Right through the center of Spain runs a deep scar. This scar has many dimensions. In terms of time, it spans the most of the 20th century; and at certain points in time, it cut the land that Spain consists of up into pieces. But the deepest scars run in the Spanish psyche and in its individual and collective memory.A lot of the novel Soldiers of Salamis deals with this scar. At first, the narrator of the book believes that this scar has nothing to do with him, that it does not affect him. I thought so too. I bought into the author Javier Cercas's subtle subterfuge. I kinda believed that the character Javier Cercas is autobiographical of the author Javier Cercas, and let's face it, since there really -was- a pro-fascist conservative Spanish poet called Rafael Sanchez Mazas, I started to believe that the whole novel was, as the character Javier Cercas claims, "a true story". ..and in a certain sense, a symbolic sense, it is a true story.I want to make an embarrassing confession. About 4 months ago, I knew pretty much nothing about the Spanish Civil War. I had always wanted to read more about it, but nothing ever gave me that little "push". I started reading about it a month or two ago, and the more you read about it, the more you want to read about it, but... well, here's the pinch: It's hugely complex. You could read a bunch of Francoist propaganda and believe that the Republicans had been pure evil, and indeed it is true that some atrocities had been committed against the RC church by Republicans. ...but the situation isn't quite as black and white as that. The church in Spain had always backed the rich landowners, instead of standing up for the poor, and later on the church also backed the Fascists - so it is not too much of a stretch that some people might have identified the church with the oppressors and oppression.But before I end up writing a loooooong essay on the Spanish Civil war, let me try to keep it short by sticking with how the 2 Javier Cercas' books, Soldiers of Salamis, (See what he did there?) fit in with all of that.See, once General Francisco Franco Bahamonde had declared himself victor of the Spanish Civil war, hostility did not cease. He still persecuted the former Republicans and built up a vast propaganda scheme to exalt himself and his Fascist ideals, in which the Republicans, Socialists and Communists were always the villains, and the Fascists/Nationalists were the shining, splendorous heroes.He even managed to twist it into saying that the Republicans had been the rebels (whilst they had actually been the legitimate democratically elected government, which he and his Fascists rebelled against). Franco also averred that they were "anti-Spain" and of course, the fact that they were secularist didn't help their case. So, those of the Republicans who managed to escape being shot, ended up silenced and marginalized, or in exile. While Franco was conducting his "Cultural cleansing program" hundreds and thousands of Spaniards were shot en masse and dumped into mass graves. Many of the corpses of those shot who had been exhumed, had their hands tied behind their backs. Even mothers of young children were shot in the back of the head and kicked into mass graves with other "dissidents". Their children were given to Nationalist families in some cases. In his book The Spanish Holocaust, Paul Preston avers that 200,000 people were executed between 1936 to 1945 by the fascists.I am wandering a bit from the book again here, but you get the picture. Franco then induced a sort of 'national amnesia' in which everyone had to conspire in hiding the ugly truth of his brutality, lest they themselves became victims of it. (Stalin, anyone?)So anyway, after Franco died, Spain was lucky enough to have had good King Juan Carlos named by Franco as his successor, and as we all know, he was a spanking good chap who helped Spain along and even through a second right-wing coup attempt on its teetering legs towards Democracy.Well, so now Spain is democratic, and so what's the problem?, you, I and Javier Cercas the author and Javier Cercas the journalist-author might ask. Well, the problem was that all the roads, buildings, and national monuments in the country were named in honor of the Franco dictatorship and its heroes. All the right-wingers whose family members died in the right-vs. leftwing conflict, could go and lay flowers on the graves of their deceased, and say prayers there, or whatever else you would want to do at a beloved one's graveside. ...but all those on the Republicans' side who had been murdered by the Franco regime, had simply 'disappeared'. Their bodies were lying in unmarked graves, and often times, unmarked mass graves. Those who died Falangists, were heroes, but those who died Republicans were reviled as vermin. (Yes, yes, pretty much like the Nazi's and the Jews, though in this case it was not racially based. You just had to be against Franco to be vermin.)Right, so now