Llom: 5,25 mm. calculat per a 112 pàgines, en paper de 90 gm/m2

acantilado quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016-2017

acantilado Rafael Argullol Theological-Erotic Treatise Fiction

(2016) short stories In this brief treatise, taken from the book Visión desde el fondo 96 pages del mar (View from the Bottom of the Sea) Rafael Argullol offers a philosophical allegory of our condition of strangers in the world and the possibility of returning to the mythical state in which nature was a true home. «Not only had man been expelled from Paradise, but God, too, had gone, leaving it deserted. Paradise remained uninhabited and, ever since then, kept tempting us, God and ourselves, with the possibility of going back. But, faced with the dictatorship of time, we were cowards. God tempted us, Go back! We tempted Him, Go back! An iron veil prevented us from listening. So Paradise would always remain empty. We needed to be seduced again. If we seduced God into going back we’d find that he, too, wants to return».

rafael argullol (Barcelona, 1949), Professor of Aesthetics and Theory of Art at the University of Barcelona, is a writer, poet and essayist. He has written more than twenty-five books in diverse literary genres, including novels, essays and poetry.

acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Rafael Argullol Rafael Argullol The Reason for Evil My Spectral Gaudí

A strange phenomenon occurs in a «In my years at university, we strove to prosperous cosmopolitan western city. capture what was new and rebellious Apparently just an annoying setback at about the twentieth century and, in this first, it very quickly turns into a much regard, Gaudí was last in the line. As a more insidious threat, capable of over- non-enrolled student I sat in on some turning the citizens’ most intimate con- courses in the School of Architecture victions. With this chronicle of a phe- where, supposedly knowing what I was Fiction nomenon which affects every strata of about, I learned to detest Gaudí’s work. Fiction society, Argullol re-creates the process It was a conclusion I reached, not with- (2015) of its disintegration, from denunciation, out inner pain because I was very fond (2015) novel fear and suspicion through to pillage, of the spectre that had abruptly ap- literary essay 224 pages magic and superstition. In the midst of peared in my life when I was still a child, 80 pages chaos, an amorous relationship is se- and much of that early magnetism had Winner of the renely constructed, immersed in the stayed with me. Yet I couldn’t deny the Nadal Prize, time required to restore a mythological evidence. On Gaudí’s side, there were 1993 painting in which the artist dares to in- two or three old-fogey professors who vite the viewer to dream of another des- were horribly stuck in the past, unani- Rights sold: tiny for Orpheus and Eurydice. Argullol mously deemed to be dyed-in-the-wool Serbian reminds the reader of the all-important traditionalists and, still worse, incompe- geopoetika value of lucidity and memory. Looking tent. On the other side, all the young back, as Orpheus did, after he had res- lecturers, without exception, guided us Italian cued his beloved from Hades, does not along other paths, filling us with their lindau necessarily lead to condemnation. enthusiasm for the modern movement and Bauhaus, Le Corbusier, Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright. Gaudí was the «This is both an inquiry into evil and a reflection on irrationality». antithesis». La Vanguardia

«A lucid interpreter of culture, Rafael Argullol is a «This book has an allegorical feel». El Mundo cogent essayist. Moreover, he’s a traveller who combines what he’s experienced with what he’s read, «The novel reflects on the dangers of irrationality and, more broadly, but his writing never descends into bland mannerisms. on memory and oblivion». El País Herein lies the pleasure one has reading his measured prose, guided by the clarity of his thinking». El País

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Rafael Argullol Ádám Bodor Lampedusa: Sinistra’s District A Mediterranean Story One day, Andrej Bodor, arrives in the Sinistra district, a closed, mountainous Suffused with the cultural richness of border area, in search of his stepson who, the Mediterranean world, a variegated rumour has it, is living there in self-im- human landscape in which grandeur posed exile. From this point on, his life and decadence often intermingle, the will never be the same… This work is small island of Lampedusa is the back- about an abandoned city where everyone Fiction ground of this story. The novel revolves seems destined for tragedy. People keep Fiction around a woman of mysterious beauty disappearing, as if by magic but they also (2008) and Leonardo Carracci, whose passion come back showing no sign of abnormal- (2003) novel for the unknown drives his life to a ity. This is a dictatorship headed by a novel 144 pages point of fulfilment that is indistinguish- group of hunters who subjugate the 208 pages able from utter destruction. This is the mountain people. With its poignant Rights sold: story of a disquieting initiation, univer- beauty, El distrito de Sinistra is a last cry La Vanguardia’s Italian sal in the scope of its themes and poetic for help in the quest for humanity. Best Book of lantana vision. Firmly rooted in the European Foreign Fiction, tradition of the Bildungsroman, Lampe- 2003 Serbian dusa, drawing from state-of-the-art geopoetika «A journey through lyricism and trends in contemporary Spanish litera- «With its stunning prose and black humour, this is an intense visual Rights sold: evocations of a time and place ture, is an elegant and engaging novel by evocation of the harshness of nature». Words Without Borders English which, it would seem, do not one of Spain’s foremost literary figures. (Worldwide) new exist». La Vanguardia «Ádám Bodor is a narrator of wonderful stories which are yet to be directions discovered». Die Zeit French editions «It would be difficult to find in contemporary European literature a cambourakis darker, more brutal yet more lyrical satire than this book». El País

ádám bodor (Cluj-Kolozsvár, Romania, 1936) was arrest- Other works in fiction by the author: ed and imprisoned by the political police in 1952 but was Vision from the Bottom of the Sea released in 1954. He left his native Transylvania in 1982 to settle in Budapest, where he still lives, working as an editor. Considered by many to be one of the most important fig- (2010) literary essay ures in contemporary Hungarian literature, he won the Hungarian Literary Prize in 2002. His highly-charged nov- 1216 pages els are very pithy and poetically condensed. City of Barcelona Prize, 2010. Cálamo Prize, 2010.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Ádám Bodor Ádám Bodor The Section The Archbishop’s Visit

In La Sección there are small bottles and The inhabitants of a village in the Car- mouldy salamis. Neither clothes nor pathian Mountains are getting ready for products have their own label and every- a visit from an elusive archbishop. Mean- body wears muddy boots. The job of the while, in the background, a coup d’état is Section inmates is to keep the tempera- being plotted while the main character Fiction ture down in order to please the weasels, Gabriel Ventuza goes to great lengths to Fiction the real owners of the place. Gizella retrieve the remains of his murdered fa- (2007) (2005) Weisz has been sent here but we are not ther, the notorious human trafficker, Vic- short novel told how or why. In Kafka only one per- tor Ventuza. stories 136 pages son is chosen but in this brief, intense 64 pages story Bodor incorporates the whole of Rights sold to: society and everyone suffers the conse- Basque quences. elkarlanean

«The beauty of this marvellous treasure needs to be «A transgressive, exultant work». La Vanguardia proclaimed. A true find».La Vanguardia «A clear, refined style, verging on poetry».El Periódico

«One of the most perfect books I have come across in recent years». El País

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Gregorio Casamayor Gregorio Casamayor The Life and Deaths & A. G. Porta of Ethel Jurado Another Life in the Suitcase «Ethel Jurado had approached the group to beg for help» Marcos Recaj, Co-authored by Gregorio Casamayor one of the main characters of the book, and A. G. Porta, this book tells the story reveals. «And we offered her our whole- of África Bonal, who after eight years in hearted support. Her need for help was prison, decides to reveal to a couple of Fiction so great, her situation so precarious that, Fiction alleged journalists what she believes is without having planned it and perhaps the true story of her mother, Natalia (2011) unconsciously, Ethel insinuated herself (2012) Bonal, a writer who is better known by novel into our lives, colonising them to such an novel her pen name, Virginia Solano and 304 pages extreme that, for a time, everything we 240 pages whose life before her literary success is a did and everything we experienced re- mystery. This is the story of an innocent Rights sold: volved around her personal tragedy and, lie which, in order to not to be discov- English (World) without our being aware of it, she ered, leads to other lies, half-truths, hispabooks changed our lives, or at least mine, forev- small distortions and whole range of er. If we’d been really brave, we’d have falsehoods. África Bonal’s life begins like limited ourselves to calling the police, as this, with an innocent invention that «Rarely have a few voices said so Laura suggested, but we didn’t. We act- conceals the dreams and frustrations of much about and spoken so clearly ed out some absurd role of friends, ther- her mother. In the end, it will cause ir- apists and saviours, without any experi- of another voice that opts for reparable harm. ence, without knowing what to do, with silence». Qué Leer no notion of the repercussions it could have in our own lives, and that’s how it «The latest surprise in co-authored Spanish fiction,Otra vida en la «This thrilling page-turner keeps was». maleta is a chronicle of a traumatic awakening, the story of a family the reader on tenterhooks». in which reality and fiction mingle».La Vanguardia El País «A tense, questioning work of meticulous interrogative precision. «An astonishingly tense and The reader willingly surrenders to this passionate story». El País perfectly structured novel». Ara «A gorgeous novel about psychology and disillusionment, identity crisis and being reborn». El Comercio

gregorio casamayor (Cañadajuncosa, Cuenca, 1955) was awarded the 2010 Memorial Silverio Cañada Prize for the Best Crime Novel at the Semana Negra in Gijón for his first novel, La Sopa de Dios (God’s Soup). Meticulously paced, his novels shun all artificiality with prose that is always at the service of what needs to be explained.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Gregorio Casamayor Sònia Hernández God’s Soup The Pissimbonis

