enalios 2000 •
Israel: Keter 2005 • Italy: Feltrinelli 2000 • Lithuania: Kitos •
Netherlands: Ambo/Anthos 1999 • Norway:
Cappelen 2003 • Poland: Muza 2002 • Portugal: Dom Quixote 2000 • Romania: Curtea Veche 2011 • Russia: Inostranka 2004 •
Serbia: Laguna • Slovenia: Cankarjeva Zalozba
2006 • Spain: Proa 1999 (Catalan) • Turkey: Dogan Kitap 2001 •
UK: Harvill Press 2001, Vintage 2003 • US:
Overlook 2001
En
salvaje compañía,
(Original title in Galician: En salvaxe compaña,
Ediciones Xerais de Galicia)
Los
libros arden mal, Madrid: Alfaguara 2006, 616 p.
(Original title in Galician: Os libros arden mal, Ediciones
Xerais de Galicia)
Brazil:
Tinta Negra • France: Gallimard 2008, pb 2010 • Italy:
Feltrinelli 2009 • Netherlands: Ambo/Anthos
2009 • Romania: Curtea
Veche • Spain: Edicions 62 2006 (Catalan) • UK:
Harvill Press 2010
Todo es silencio, Madrid: Alfaguara 2010, 245 p.
Film
directed by José Luis Cuerda, to be released in 2012
France: Gallimard • UK: Harvill
Secker
Stories:
Un
millón de vacas y Los comedores de patatas, Spain:
Editora del Norte 1993, 117 p.
(Original title in Galician: Un millón de vacas, Os
comedores de patacas, Ediciones Xerais de Galicia)
Ella,
maldita alma, Madrid: Alfaguara 1999, 168 p.
(Original title in Galician: Ela, maldita alma, Editorial Galaxia)
Czech Republic: Nakladatelstvi
Pavel Mervart • Portugal: Dom Quixote 2000 • Spain: Proa 2000 (Catalan)
El
secreto de la tierra, Madrid: Alfaguara 1999, 400 p.
Portugal: Dom Quixote 2003
La
mano del emigrante, Madrid:
Alfaguara 2001, 160 p.
(Original title in Galician: A man dos paíños, Ediciones Xerais de Galicia)
Las
llamadas perdidas, Madrid: Alfaguara 2002, 240 p.
(Original title in Galician: As chamadas perdidas,
Ediciones Xerais de Galicia)
Portugal: Dom Quixote 2002
Mujer
en el baño, Madrid: Alfaguara 2003, 312 p.
(Original title in Galician: Muller no Baño, Ediciones Xerais
de Galicia)
¿Qué
me quieres, amor?,
Madrid: Punto de Lectura 2006; Alfaguara 2009, 192 p.
(Original title in Galician: Que me queres, amor?, Editorial Galaxia)
National Prize for Narrative 1996
Brazil:
Tinta Negra 2011 • China: Shanghai99 • France: Gallimard •
Germany: Reclam • Portugal: Dom Quixote 1998 • Russia: Inostranka •
Spain: Proa 1997 (Catalan) • UK: Harvill
Press 2003 • US: The Overlook Press 2008
La
lengua de las mariposas, Madrid: Alfaguara 1996
(Original title in Galician: A lingua das bolboretas, Editorial Galaxia)
Film directed by José Luis Cuerda 1999
Breton: An
Alarc’h 2009 • France: Gallimard 2003, Folio
2004 • Germany: Suhrkamp 2002, Hueber 2006 • Italy: Feltrinelli 2005
• Japan: Kodakawa 2001 • Portugal:
Ambar • Russia: Inostranka • Slovenia: Cankarjeva 2006 • Tetum/Portuguese (bilingual): Aldine 2009 • Turkey: Dogan Kitap 2003 •
UK: Harvill Press 2000
Lo
más extraño
Madrid: Alfaguara 2011, 536 p.
Short prose:
El
periodismo es un cuento, Madrid: Alfaguara 1997, 352 p.
A
cuerpo abierto, Madrid: Alfaguara 2008, 344 p.
(Original title in Galician: A corpo aberto, Ediciones
Xerais de Galicia)
Poetry:
El
pueblo de la noche, Madrid:
Alfaguara 1997, 176 p.
(Original title in Galician: O pobo da noite, Ediciones
Xerais de Galicia)
La
desaparición de la nieve, Madrid:
Alfaguara 2009, 280 p.
(Original title in Galician: A desaparición da neve (quadrilingual), Alfaguara)
UK: Shearsman
Selection:
La
disparition de la neige,
France: N&B 2011
Theatre:
El
héroe, Madrid: Alfaguara 2006, 152 p.
(Original title in Galician: O heroe, Ediciones Xerais de
Galicia)
For young
readers:
Bala
Perdida, Madrid: Alfaguara 1996, 120 p.
(Original title in
Galician: Bala perdida, Ediciones
Obradoiro)