the Javier Cercas book starts off with him all obsessed over some pro-fascist poet who got a cushy job in Franco's establishment before he drifted off to go and be a dissolute millionaire somewhere, and.... well, you feel a bit bored reading about all of this and you start to skim a bit and to wonder if you want to see the book through, and then, then suddenly it starts to get interesting. That is, once Javier Cercas the character starts to look for Miralles. And then, once you had read through the last bit and perhaps pecked away a tear or swallowed a lump in your throat, you realize: Hey! The brilliance of this book is not only in the emotional rendering of the last bit - which is pretty cool just on its own, but you realize that a lot of why people go 'wow!' about it, has to do with its cleverly constructed structure.I only realized this, I think, when I read some interview with Javier Cercas the author. (Not the character in the book, ha ha.) He said that before he wrote this book, he thought the Spanish Civil War had nothing to do with him; ancient history, as he saw it. About as ancient and as far removed as the battle of Salamis had been. ...or was that actually Javier Cercas the character before he wrote HIS book Soldiers of Salamis..? (See what he did there?) In any case, so, with the story of Rafael Sanchez Mazas told, you would imagine that is the whole story. Only, it's not. The other side of the story is Miralles' story. There you go...Suffice it to say that in 2007, Spain passed a new law. Perhaps I should conclude with a quote from Wikipedia about this law: " The Historical Memory Law principally recognizes the victims on both sides of the Spanish Civil War, gives rights to the victims and the descendants of victims of the Civil War and the subsequent dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, and formally condemns the Franco Regime.The conservative Popular Party and the Republican Left of Catalonia (ERC) both voted against passage of the law. For its no vote the Popular Party accused the Socialist Party government by way of the Historical Memory Law of weakening the political consensus of the transition to democracy and "using the Civil War as an argument for political propaganda," The Republican Left of Catalonia rejected the law on the basis it did not go far enough." Looks like people might finally be starting to remember and acknowledge Miralles and the friends whom he had to leave behind. ..and if you think about it carefully, you realize that Javier Cercas the author wants us to realize by the end, why that Republican did what he did when he looked the other way. Damn, this guy is subtle.EDIT: After my conversations with Dolors and Wastrel below, I realized that I had omitted to mention in my review, the work of the Association for the Recuperation of Historical Memory (ARMH) in Spain. At about the turn of the millennium, some Spaniards (and ex-Spaniards speaking from exile) started to say that they wanted to find the bodies of their family members who had been victims of the Nationalists. I knew from prior reading on the subject that some mass graves have already been exhumed, but when I wanted to look up on statistics due to my conversation with Wastrel, I found this article, which, by its implications, tells us that the scar running through the Spanish psyche is far from being healed. I find it incredibly sad that people would actually feel ashamed that their relatives had been Republicans. Only when the Manichean construct of "good" Nationalists vs "bad" Republicans is shattered and exposed for the phantasm that it is, can all of Spain's children truly come to terms with their identity and their past.
Τον τελευταίο καιρό οι αναφορές που γίνονται διαδικτυακά(και όχι μόνο) για τον παραπάνω συγγραφέα με οδήγησαν στην αναζήτηση των κειμένων του.Και τι καλύτερο από το να ξεκινήσω με το πολυσυζητημένο 1ο του βιβλίο τους "Στρατιώτες της Σαλαμίνας".Ο τίτλος μπορεί να μπερδέψει,αλλά το εξώφυλλο του βιβλίου(χαρακτηριστική φωτό του Ρ.Κάπα),για κάποιον που έχει ασχοληθεί με τον Ισπανικό Εμφύλιο πολέμο,θα δείξει ξεκάθαρα ότι αυτό είναι ένα βιβλίο που έχει να αφηγηθεί πολλά.Αν και μικρό σε όγκο,το περιεχόμενο του είναι τόσο πλούσιο σε ιστορικές πληροφορίες,που αν κάποιος δεν είναι εξοικειωμένος με την ιστορική περίοδο,θα κουραστεί γρήγορα.Είναι η 1η φορά που διαβάζω ένα μυθιστόρημα γραμμένο σε στυλ δημοσιογραφικό.Δεν μπορώ να το εξηγησω το "είδος" διαφορετικά.Χωρισμένο σε 3 μέρη παρακολουθούμε τον δημοσιογράφο-συγγραφέα να πραγματοποιεί την έρευνά του γύρω από τον ήρωα του βιβλίου.Και ο ήρωας του βιβλίου;Ο ιδρυτής της Φάλαγγας ή αλλιώς της ακροδεξιάς οργάνωσης που οδήγησε τη χώρα στο αιματοκύλισμα του Εμφυλίου.Το 1ο μερος του βιβλίου κουράζει.Οι προσωπικές αμφιβολίες,οι ανησυχίες και οι φόβοι του συγγραφέα ίσως δεν τον αφήνουν να προχωρήσει και να πραγματοποιήσει το πόνημά του.Παρακολουθούμε τις πληροφορίες που μαζεύει και κάποια στιγμή μπρεδευόμαστε και εμείς μαζί του.