During his convalescence in a prison in- «Nobody loved the Pissimbonis. They firmary, Fede Cortés, former alcoholic lived in an ivy-covered house on top of a from a dormitory town on the outskirts hill, far enough away from the other of Barcelona, revisits the events that led houses for everyone to consider that they to his current imprisonment, after being didn’t live in the town. There were many charged with several counts of murder. brothers and sisters in the family and no- Although no evidence has been found body knew whether the patriarch, Igna- Fiction against him and, indeed, his advanced cio Pissimboni, or his wife Martina were Fiction age and frail constitution would make still alive. Nobody in the town had seen (2009) him an unlikely serial killer, he has plead- them and the locals had gotten used to (2015) crime novel ed guilty, in bizarre circumstances. forgetting all about them. No one loved novel 192 pages Fede’s witty, pithy voice tells a stunning them and no one cared about that family. 128 pages story, roaming back to his early years of Neither did they care about or love any- Silverio Cañada poverty and solitude, his change of for- one». Sònia Hernández offers a surpris- Memorial Prize tune, and a darkly humorous life from ing story with Kafkaesque overtones, skil- for the best crime hanging around in a corner pub to run- fully defying the limits of fiction to fash- novel, 2010 ning amok. La sopa de Dios shows how ion a beautiful metaphor for freedom. fortune and misfortune often come to- «Sarcastic, brilliant humour gether and that happiness and suffering and spare, refined style». seem to be allotted in accordance with «A strange novel, different.Fascinating». Enrique Vila-Matas La Vanguardia some kind of blind cosmic balance: «If I am happy, my neighbour is bound to «This is disquieting, unconventional writing, notable for its total have an excruciating toothache. This is how life works». independence from the prevailing codes in present-day Spanish fiction». El Periódico

«Reflexive, hypnotic and uneasing».Ara

sònia hernández (Terrassa, 1976) has published two col- lections of poems – La casa del mar (The Sea House, 2006) and Los nombres del tiempo (The Names of Time, 2010) – and the novel La mujer de Rapallo (The Woman from Rapallo, 2010). In 2010 Granta included her in its selection of best young nov- elists in Spanish. She is a regular contributor to «Cultura|s», the literary supplement of the newspaper La Vanguardia.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Pablo Martín Sánchez Tomorrow Is Yours

«You’re going to be born today. You shouldn’t but you’re go- ing to. You shouldn’t because it’s hell out there. There are demonstrations day in, day out. People are talking about elec- Fiction tions. About attacks. About amnesties. And you’re just fine in your cave. So nice and warm. So weightless. […] Life gives you (2016) so much, people say. But the first thing it gives you is a couple novel of slaps on the bum. […] The frequency of the contractions suggests that it’s nearly time for you to poke your head out into To be the world. A world in which a lot of things are going to happen published in today. Good things and bad things. In Congo, they’re going to october 2016 kill the president, Marien Ngouabi. There’s going to be a gen- eral strike in Italy. In Spain, the Government Gazette is going Rights sold to: to announce a new pardon. But the story that will mark your life French is going to happen much closer to home, a few kilometres from la contre allée here […] You can hear the bells of a nearby church. You can feel editions a new contraction. You’re going to be born today. You shouldn’t but you’re going to».

pablo martín sánchez (near Reus, 1977) has a higher degree in Drama, a degree in Theory of Literature and Com- parative Literature, and a master’s degree in Humanities. He has worked in the publishing industry as a reader, copyedi- tor, translator and bookseller. A founder of the magazine Verbigracia, he is also a member of the editori- al committee of the digital review La Siega and a regular col- umnist for Rinconete (Centro Virtual Cervantes – Cervantes Institute Virtual Centre). He is presently completing a PhD in Lille (France) with a thesis on Oulipo and hypertext. He is a member of the Collège de Pataphysique and of the Altíssimo After his widely acclaimed El anarquista que se llamaba Instituto de Estudios Pataphysicos de La Candelaria (La Can- como yo (The Anarchist Who Bore My Name), Pablo delaria Supreme Institute of Pataphysics). He made his literary debut with the novel El anarquista que se llamaba como yo (The Martín has now written another, eagerly-awaited novel Anarchist Who Bore My Name), winner of the award El Mun- do’s Best Literary Debut.

acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Pablo Martín Sánchez Javier Mije The Anarchist Who The Long Night Bore My Name «He’d received Almeida’s hand-written note in the producer’s Barcelona head- Fruit of the painstaking research which quarters. It looked like a page from a Martín describes in his Prologue, this school notebook, or one ripped out of novel relates the real-life story of the the Notes section of a diary and the big, staunch anarchist Pablo Martín Sánchez, untidily scribbled letters invaded the who was involved in one of the most margins: the barest summary of a plot Fiction controversial chapters of Spanish history and the film’s title, The Long Night. Fiction in the early twentieth century. Martín re- There were hardly any other instruc- (2012) constructs the life of the anarchist who tions for writing the script, the first draft (2014) novel bore his name, using this as a pretext to of which had to be ready within sixteen novel 624 pages write a novel brimming with adventure. weeks […] Although Almeida’s note 160 pages Discerningly structured, the book offers made no explicit mention of any historic El Mundo’s Best a chapter-by-chapter portrayal of a char- episode, it vaguely reminded him of Literary Debut, acter whose real-life experiences linked “The Long Night” of Madrid’s resist- 2012 up with a number of events that are re- ance during the Civil War». vealed here in a plural fresco depicting Rights sold: the society of the time. Spanish Club «A novel to keep you awake. Javier Mije’s finely wrought prose shines in círculo de lectores «A marvellous novel». El Periódico this book where some truly impressive pages will make you want to get out your pen and underline them from start to finish». English ABC deep vellum «A mature work, interesting, captivating and perfectly narrated». Time Out «Brilliant style. Splendid, deep, luminous and dark». El País

«A novel of 600 pages that never loses its grip, a novel in which nothing lacks or is left over». El País «Mije’s literature is subtle. There is nothing gratuitous about it». La Opinión de Málaga «A brilliant début. One of the most important novels of recent years». El País javier mije (Seville, 1969) has degrees in Theory of Litera- ture and Comparative Literature.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Javier Mije Javier Mije The Fabulous World The Path of the of Nothing Caterpillar

Everything is tolerable if one lacks imag- Like an open curtain that unveils the ination, or if one only plays the white most silenced reality, these short stories keys of the piano without touching the explore the dark side of characters who black ones which conceal the more stri- are spied on in their hideaways where dent sounds. At what point does the normal eyes cannot see, where decency Fiction score narrow down to the final limits of would counsel going no further. In his Fiction a monochord melody, and at what point first book, Javier Mije probes the depths (2010) does life start to make decisions for you? of the obscurest human condition with (2003) short These pages are full of love, violence, great determination and skill. With a short stories loneliness and failure, traversed by be- style rich in imagery, he builds his sto- stories 104 pages wildered hearts, stars which keep puls- ries on these foundations, entering the 128 pages ing out pain long after they are extin- recondite rooms in which we hide, guished, signs that warn of the end of reaching the core of dark secrets wres- time, and clocks that invariably stop at tling with the structures of our own the same cruel hour. This is a book conventions. which embraces South London residen- tial neighbourhoods, a night train to Lis- bon and the most chic Barcelona which, «Meticulous, dreamlike prose». El País without warning, descends into the stench of a fairground stall. «Anyone who loves true literature should read this book immediately». La Vanguardia «A beautiful, subtle book with nothing redundant about it». La Vanguardia

«A hundred pages replete with literary beauty». El País

«Short, intense stories, full of wrecked, unbalanced, stubborn, solitary, selfish characters who are desperate for love».elboomeran.com

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   David Monteagudo David Monteagudo The End The Building

A gathering of old friends in a mountain In this construction titled El Edificio the refuge brings together a dozen men and reader will recognise most of its corners, women with nothing in common, save lairs of paralysing fear and anguish, of an obscure, long-ago episode in which obsessive passions capable of wrecking they were all involved, leaving a lasting our lives, of the joy of playing and those mark on them all. A sudden event will revealing hitherto unknown strengths completely upset their plans, forcing deep inside us. David Monteagudo is Fiction them to remain united and work as a back with high-voltage short stories Fiction team in order to discover the real nature which the reader will identify with. (2009) of what has happened and to gauge its (2012) novel consequences. Under growing pressure, short stories 352 pages each of them will interpret the events ac- 176 pages cording to his or her particular set of Mandarache obsessions, and from confessions, indis- Award, 2011 cretions and long-held quarrels, a com- plex and sordid map of their past rela- Rights sold: tionships will emerge as a threatening Dutch shadow becomes increasingly palpable «His language is limpid, unambiguous, direct and wereld- and looms ever nearer. bibliotheek annihilating». La Vanguardia German «At once terrifying and touching». La Vanguardia rowohlt «A post-modern Borges. These peculiar short stories Italian «A fantastic mixture of shadows and dark obsessions with amazing come from the entrails of the video-monitored society guanda descriptions of the characters. Great literature. The End is the beginning!». editore in which we live». ABC El Mundo Russian corpus books «One of the most surprising books of the year». El País

Spanish Screen Version «This book is a drug, an epidemic. Don’t miss it». La Vanguardia mod produc- ciones david monteagudo (Viveiro, Lugo, 1962), who was born in Galicia and is now resident in Catalonia, discovered his lit- erary vocation at the age of forty. He has been translated into four languages.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   David Monteagudo David Monteagudo Brañaganda Marcos Montes

Does such a thing as the lobishomen ex- An accident. 30 men trapped in a mine. ist: a being that is half human and half Only one way out. One dilemma. One beast? What is the explanation behind surprise. After his much acclaimed novel the violent deaths of so many women in Fin (The End), the bestselling author Da- Brañaganda, a town in the depths of ru- vid Monteagudo now follows his stun- ral Galicia? While the local schoolteach- ning literary debut with a long-awaited er’s husband struggles to give objective, second novel Marcos Montes. Short and Fiction rational explanations, readers are left intense, it is set in the total darkness of a Fiction flabbergasted at events whose details be- collapsed gold mine, where Marcos (2011) come ever-blurrier the further you ven- Montes and his fellow miners are trapped (2010) novel ture into this dark region. Perhaps the two kilometres below the surface. Trying novel 288 pages lobishomen is just the henchman of an to save their lives, he and his colleagues 128 pages enigmatic moralising judge, rigorous look for a way out. But there are unex- Rights sold: and arbitrary and out to punish the sor- pected obstacles ahead… French did, fiercely human sins committed in bourgois this isolated place named Brañaganda. Marcos Montes describes a critical junc- éditeur ture in the life of a miner and the diffi- culties he faces as he tries to escape from German «You’ll be hooked on this book». Go Mag «Marcos Montes won’t give the rowohlt the mine after the accident. However, more than anything else, perhaps, the reader a break». La Vanguardia story is a defence of forgiveness and its Italian «Addictive tension». El País guanda essential value in human affairs, in rela- «A resounding novel, with the editore tions with others and with oneself. «You’ll be holding your breath from the very structure and intention of mythical beginning and then throughout the exhausting, With his surprising narrative talents and narration». Avui constant crescendo». Gara the mythical qualities of his writing, which were first revealed in Fin, David «Somewhere between Kafka’s The Monteagudo once again wins over and Castle and an adventure novel by moves readers in this journey groping towards both the essential and the most Jules Verne». Time Out exiguous values of the human soul.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Myriam Moscona Álvaro Silva Onion Skin The Night Walks

Somewhere between novel, poetry and Isabel’s father disappeared in the early memoir, this extraordinary book delves days of the Civil War and the mysteri- deep into the secret realms of the word ous figure of the absent man has marked and its power of salvation. In this pro- her existence ever since. One day she cess, the Sephardic Jewish writer Myri- receives a strange phone call which sig- am Moscona revives the shadowy figures nals a turning point in her life. The nar- and voices of her past. Ladino, the an- rator then goes back in time to reveal Fiction cient Spanish language which is still spo- the highs and lows of love and the deci- Fiction ken today by Sephardic Jews, becomes a sions that determine the destiny of the (2014) valuable travelling companion on her characters. This is a subtle novel and a (2015) literary journey to Sofia, Plovdiv, Istanbul, penetrating inquiry into the conse- novel essay Smyrna and Salonika, where family quences of our acts. 432 pages 280 pages ghosts reside.

Xavier Villaurrutia Prize, 2012

«Tela de sevoya is an absolutely extraordinary «A beautiful parable about forgiveness and second chances». El Mundo text». La Vanguardia «A subtle novel and deep reflection on the consequences of our acts». «A story with astonishing and startling La Vanguardia ramifications».El Periódico

álvaro silva (Vitoria, 1949) has written Tomás Moro: un myriam moscona (Mexico, 1955) is a Mexican writer from hombre para todas las horas (Thomas More, a Man for All a Bulgarian Sephardic family. Author of several collections of Hours, 2007) and has edited several works by More, includ- poems, she has received awards from the Academy of Ameri- ing those he has titled Piensa la muerte (Thinking about Death, can Poets and PEN International Center for the English trans- 2006), Carta a un monje (Letter to a Monk, 2009) and The lation of her book Negro marfil (Ivory Black) by Jen Hofer. Last Letters of Thomas More (2001 – published as Últimas cartas, Acantilado, 2010).

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016   Aleksei Varlamov Fulgencio Argüelles The Birth I Can’t Find My Face in the Mirror An estranged middle-aged couple share a rundown apartment paying little at- A storm is unleashed the day the aged tention to one another. Almost mind- priest Father Lubencio dies and María lessly they conceive a child. Through Casta and her teenage son Edipio try to this development, they rediscover escape the havoc it wreaks. Events like themselves and their relationship flour- the arrival of the new priest, the appear- ishes, strengthened by fear of a miscar- ance of the first wardrobe with a full- Fiction riage. The portrayal of the couple’s life length mirror, or the announcement of Fiction is succinct, without dwelling on details, the outbreak of the Civil War shape the (2009) and an engaging atmosphere is con- life of the small mining village of Peña- (2014) novel veyed through the most delicate and forte, which is cut off from the world and novel 160 pages austere of narrative styles. Varlamov slowly asphyxiating in the damp of nev- 320 pages describes the power of love that knows er-ending rain. This is an extraordinary Rights sold: no fear. novel with fascinating glimpses of friend- French ship, despair, tedium and mirrors that lie. éditions du rocher

«Varlamov is one of the most interesting Russian «You want it to be never-ending». ABC fiction writers today. Not to be missed». La Vanguardia «Argüelles is a remarkably talented stylist. His prose is highly polished and the pace is gripping». El País «Varlamov’s art as a fiction writer is astounding, balance, emotional and genuine». fulgencio argüelles (Asturias, ). After a long peri- El País 1955 od in Madrid, where he studied Psychology, he returned to Asturias and settled in the village of Cenera, where he spent his childhood. He has written half a dozen of books and won aleksei varlamov (Moscow, 1963) made his debut as a numerous awards. I Can’t Find My Face in the Mirror is his writer in 1987 with the short story «Roaches» and subsequent- latest novel. ly attained fame in 1995 with the novel The Wild Olive. He has received numerous awards, including the Solzhenitsyn Prize in 2000. El nacimiento (The Birth), published for the first time in 1995, definitively consolidated his reputation as a writer.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Fulgencio Argüelles Julián Ayesta The Blue Palace Helena or the of the Belgian Engineers Summer Sea

One day in September 1927, Nalo began When it originally came out in 1952, He- to work at the blue palace of the Belgian lena o el mar del verano was considered engineers as an apprentice gardener. by the many enthusiastic readers to be Spring and revolutions reached the pal- one of the best works of post-war Span- ace before they arrived anywhere else, ish fiction. The suggestive power and initiating the young man into friendship lyricism of Ayesta’s writing continues to Fiction and love, understanding and analysis. endure. Fiction Through the tender gaze of his insightful (2003) narrator, Fulgencio Argüelles presents (1952, 2000) novel the personal and historic upheavals of novel 320 pages the people who lived and worked in the 88 pages blue palace, while also shaping a private Winner of the world that moves beyond the personal Rights sold: 2003 Café Gijón and into the universal sphere. Dutch Prize for the Best podium Novel in Asturian Literature for the English past forty years «A splendid, intense novel». «This is an excellent, enduringly fresh novel, and the prose is masterly». dedalus El País El País books Rights sold: World English French «A novel that will disappoint very few readers». «One of the most beautiful books in post-war Spanish literature». hispabooks les allusifs El Periódico La Vanguardia German c.h. beck «The reader is moved from page one onwards». Diario de Sevilla Greek «This novel is as little known as it is delicious». ABC ekdoseis

Italian passigli julián ayesta (Gijón, 1919-1996) had degrees in Law, Phi- editori losophy and Literature and was a career diplomat. Author of several plays, he only wrote one novel, Helena o el mar del ve- rano (Helena or the Summer Sea).

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Rafael Argullol Mikhail Kurayev Flow Down, Petya on his Way Invisible River to the Heavenly Kingdom Two old friends move slowly towards an unknown but inevitable goal. Some- where between commitment and flight, This is a particularly impressive story their journey creates an ambiguous set- about the ways in which people put up ting around them, making ever clearer with a long tyranny without getting dis- Fiction the contradiction between freedom and couraged. Its simple, spontaneous lan- Fiction fate. The starting point of this story, a guage is exceptionally well suited to this portrayal of the impenetrable, in- (2009) celebration of friendship, becomes both (2008) scrutable, dark and oppressive world of novel a challenge and an enigma. Like warri- novel Stalinism. 128 pages ors from ancient times, the two men 168 pages have to face the toughest of trials, in- cluding one that involves crossing moral Rights sold: boundaries. English university of california

«An excellent novel». «A deeply moving book». «An intelligent, sweeping novel in the style of the great European writers, El Periódico El Mundo it is tender, cruel and closer to Dostoyevsky than to Tolstoy». El Mundo

«A clear, condensed and brief text, «This book perfectly captures a world where routine terror and silence is creating a spiral of ever-increasing the people’s daily fare». El Faro de Cartagena tension». El País mikhail kurayev (Saint Petersburg, 1939) published his first book, Captain Dickstein (titled El capitán Dikshtein in Spanish), in 1987 after many years working as a film scriptwrit- er. Since then he has become a major Russian writer, a real discovery for those who have not yet come across this author of intense, intelligent and delicate stories.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Juan Antonio Masoliver Ródenas Wounded Innocence Fiction

(2016) novel 144 pages In the first decade after the Spanish Civil War, life in Masnou, a coastal village not far from Barcelona, sedately flows around a respectable middle-class family, symbol of domestic harmo- ny. Carlos is immersed in this apparently friction-free world but rancour, violence, police reprisals and sexual brutality soon start corroding its idyllic facade. He begins to see the sordid reality of a tragedy which will end up devouring the whole town and, with it, the Oria dynasty. This is the most disconcerting, tender and painful novel Masoliver Ródenas has written to date.