Πού χάνεται και πού βρίσκεται η αλήθεια;Τι προσπαθεί να μας εξηγήσει αναζητώντας πληροφορίες για ένα περιστατικό που έγινε λίγο πριν το τέλος του πολέμου;Το 2ο μέρος παρουσιάζει το ιστορικό γεγονός αρμονικά δεμένο με την μυθοπλασία.Το 3ο μέρος είναι η κορύφωση του βιβλίου και η επίλυση όλων των ερωτημάτων που μας είχαν δημιουργηθεί διαβάζοντας τα προηγούμενα μέρη.Τώρα όλα φαίνονται ξεκάθαρα!Το βιβλίο γράφτηκε γιατί έπρεπε όλοι οι ήρωες και αντιήρωες να σωθούν από τη Λήθη και να μείνουν στην Μνήμη του Ισπανικού λαού,και όχι μόνο.Σ'αυτό το σημείο πραγματεύεται με μοναδικό τρόπο την πληγή του Εμφυλίου σε μια χώρα, που ενώ μετά το 1974 αποφάσισε να συμβιβαστεί με το παρελθόν της,σε λιγότερο από 15 χρόνια έθεσε εκ νέου ερωτήματα για αυτό το γεγονός που σημάδεψε όχι μόνο την ίδια αλλά και την πορεία της Ευρώπης στον 20ο αιώνα(Ισπανικός Εμφύλιος,πρελούδιο του Β'Π.Π).Οι τελευταίες 86 σελίδες είναι ένα δείγμα εξαιρετικής γραφής που μπλέκει τα ιστορικά γεγονότα,την προφορική μαρτυρία,την δημοσιογραφία και τέλος την ανάγκη για καταγραφή του Παρελθόντος.Το βιβλίο γράφτηκε το 2001 και μτφ. στη χώρα μας τον επόμενο μόλις χρόνο.Δεν είναι τυχαίο.Τα τελευταία 15 χρόνια οι σπουδές γύρω από την 10ετία του '40 στην χώρα μας έχουν φέρει στο φως εξαιρετικές εργασίες που μελετούν και τα 2 μέρη που έλαβαν μέρος στον δικό μας Εμφύλιο πόλεμο.Το βιβλίο αυτό,αν και προέρχεται από άλλη χώρα και ανήκει στο λογοτεχνικό κομμάτι, έρχεται να μας δείξει και κυρίως να μας τονίσει την ανάγκη να ακούσουμε όλες τις πλευρές,ακόμα και αν δεν συμφωνούμε με αυτές-κυρίως σε πολιτικό επίπεδο-και να ανακαλύψουμε τις πολλές Αλήθειες που κρύβει το Παρελθόν.Και το σημαντικότερο;Να τις καταγράψουμε.Γιατί μόνο τότε δεν θα χαθούν και θα είναι εκεί,όχι να υπενθυμίζουν ή να φοβίζουν για τυχόν επανάληψή τους.Αλλά να διδάσκουν την ανθρώπινη ψυχή.Αυτό άλλωστε ήθελε να κάνει και ο Θουκιδίδης..Υπόσχομαι να αναζητήσω και τους υπόλοιπους τίτλους του Θέρκας.Ναι,με κέρδισε,αν και με παίδεψε..
What do You think about Soldados De Salamina (2001)?
A brilliant novel, epic in ambiton but as clear and concise as a short story. A failed novelist and reluctant journalist becomes intrigued by the story of a noted spanish falangist who escapes a firing squad at the end of the Spanish civil war. The book is divided in three parts: the first covers the journalists story; the second is an account of what actually happened and the third and most satisfying is the bravura piece which ties it to the emotional context. The story effortlessly flits between multiple depths working on every level as a history of a collective national madness, a funny story about a jaded journalist and his less uptight girlfriend, a detetctive story but most triumphantly in making you realize that the real story is not in the man who got away but in the man who did not shoot.
—James
The first two parts of this book revolve around a rather unheroic but entirely factual figure, Sanchez Mazas, a founder member of the Falangist group in Spain in the 1930's and later a minister in Franco's government with the status of national hero, who, we are told right at the beginning, escaped death by firing squad during the Spanish civil war. The narrator, a journalist and writer called Javier Cercas, but who is entirely fictional, becomes obsessed with this reprieve from death story and sets out to uncover the facts of the case, tracing written accounts and interviewing surviving members of both the Nationalist and Republican sides. The first part reads like a diary of this research, the second part, like the article the journalist might finally write based on that research, a dry factual examination of the motivations of Sanchez Mazas, writer and poet, who helped bring Franco to power. Cercas, the journalist leads the reader into a position where he/she becomes impatient and thoroughly frustrated with this endless circling around the miraculously twice reprieved life of such an unheroic and really rather pathetic figure and then, in the third part, Cercas the author changes gear and gives us what we wanted all along, the story of a true hero. This part is full of everything which seemed to be missing in the first two parts: humanity, heroism and hope. So Cercas the writer achieves by the most subtle of methods, which include a fascinating fictional conversation with Roberto Bolano, far more than he could ever have done by any outright criticism of Falangist philosophy. Brilliant!
—Fionnuala
"False novels" - that favored blend of fact and fiction and self-reference - are easily becoming a popular genre in Latin American writing. Along with authors I've been reading a lot (César Aira, Javier Marías, Roberto Bolaño), Javier Cercas is one of its best practitioners. Soldiers of Salamis is a cleverly structured treatise on memory and narrative direction. Its experimental elements hark back to the whimsical device of the playful author of the Quixote (http://booktrek.blogspot.com/2010/08/...).
—Ryan