«There is no emotional respite for the reader in this story». La Vanguardia «Masoliver sketches a devastating portrait of the closing years of the 1940s». La Vanguardia «A provocative novel in which Masoliver’s greatest virtue as a writer shines through: freedom». La Vanguardia

juan antonio masoliver ródenas (Barcelona, 1939) is Professor Emeritus of Spanish and Latin American Literature at the University of Westminster in London. He has published a great number of es- says, poems, short stories and novels and has translated authors such as Cesare Pavese, Giorgio Saviane, Carson McCullers, Djuna Barnes and Vladimir Nabokov into Spanish.

acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Mikhail Kurayev Juan Antonio Night Patrol Masoliver Ródenas Fontanills Street Kurayev simply and effectively describes the impenetrable, dark and oppressive world of Stalinism. What is particularly La calle Fontanills brings together a col- interesting about the story is the way it lection of short stories describing, with focuses on the unchallenged nature of a mix of exasperated and brutal realism his long reign. and delirious absurdity, a struggle against nostalgia in order to obtain a «recon- Fiction struction» of the past, both personal Fiction and that of society. Frequently, since (2007) the element of reality is minimal, mem- (2010) novel ory becomes confused with invention. short 112 pages Then again, there are stories of adults stories in whose lives sordidness, disorder and 224 pages Rights sold: misunderstandings prevail. Masoliver English Ródenas has shaped an essentially so- university matic set of stories in which it is diffi- of carolina cult to separate feelings from bodily experience, from bodies damaged by French «An excellent, perturbing story». ABC fear, solitude and sexual repression, albin michel and also by the exorcisms through which «A short story of remarkable intensity and delicacy». they seek liberation. German El Periódico volk und welt «The stories in La calle Fontanills seek purity, a return to origins, the nourishing breast and the blank page». Italian La Vanguardia il melangolo «I have been such an assiduous reader of Masoliver’s stories that I still read them with special enchantment». Enrique Vila-Matas

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Juan Antonio Juan Antonio Masoliver Ródenas Masoliver Ródenas The Night of The Englishman’s Door Gunpowder Plot If the characters of this weirdly beautiful novel are or might be real, this is certain- These short stories reveal the author’s ly not the case with many of the deeds personal memories and imaginings. attributed to them by the author’s per- Masoliver Ródenas also comments on verse imagination for the pleasure of the Fiction the notion of collective memory. reader who, with his or her arbitrary in- Fiction terpretations, is, in the end, responsible (2006) for any literary work. In any case, what (2001) short Masoliver laments and celebrates is hav- novel stories ing been unable to distinguish between 414 pages 232 pages reality and invention.

«A cross between Masoliver’s much-admired Pavese and James Joyce’s «La puerta del inglés is pure-state literature, issuing brilliant portraits in Dubliners». Enrique Vila-Matas from the pen of a literary rara avis … as well as a great display of humour». La Vanguardia «A true tale of learning». El Mundo «An impeccable/implacable portrait of a generation «This is one of the most lucid collections of short stories I have read in … a kind of very high-voltage entertainment». months». ABC Qué Leer

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Other titles Other titles by the author by the author

(2014)  aphorisms (2012)  poetry (2004)  essay (2002)  poetry 144 pages 96 pages 552 pages 136 pages

The Blind Man in the Window: Monotonies Contemporary Voices Paradises Blindly The Restless Memory

(2008)  poetry Sònia (1999)  poetry Collected Poems 224 pages (From top to bottom and from left to right) 400 pages (From top to bottom and from left to right)

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Berta Vias Mahou Berta Vias Mahou They Came Looking Snow Pits for Him Intent on capturing whatever past he can derive from the objects around him (not Jacques, alter ego of Albert Camus, re-cre- unlike Walter Benjamin in the city of ates the last years of his life. Well-known Paris), the narrator delves into the lives for his opposition to any form of violence, of a number of people who were em- not only to the death penalty and the ter- broiled in some of the murkiest events of rorism that has grown out of the opposi- the twentieth century, including the tion in his country to the French colonial Fiction Spanish Civil War and the Second World Fiction regime, but also to the notion that the War. Trapped between the voices of the end justifies the means, he comes into (2010) masses and the conscience of the individ- (2008) direct confrontation with the majority of novel ual, the narrator, disillusioned with short the intellectuals of his time. After receiv- stories 232 pages words, is paradoxically left with only his ing numerous death threats, the Algeri- 224 pages own voice. Dulce Chacón an-born writer is persecuted—as he has Prize for Spanish described in his novel The First Man— Sintagma Award, Fiction, 2011 by a nightmare that frequently assails 2008 him in different forms but with only one Finalist for the theme: his executioners come looking Finalist for the Critics’ Prize, for him. «A moving novel». El Mundo Critics Award, 2011 2008 «A book that will not be ignored». Público «An exceptional novel. Superb». ABC

«A text of great literary merit». El Mundo «A small literary gem». El País

«One of the best books of the year». elplacerdelalectura.com

«An interesting reflection on violence».El Mundo

«A book mingling history and fiction, reviving different aspects of Albert Camus». Diario Vasco

berta vias mahou (Madrid, 1961) has a degree in Ancient History. She has translated Ödön von Horváth, Stefan Zweig, Arthur Schnitzler, Joseph Roth.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Ramón Andrés Non- To Think and Not to Fall Fiction

(2016) essay

With this book, Ramón Andrés offers ten essays or medita- To be published tions on a range of subjects, although the reader recognises a in october 2016 single sensibility in all of them, the same subtle, patient, pen- etrating gaze. Starting out from works of literature, music or film, with a selection (ranging from Sebald’s poem After Na- ture to Béla Tarr’s film The Turin Horse by way of Ligeti’s «Requiem») which, in itself, is nothing less than a message to the reader, he ponders matters like the values entailed in breaking bread at the table, the relationship between human- ity and animality, the chimeras of today and yesterday, calum- nies, death, nothingness and exclusion and, through them all, he keeps whispering a diagnosis of our times.

ramón andrés (Pamplona, 1955) is a thinker, essayist and poet. He has writ- ten numerous articles and books about music and literature for which he has received many awards.

acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Ramón Andrés Ramón Andrés Semper dolens: The Luthier of Delft: A History of Suicide Music, Painting and in the West Science in the Times of Vermeer and Spinoza According to the World Health Organi- zation, suicide is the leading cause of vi- El Luthier de Delft examines seven- Non- olent death in the world, ahead of mur- teenth-century music (but also art and Non- Fiction der and armed conflicts. Many psychiat- science), with particular attention to Fiction ric studies in recent years suggest that Dutch culture. The book revolves around ninety per cent of suicides are the result (2015) three main characters, the painter Jan (2013) of mental illness. However, reducing the essay Vermeer, the philosopher Baruch Spino- essay voluntary act of suicide to pathology 512 pages za and the musician Jan Pieterszoon 336 pages only means simplifying one of the most Sweelinck. They guide the reader decisive aspects of human experience: through the construction of musical in- pain. A history of suicide in the West struments with all their woods and var- should therefore be a history of pain, nishes, the presence of women in art and taking into account all the forms of our music, the lives of painters and the sym- fragility. bolic world of their works, and studies in optics and the popularisation of the tele- scope. This book abounds in resonances «An incomparable voice of the contemporary Spanish and harmonies, wisdom and subtlety. essay». Iker Seisdedos, El País

«His enormous erudition allows him to leap with «A succulent and erudite explosion of refined humanism».El País natural elegance from science to letters and the arts, and thus to dazzle us». «An essay of exuberant erudition». El Mundo Francisco Calvo Serraller, El País

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Ramón Andrés Ramón Andrés Dictionary of Music, A World in the Ear: Mythology, Magic and The Birth of Music Religion in Culture

This book examines the relationship of When was music born? This is the ques- music with mythology and religion, tion that guides Ramón Andrés’ work, Non- which is to say the origins of the art of from the earliest human encounters with Non- Fiction music as a vehicle for ideas and ancient sound through to works of contempo- Fiction beliefs. Drawing on the Indo-European rary composers, via China, Mesopota- cultures as well as the decisive presence mia, India, Egypt, Greece and Rome. A (2012) (2008) essay of ancient Egypt, it takes music as its World in the Ear is both a richly docu- essay unifying theme in order to delve into mented essay and a thrilling, intense 1776 pages 576 pages the origins of present-day culture in its tour through a discipline that, century most diverse aspects. Readers, thus pre- after century, has proven to be a match- El País Best Essay Rights sold: sented with the keys to their past, can less source of knowledge and delight. of 2012 Italian learn about religions and customs as Music is a key element of human culture. adelphi well as the moral and ethical founda- Not only does it contribute towards our Shortlisted by tions of today’s world in ancient Greece, understanding of the cosmos but it also La Vanguardia as Persia and India, and also in the Celtic, has a healing function which transports one of the top 10 Roman, Germanic and Scandinavian us to other worlds and opens our minds essays of 2012 realms, where music had a very signifi- to other states of consciousness. To cant role. quote the author: «There is no culture anywhere in which music does not serve as a precious means to knowledge». «A gigantic work. Poetic, erudite, absorbing». La Vanguardia «An impressive work that shouldn’t be missed by any music lover». ABC «An extraordinary reference work and, moreover, a delicious intellectual and creative adventure». «A skilfully and zestfully told story which conveys its El País passion to the reader». El Mundo «A book that is destined to become a major work of reference». El Mundo

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Ramón Andrés Rafael Argullol Company Unwelcome: Passion of the God Mystical Writings Who Wanted to Be Man on Silence Rafael Argullol examines the death of Jesus of Nazareth. His account is equally Silence, which means more than an inter- nourished by the Gospels and successive ruption of sounds or seeking the reverse images based on the story bequeathed to of oral language, possesses, though it may Non- us by artists. Christ is like the hero in a Non- seem contradictory, a powerful commu- Fiction Greek tragedy, a profoundly human fig- Fiction nicative dimension and a strange capacity ure around which every aspect of exist- for facilitating access into the world of (2010) ence is in turmoil. Love, friendship, (2014) the spirit, thought and the arts. It is, as essay eroticism, freedom and betrayal are stag- essay much as speaking is, a form of knowl- 392 pages es along an itinerary marked out by an 88 pages edge, the key that gives access to the com- exceptional destiny. Pasión del Dios que plexity of consciousness. From silence quiso ser hombre is a moving text shining one may analyse another angle of human with the beauty of a disturbing and high- conduct, critically interpret culture and ly fascinating story. explain subtly and in quite an atypical fashion any metaphysical construction. This book, in which the wide-ranging pre- «This is a gripping, provocative book, vibrant with liminary study discusses the origins and brilliant intuitions and, in cultural terms, impeccable». development of spiritual and philosoph- ical traditions of East and West, offers a La Vanguardia painstaking selection of writings on si- lence, the work of the great masters of «A little gem of a book». Ara Spanish mysticism of the 16th and 17th centuries, representatives of the apogee of European spiritual literature. «Brief but intense». El País

Other works in non-fiction by the au- thor: Johann Sebastian Bach: Days, Ideas and Books

(2005) essay 344 pages

City of Barcelona Prize, 2009

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Rafael Argullol Rafael Argullol Damn Perfection: A Sensory Education: Writings on the Sacrifice A Personal History and Celebration of the Female Nude of Beauty in Painting

Una educación sensorial is not only a title Argullol is always concerned about the but also an exact description of this Non- relationship between man and artistic Non- book’s contents, delivered through the inquiry, in each and every one of its dis- Fiction experience of a teenager who discovers Fiction ciplines, as a path to knowledge. This in art what life has so far failed to offer, time he embarks on a journey of twen- (2013) and of an adult who recalls, years later, (2012) ty-two stops in which one finds, among essay what was an exceptional and, in many essay other characters, phenomena and plac- 240 pages senses, a magical apprenticeship. The 192 pages es, Michelangelo, Honoré de Balzac, subtitle, too, is accurate since, as the Goethe, Lucretius, Dante, Thomas Mann, reader will find, Argullol also reflects on Casa de America Victor Hugo, Montaigne, Shakespeare, eroticism, offering a veritable history of Prize for the Best Dürer, Picasso, Nietzsche, Rilke, Dos- nudes in painting based on his own sub- Essay, 2012 toyevsky, Mantegna, the Cappella San- jective experience. severo, the Soyuz spacecraft, the sculp- tor’s stone, spectres, mountains and si- lence. This is a book full of echoes sum- «A rich, enjoyable book». moned up by one of our most brilliant writers. Luis Antonio de Villena

«An exceptional essay». «Delicious perfection». La voz de Galicia El País

«A splendid collection of essays». El Mundo

«An intelligent, essential book». La Vanguardia

«One of this year’s great books». Diario de Sevilla

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   María Belmonte Pilgrims of Beauty: Travellers in Italy and Greece

In the eighteenth century, Italy and Greece became places of veneration and obliga- tory pilgrimage for young aristocrats Non- whose education was not considered to Fiction be complete without visiting these coun- tries to ponder their beauty in situ. Books Other titles (2015) like Goethe’s Italian Journey made a de- by the author essay cisive contribution towards it, in particu- 320 pages lar as it was one of the first works to ex- press the transformations that inhabit- ants of northern lands were going to un- dergo after coming into contact with Mediterranean essences. (2008)  essay (2008)  essay 120 pages 480 pages  Sold to: Portuguese (Portugal) (nova vega) «This book instructs and delights. Who could ask for more?». El Mundo

«Masterly». La Razón

Adventure: A Nomadic «This treasure trove of a book will surprise the reader with its many Philosophy marvellous passages, dazzling anecdotes and exquisite sensibility». El País The Hero and the One maría belmonte barrenechea was born in Bilbao and The End of the has a PhD in Anthropology from the University of the Basque World as a Work Country. She works as a translator and interpreter, and lives of Art near the Mediterranean. Peregrinos de la belleza is her first book. The Hunter of Moments: A Travel Journal (1990 - 1995)

(From top to bottom and from left to right) (2007)  essay (2007)  essay 160 pages 136 pages

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Josep Maria Esquirol Intimate Resistance. Essay on a proximity of philosophy

La resistència intima is a percipient, pro- found essay on the human condition. Non- Esquirol reveals how proper care of one- Non- Fiction self gives light and warmth to those Fiction around us, protecting them and showing the way ahead. «We recognise that inti- (2015) mate resistance is what we call an expe- essay rience belonging to the region of prox- 192 pages imity; a region that is not visited in a day, but where one tends to stay. Yet today it Rights sold: is hard to remain there. Proximity is not Catalan quaderns measured in metres or centimetres. Its crema opposite is not distance but, rather, the ubiquitous monochrome of a world in Down with Mysticism Decade: (Poetry 1997-2007) (2008)  poetry (2008)  poetry Ciutat de thrall to technology. We have seen how 88 pages 376 pages Barcelona everyday matters, and what is communi- Prize for the Best cated by a home are extremely impor- andrés neu- Essay 2015 tant modes of the experience of proxim- man (Buenos ity». Aires, 1977) lives in Granada, Spain. He has a degree in «A work that is read with real enjoyment. A splendid book!». Philology from La Vanguardia the University of Granada, where he was also a lecturer in Spanish-American literature. At «Thoughts are expressed in accessible words with this unusual and present he writes a column for the liter- profound proximity to things which an autonomous human being can ary supplement in the daily national attain». newspaper ABC, as well as regular arti- El Mundo cles for various Spanish and Latin American newspapers. In addition, he has published several collections of po- ems, novels, short stories and essays. At josep maria esquirol (Alt Penedès, 1963) is a lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Barcelona, where he heads the the Hay Festival, he was selected as one research group Aporia. He has written numerous studies and of the best young Latin American au- gives seminars on contemporary philosophy at universities in thors, and is included in the prestigious several countries. Bogotá-39 list. The Tightrope Walker (2005)  essay  144 pages

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Pedro Olalla Pedro Olalla Greece in the Air: Greece’s Minor History: Legacies and Challenges A Humanist Look at an of Ancient Athenian Agitated Past Democracy as Seen Historia menor de Grecia goes directly to from Athens Today historical sources to capture in literary Non- form a revealing collection of human Non- Fiction «From the very start of this Greek effort gestures: decisions, testimonies, exam- Fiction to construct an artificial human space ples of good behaviour, history’s minor facts and «second-fiddle» characters all (2015) where justice would be possible and the (2012) of which illustrate the shaping and sur- essay peoples’ common destiny would be gov- essay vival of the humanist spirit from Antiq- 192 pages erned by the will of men, the citizens 384 pages were the city and hence the state. There uity through to the present day. This is a was no such thing as a state detached vibrant account of minor episodes, all of from the citizens. Ever since Solon’s bold them surprising and hitherto unknown. measures aimed at involving everyone in Their heroes are not Greek or Persian, decision-making, the state had appeared but men. Historia menor de Grecia is a as an organisation geared to defending warning about the fragility of culture the common interest, upholding individ- and helps us to understand that the only ual rights against private interests and the possible civilisation is one that unites arbitrariness of powerful families and men against barbarism. «An unclassifiable work. «Each small chapter is like a A passionate defence of the their instruments of subjugation … It therefore still makes sense, even today, to Polaroid snapshot in which the humanism that is increasingly scour the corners of this indefatigable «An indispensable book». literary imagination unites with the ignored by the urgent roar of city in search of clues that might suggest El País most serious historical knowledge». utility». what led to this impressive achievement». El Periódico El País «Historia menor de Grecia is an exceptional, perfectly accessible «This splendid book, of essential «His succinct, precise prose shuns any superfluous digression in a book that will endure through time. cultural importance, takes the form comparative exercise which, in its quest for the vestiges of true It instructs, delights, invites of a series of brief vignettes». democracy, could become a life-saving feat». El Norte de Castilla reflection, while also acting as La Vanguardia a warning». El Correo

pedro olalla (Oviedo, 1966) is a teacher, writer, Hellenist, photographer and filmmaker. He has gained the admiration of audiences and the respect of prestigious institutions like the Academy of Athens, the A. S. Onassis Foundation and Har- vard University. Among other prestigious awards, Pedro Olalla has been conceded the title of Hellenist Ambassador.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Mauricio Wiesenthal Antoni Gaudí Rainer Maria Rilke Writings and Documents (The Seer and the Gaudí very rarely expressed in writing Unseen) his ideas on architecture, construction and ornamentation or his favourite ar- Rainer Maria Rilke, cult poet of a fasci- chitectural types, namely, the temple nating, complex personality, always pro- and the hearth. Laura Mercader now Non- tected by women—in whom he sought offers the first critical edition of the Non- Fiction shelter and instruction—and frequently written legacy of one of the twentieth Fiction adored by them, was a long way from the century’s greatest architects, including a romantic, angelic image which tradition number of unpublished texts. This is a (2015) (2002) tends to offer us. After years of attentive major historical document in which essay essay reading and careful study of Rilke’s Gaudí shows his interest in writing as a 1168 pages 336 pages work, letters and documents, some of means of presenting his ideas, a key es- them hitherto unpublished, Mauricio say that will shine a new spotlight on his Rights sold: Wiesenthal delves into the man and architectural work. Italian comes up with a much more intricate, electa subtle and human portrait of the proph- et of the requiems and the elegies. antoni gaudí (Reus, 1852 - 1926) is one of Spain’s most famous architects, both nationally and internationally. Born in «You wish it would never end». La Vanguardia Reus, he graduated in Barcelona in 1878. His fame derives not only from the originality of his technical solutions, but also from the audacious design of his buildings, furniture and dec- mauricio wiesenthal was born in Barcelona in 1943. Author of many books, he has also been a lecturer in Cultural oration. Combining tradition, crafts and the most resolute in- History and a guest speaker in several universities. His titles novation, his works show great brilliance and efficiency in terms of their construction. include Imagen de España (Image of Spain, 1984), which Golo Mann described as «a contribution to European culture com- parable with Ortega y Gasset’s essays». In La belle époque del Orient Express (The belle époque of the Orient Express, 1979) he evokes the history and legend of the most famous train of all time. In 1985 he published the novel El testamento de Nobel (Nobel’s Will) which, in the words of Camilo José Cela is «brimming with talent and, what is even more difficult, brim- ming with culture». A passionate traveller, he has published travel books and studies on pre-Colombian cultures and Latin-American countries.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Juan Gris Adan Kovasics Correspondence War and Language and Documents In four separate texts, Adan Kovacsics analyses the role of the press during wars, Although Juan Gris, a cubist par excel- the impact of war on literature, its influ- lence, is one of the most important paint- ence on language, and how modernity ers of the twentieth century many people affects the ways in which people express today are ignorant of the artist and his themselves. No writer is unaffected by Non- work. This book reveals intimate details Non- the impact of war on language, as demon- of Gris’s life, while also portraying art Fiction strated in the work of Rainer Maria Ril- Fiction and culture in Paris in the early years of ke, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Walter Benja- the last century. Celebrities of all sorts of- (2008) min, Paul Celan, Elfriede Jelinek and (2008) fer a sweeping vision of a time of vertigi- correspon- Ingeborg Bachmann. Kovacsics exam- essay dence nous changes in a world marked by a ines how wars are born and bred in the 160 pages 520 pages swift succession of avant-garde move- power of words and discusses the inter- ments and the impact of war. His corre- esting case of Colin Powell’s presentation spondence with Pablo Picasso, Dan- before the United Nations justifying his iel-Henry Kahnweiler, Léonce Rosen- country’s attack on Iraq and thereby ex- berg, Gertrude Stein, Maurice Raynal, emplifying Karl Krauss’s early alert about Pierre Reverdy, Jacques Lipschitz, Tristan language propaganda in the United Tzara and Picabia, amongst others, re- «A caustic essay with marvellous States. As Kovacsics puts it, «War con- Now available for the first time in Span- veals his intimate knowledge of the aes- sists not only of actions and sufferings, narrative touches illustrating the ish, this book includes previously un- thetic trends of his time. Like other ce- but also of a stream of words». disastrous consequences of the published material, including the corre- lebrities, including Gerardo Diego, spondence between Gris and Josep Ma- Guillermo de Torre, María Blanchard corruption of language». El País ria Junoy after as well as some the- 1912 and Vicente Huidobro, Gris also shows «This is a magnificent book and oretical writings by the painter. his interest in the new work being done now more pertinent than ever». «A literary gem». Diario de in Spain. ABC Levante

«A great testimony to Juan Gris’s many relationships with other celebrities of his time». El País adan kovasics (Santiago de Chile, 1953) is the author of Guerra y lenguaje (War and Language) as well as being a trans- lator from Hungarian and German. He has received several josé victoriano (carmelo carlos) gonzález- awards from the Austrian Ministry of Education and Culture pérez (1887-1927), better known as juan gris, was a Span- for his translations of works by Karl Kraus, Heimito von Do- ish painter and sculptor who was born in Madrid but lived and derer, Hans Lebert, Joseph Roth, Stefan Zweig, Ingeborg worked in France most of his life. His works, which are close- Bachmann and Ilse Aichinger. He was also awarded the Ángel ly associated with the emergence of an innovative artistic gen- Crespo Prize for his translation of Ádám Bodor’s El distrito de re, namely Cubism, are among the most distinctive produced Sinistra (Sinistra District), the Second Imre Kertész Transla- by the movement. tion Prize and the National Prize for Translation.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Marta Llorente José María Micó The City: Traces in Understanding Góngora Inhabited Space José María Micó, who has devoted a good part of his life to studying Góngo- Humanity has not always known or, of ra, brings together in this volume his key course, inhabited the city. Neither could writings on the poet from Cordoba, humans imagine or desire it. The city is combining philological and historical Non- not a mere structure that progressively rigour with the finely wrought style of Non- acquired dimensions from beginnings as the literary essay. In this endeavour to Fiction a simple spore. It is much more than understand Góngora, he reconstructs Fiction that. Marta Llorente traces a history of the context in which his texts were writ- (2015) the city as an abstract conception that ten and circulated, offering keys to his (2015) essay defines the condition of the civilised hu- poetry against the background of his essay 480 pages man, one who is aware of being in- times together with in-depth analysis of 384 pages scribed in a space that is radically differ- some of his best poems (with particular ent from natural space. This is an essen- attention to the so-called «great poems», tial text for anyone who wishes to under- namely «Polyphemus» and «The Soli- stand our evolution as human beings. tudes»). This meticulous study enables Micó to demonstrate that Góngora’s po- etry, one of the high points of literary cre- «Llorente’s impeccable prose, with its admirable compilation and «An essential essay for anyone ation in any language, is intelligible and assimilation of documentation, flows along lines that are never that there are very few paths as pleasur- wishing to learn more about one conventional». ABC able as that leading to full understanding of the greatest works of poetry of his work. in any language». Quimera

marta llorente (Girona, 1957) is an architect. She has also studied music and painting. In 1992, she obtained a PhD «This approach to his work becomes much more patent and potent, in Architecture from the Barcelona School of Architecture, making its accessibility much more possible». El Diario Vasco where she is a tenured lecturer in Composition. She has taught courses in Theory of Architecture and the Arts and has intro- duced the course Anthropology of the City. She has also given josé maría micó (Barcelona, 1961) is a poet, translator and a workshop on reading and writing. professor of Literature at the Pompeu Fabra University of Bar- celona. His philological work includes books on Spanish writ- ers – Alemán, Cervantes, Góngora and Quevedo – annotated anthologies of Spanish poetry, studies and essays, the most recent among them being Las razones del poeta (The Poet’s Reasons) and Clásicos vividos (Classics I have Lived). He has also translated some of the great European classical authors including Petrarch, Jordi de Sant Jordi, Ausiàs March and Ariosto. His translation of Ariosto’s Orlando furioso (The Frenzy of Orlando) was awarded the National Prize for Translation in both Spain and Italy.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Eugenio d’Ors Eugenio d’Ors Cézanne Pablo Picasso

From an early age, Eugenio d’Ors found Pablo Picasso was first published in Span- in Paul Cézanne a worthy counterpart in ish in 1946, although its origins go back his search for order, balance and struc- to the 1930 French edition on which Ors ture as his resolute response to the anec- worked closely with Picasso. The pres- dotal, subjective and musical art of the ent edition combines the text of the Non- nineteenth century. Cézanne was the Spanish edition and 37 illustrations from Non- precursor and master of a whole new the French edition. Rather more than Fiction generation of artists who would trans- offering material for a critical analysis of Fiction form the artistic landscape of the twenti- Picasso’s work, these documents repre- (1999) eth century. Eugenio d’Ors describes sent the culmination of a friendship. This (2001) essay one of the most exciting adventures in book is an essential work for anyone who essay 200 pages modern art. wishes to learn more about the artistic 128 pages thought of two key figures of the20 th cen- tury.

«A combative, incisive, programmatic book». ABC «A brilliant, passionate exercise in art criticism». El País «A magnificent critical study and deep reflection on the artist’s creative activity». La Vanguardia «A wonderfully lucid approximation to Picasso’s early period». La Razón

eugenio d’ors (Barcelona, 1881-1954) is the most influen- tial Catalan intellectual figure of the first three decades of the twentieth century. Philosopher, essayist, art critic and journal- ist, he is also author of such works as La Ben Plantada (A Fine Figure of a Woman, 1911), Oceanografia del tedi (Oceanogra- phy of Tedium, 1916), Tres horas en el Museo del Prado (Three Hours in the Prado Museum, 1923), and the immense, widely acclaimed Glosari (Glossary).

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Jordi Pons Martín de Riquer The Way to Form: Cervantes in Barcelona Goethe, Webern, Cervantes’ praise of Barcelona in his Balthasar great work Don Quixote and his com- ment that he would eventually reside at Thanks to Goethe and, in particular, number 2, Paseo de Colón is evidence his essay The Metamorphosis of Plants, that he spent some time in Barcelona. Non- Webern and Balthasar learned to con- The historian Martín de Riquer offers a Non- Fiction template the original phenomenon detailed study of Cervantes’ life in the Fiction which would come to inspire both the city at the beginning of the seventeenth composer’s mature, exceptionally century. Through a meticulous reading (2015) (2005) beautiful music which still speaks to us of Las dos doncellas and chapters from essay essay today, and the theologist’s extraordi- the second part of Don Quixote, he de- 320 pages 136 pages nary philosophical work. This endur- finitively establishes that Cervantes lived ing phenomenon is the form or figure, in Barcelona in the summer of 1610, and the organised whole or Gestalt. For very probably in the house that still bears Goethe, Webern and Balthasar deep his name. This study is a decisive contri- understanding of the being depends bution to the biography of Cervantes and on perception of the indivisible figure, the history of the city of Barcelona. and only the beauty of artistic forms are able to convey this conclusively, in- fusing us with the certainty that we are «This is an essential work for anyone wishing to learn about Don contemplating the expression, the in- Quixote’s adventures in the seventeenth-century city». El Periódico carnation and finally the revelation of the One, of God. martín de riquer (Barcelona, 1914-2013) was a member jordi pons (Tarragona, 1960), who has a PhD in the Hu- of the Spanish Royal Academy and recipient of prestigious manities and a Higher Degree in Music, currently works and several awards including the National Essay Prize and the teaches in the fields of philosophy and aesthetics. Acantilado Prince of Asturias Prize. His vast bibliography includes major has also published his book Arnold Schönberg. Ética, estética, works on many aspects of medieval literature and society. He religión (Arnold Schönberg: Ethics, Aesthetics, Religion, has written highly significant works on Don Quixote, the trou- 2006). badours, Tirant lo Blanch, the story of the Holy Grail, the Song of Roland and many other literary themes.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Martín de Riquer Rosa Sala Rose Reading Cervantes Critical Dictionary of Myths and Symbols An internationally renowned Cervantes scholar, Martín de Riquer was also a of Nazism well-known authority in the fields of me- dieval literature, heraldry and weaponry. With rigorous analysis and literary skill, An eminent philologist with a passion Rosa Sala delves into the darkest depths Non- for literature, a field to which he devoted of National Socialism. It is important to Non- more than sixty years of study and re- face this horror in order to acknowledge Fiction search, he produced works of major im- its atrociousness, without philistinism or Fiction portance. This fascinating, stimulating intellectual abdication. Condemnation is (2003) (2003) book brings together the best of his not enough to ensure that it will never essay essay studies which are particularly notable happen again. True bravery lies in un- 584 pages 512 pages for their clarity. derstanding. Bartolomé Shortlisted by March Award El Mundo as for the best one of the best book of Literary books of essays Criticism, 2003 for 2003 «Fine, intelligent and playful prose». El Mundo «This discussion of the foundations «A brilliantly written study of Shortlisted by of barbarism takes the form of an profound erudition». Rights sold: La Vanguardia as «An essential work for anyone wanting to read Cervantes». El País expert analysis of the iconography La Vanguardia Polish one of the best sic publishers of Nazism». El Mundo books of essays in 2003 «A splendid analysis of the Romanian «A book that is bound to become iconography of Nazism». paralela 45 Rights sold: an essential reference». El País El Periódico Italian Spanish Club einaudi círculo de rosa sala rose (Barcelona, 1969) has degrees in German lectores and the Romance languages. As an expert on German culture and language, she has translated works by Goethe and Thomas Mann, including J. P. Eckermann’s Conversaciones con Goethe (Conversations with Goethe, 2005). Rights for her Diccionario crítico de mitos y símbolos del nazismo (Critical Dictionary of Myths and Symbols of Nazism, 2003) have been sold for three languages.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Isabel Soler Miguel de Cervantes: The Algiers Years Non- Fiction This hybrid, innovative and fascinating text sheds light on one of the lesser known episodes in the life of Miguel de Cervantes: (2016) the five years he spent in the prisons of Algiers during which essay he led four breakout attempts. The reader will find accounts 128 pages by direct witnesses of the time who, testifying to his exemplary behaviour and courage, deemed him worthy of the ransom paid for his release. This is a dazzling document consisting of twenty-five questions and their answers, which Isabel Soler has restructured and fused into a harmonious whole through which the different voices are interspersed. The result is a gripping biographical account of the vicissitudes of a soon-to- be great writer.

«A hybrid, innovative and fascinating work, it gives the reader a glimpse of one of the least known episodes in the life of Miguel de Cervantes». El Faro de Vigo «Novelistic boldness». Diario de Jerez «A dazzling document». El Faro de Vigo

isabel soler (Barcelona, 1964) is a lecturer in Portuguese Literature and Culture at the University of Barcelona and translator, inter alia, of Jorge Ama- do, Manuel Rui and Vergílio Ferreira. She also writes for several literary maga- zines. Her research and studies on Por- tuguese journeys and letters of the Renaissance have culminat- ed in the works El nudo y la esfera (The Knot and the Sphere, Acantilado, 2003), Los mares náufragos (Shipwreck Seas, Acan- tilado, 2004) and Derrota de Vasco de Gama (Defeat of Vasco de Gama, Acantilado, 2011).

acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Isabel Soler Jaume Vallcorba The King’s Dream: From Springtime to Journeys and Messianism Paradise: Love, from the in the Peninsular Troubadours to Dante Renaissance It is generally agreed that the trouba- dours—those twelfth- and thirteenth-cen- Non- This book deals with the forced dove- tury Mediterranean poets who composed Non- tailing of imagination and authenticity in Fiction refined poems in everyday language and Fiction an attempt to understand the conse- set them to music—gave expression to a quences in the West of the stories of all form of love that was to have enormous (2015) (2013) the travellers who set out to see the consequences in the realms of literature essay essay world. It seeks to discover how imagina- and social mores. In this book, Jaume 352 pages 104 pages tion is also born from the real, and how Vallcorba analyses the substance of their it rebels before the prospect of being re- innovation together with some aspects of stricted to the space of the fictional or the forms in which it lingered on Italian the creativity of fiction. In theatrical soil until the appearance of Dante Ali- terms, the imagination shapes a complex ghieri. Addressed to the non-specialist and frequently paradoxical representa- reader, Vallcorba’s book takes into ac- tion of the real, and this is where El «A veritable master class on count and explains the contrast between «An excellent way to enter the sueño del rey has sought to understand, run-of-the mill experience and this spe- sixteenth-century voyaging world of troubadour poetry». from the most generically classical sense, cial kind of love, shedding light on its and culture». the tragic re-enactment staged by the nature and specificities. El Mundo El Mundo routes of Renaissance ships. «A revealing essay». «A gem of a work». El País La Vanguardia

jaume vallcorba plana (Tarragona, 1949 - Barcelona, 2014), founder of the publishing houses Quaderns Crema (1979) and Acantilado (1999), was a permanent member of the Royal Academy of Doctors of Catalonia and a scholar of medi- eval aesthetics and literature. In 2002 the Ministry of Educa- tion and Cultural Affairs awarded him the National Prize for the Best Individual Contribution to Publishing, and in 2005 he received the Barcelona City Council Gold Medal for Cul- tural Merit. He also received the Grand Order of Merit for Cultural Contribution from the Republic of Poland. In 2010 he was presented with the Publishing Merit Award at the Gua- dalajara International Book Fair (Mexico), and in 2014 he re- ceived the Catalan National Prize for Culture.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Josep Solanes In Distant Lands: Exile and Literature from Odyssey to Molloy

Anyone going into exile leaves behind people, places, land- scapes and objects, all of them inseparable from personal ex- Non- periences and memories. Josep Solanes, begins this lovely text Fiction by speaking of the need to reflect upon his own reality in order to explore and fathom the figure of the expatriate as a para- (2016) digm of the human condition. Through a range of philosoph- essay ical and literary works, he identifies the true dimensions of the 336 pages experience of being uprooted, revealing it in all its ambiva- lence, and offering the reader his beautiful, lucid, timeless thoughts on exile.

«A delicious book». Ara «Readable and apt for anyone looking for pleasure and food for thought». Ara «Beautiful, lucid and timeless reflections on exile». Faro de Vigo «An enriching journey through the texts». El Diario Vasco «This is a valuable, intense, Mediterranean book». Enrique Vila-Matas «A book that is as saddening as it is enlightening». La Opinión A Coruña

josep solanes (Pla de Santa Maria, 1909-Valencia, Venezuela, 1991) gradu- ated in Medicine from the University of Barcelona in 1932. After the Civil War he went into exile in France where he worked in producing several Catalan publications. In 1949 he went to live in Caracas where he became a well-known psychiatrist and his work, devoted to the figure of the exile, was widely discussed in the domains of education, research and medical practice.

acantilado rights catalogue 2016   The Eternity of a Day: Classics Non- of German Literary Journalism Fiction

(1823-1934) (2016) articles 408 pages

This is an attractive, wide-ranging, revealing anthology of arti- cles by great German novelists and thinkers (H. Heine, K. Kraus, R. Walser, S. Zweig, J.Roth, T. Mann, H. Hesse, inter alia), published from the earliest days of literary journalism at the beginning of the nineteenth century through to the rise to power of National Socialism.

«Audacious prose, capable of thinking without the slightest repression; powerful journalism in the form of free cultural criticism». Enrique Vila-Matas

«A little gem of a publishing event». El Mundo

francisco uzcanga meinecke has a degree in German and Romance Philology from the University of Tübin- gen and a PhD in the Arts from the Uni- versity of Konstanz. He has taught in several European universities and is presently director of the departments of Spanish and Cultural Studies in the Centre for Languages and Philology at Ulm University. Most of his publications are con- cerned with literary journalism as a genre, an outstanding ex- ample being the anthology of articles from El censor (The Cen- sor), which was one of the most emblematic publications of enlightened eighteenth-century Spain.

acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Juan Vernet Juan Vernet Arabic Literature The Origins of Islam

This book, a clear synthesis and over- Generally speaking, although Islam his- view of Arabic literature, offers many torically has strong links with western surprises in its discussion of a lit- culture and its presence lives on in con- tle-known culture. Moving from pre-Is- temporary society, it remains little lamic poetry to the most relevant twenti- known. With this book, Professor Ver- Non- eth-century authors, Vernet has added a net provides a clear, well-written exposi- Non- number of texts that not only illustrate tion of its basic principles, its early histo- Fiction the literary corpus in Arabic but also ry and its development. This book is an Fiction draws attention to links between the excellent introduction for anyone who (2002) Arab and European civilisations. wishes to learn more about Islam. (2001) essay essay 354 pages 300 pages

Rights sold: Portuguese (Brazil) editora globo «This title should become a major work of reference «An essential book». because of the clear understanding of Arabic literature La Vanguardia it will give to students». ABC «An exciting adventure for readers who wish to learn». El Periódico juan vernet (Barcelona, 1923-2011) was an international authority on Arabic science. He was Professor of Arabic Lan- guage and Literature at the University of Barcelona, a member of the Royal Academy of Literature and the Institute for Cata- lan Studies of Barcelona and also of the International Académie des Sciences and the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Amman. He was an honorary member of the Royal Asiatic Society in London and the Société Asiatique in Paris.

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   Juan Vernet Juan Vernet Renaissance Astrology What Europe Owes and Astronomy to Spanish Islam

During the Renaissance, when scientists In this essential book, Professor Vernet turned to astronomy and astrology to ex- analyses what has traditionally been plain the universe, Copernicus was able called the Toledo School of Translators, to come to certain conclusions. Drawing a group of scholars who were active in Non- on studies by the leading astronomers of Spain over a long period of time, and Non- Fiction Antiquity and the Middle Ages and his whose influence endured well into the Fiction own theories, Copernicus was convinced Renaissance. This book describes how (2000) that the sun was the centre of our plane- they introduced Oriental science (espe- (1999) essay tary system. Although some of his prede- cially Persian and Babylonian) and the essay 176 pages cessors were already aware of this truth, science of Antiquity (Greek and Roman) 562 pages only he had the courage to declare it. In into Europe. Moreover, it is an excellent this book Professor Vernet analyses Co- introduction to early notions of philoso- pernicus’s key work in the field and em- phy, the occult, mathematics, technolo- phasises his influence, which lasted well gy, astronomy and astrology, physics, al- into the eighteenth century. This is a chemy, geology, botany, zoology and clear, well-written book that will interest medicine. scientists and non-scientists alike.

«An accurate exposition of the knowledge that Arabs introduced «The great strength of this book lies in its excellent, into the European culture». La Vanguardia unique summary of the ways in which the Arabian and Islamic cosmological vision converges with that «An extraordinary document which not only introduces the of Copernicus». La Vanguardia reader to the decisive contributions of Arab science to western civilisation, but also draws attention to early inputs that are now the bedrock of all cultural creation». El País

  acantilado rights catalogue 2016 acantilado rights catalogue 2016   www.quadernscrema.com facebook.com/quadernscrema @quaderns_crema

Rights Department: Ms. Anna Muñoz [email protected]

quaderns crema Quim Monzó Quim Monzó A Thousand Morons Guadalajara

Whenever he’s asked about it, Quim Three pages into the opening story of Monzó says that Mil cretins is his happi- Quim Monzó’s new collection, a seven- est book but that’s not true. Yes, it has year-old makes a startling discovery: humour, black humour running through every male member over the age of nine the nineteen stories of this volume. More in his family of carpenters is missing the than happiness, there is consolation be- ring finger of his left hand, and this is no cause it’s happily comforting to settle accident. Welcome to «Family Life», Fiction accounts with pain, with old age, with which is set in the morbid territory of Fiction death and with love. Brave, making no Guadalajara—a realm where fables are (2007) concessions, Monzó confronts in this subverted, where everyday tasks lead to (1996) short stories work the difficult balance between life existential confrontation, where absurd- short stories 176 pages and human wretchedness. ity masks philosophical power, and 208 pages where grim uncertainty and playful pos- Maria Àngels sibility coexist. Armand is terrified, and Anglada Prize, Serra d’Or Prize, perhaps the reader should be too: in 2008 1997 Monzó’s hands, the possibilities are lim- itless and entirely unpredictable. Rights sold: Rights sold: English «What might please people most in Mil cretins is the cheerily forlorn tone English (Worldwide that functions as background music from start to finish». «Every new book by Monzó is an event. Guadalajara (Worldwide Rights) Rights) La Vanguardia open letter is no exception». La Vanguardia open letter French «With each work he goes deeper with his probing of human nature… French éditions jacqueline The greatest tenderness is disguised behind merciless cruelty. How great éditions chambon Quim Monzó is». El Periódico jacqueline chambon Galician «Like Nabokov, Monzó has sufficient virtuosity to push his wordplays to xerais German extreme limits». Le Monde frankfurter German verlag frankfurter «We have at last gained the opportunity to read one of the most original verlag Hungarian writers of our time». Independent europa Italian publishers marcos y marcos According to The Independent, quim monzó (Barcelona, Italian 1952) is now the best known writer in Catalan. He has com- Spanish marcos posed scripts for radio, television and cinema, and adapted y marcos anagrama texts for the stage. He writes a regular column in the newspa- Swedish per La Vanguardia. He has published three novels and several Spanish sadura collections of short stories and essays. His work has been anagrama bokförlag translated into twenty-two languages.

  quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016 quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016   Quim Monzó Quim Monzó The Reason for The Enormity Everything of The Tragedy

The thirty stories making up this collec- A trumpeter’s dream, one he’s been tion complement each other to form a cherishing for weeks, finally comes whole that reveals with tremendous pre- true: he’s going out with the star at the cision the eternal human condition of theatre where he works. Trying to work uncertainty. In El perquè de tot plegat up his courage over dinner, he drinks a Fiction Monzó’s synthesising skills reach great lot more than he knows is good for him. Fiction heights of purity: apparently simple and He realises that that he’s so drunk that (1993) schematic, they are a vigorous demon- if he actually manages to bed the ac- (1989) short stration of his mastery. tress, he may not be up to it. This is the novel stories opening of La magnitud de la tragèdia, a 280 pages 176 pages novel about love, hate, loneliness, the implacable passing of time and the in- El Temps Readers’ City of Barcelona evitability of death. Prize for the Best Prize, 1993 Novel, 1989

Serra d’Or Prize, Rights sold: 1994 «One of the keys to the Monzo’s success is that his «With an incomparable narrative Macedonian Bulgarian work allows for different readings. He has often been rhythm, page after page multiplies goten colibri publishing Rights sold: valorized as the reformer of modern literary Catalan». and augments and surprises the English Basque Serbian Julià Guillamón imaginative capacity of the erkarlanean rende Spanish (Worldwide) reader». El País anagrama peter owen Bulgarian Spanish colibri anagrama French publishers belfond Greek German sideris German frankfurter books frankfurter verlag verlag

Dutch Greek meulenhoff papyros bv publishing group Hungarian patakis Italian marcos y marcos Italian marcos y marcos

  quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016 quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016   Quim Monzó Gasoline

With its backdrop of a hazy, abstract New York, Benzina opens with a series of spotlight flashes from the life of Heribert, a painter who’s scrabbled his way up to the pinnacle of success. He enters the scene one New Year’s Day, lying between the sheets of his lover’s bed with the Fiction vague impression that, apart from the year, the way he used to look at the (1983) world has also changed: the objects and Other titles novel people surrounding him are increasingly by the author 224 pages distant and unjustifiable. An artist at the height of arduously conquered fame, Rights sold: he’s now lost the will to paint for the first English (World- time in his life. In his boredom he drops wide Rights) off to sleep while making love with (2010)  articles (2003)  short stories open letter Hildegarda, does the rounds of cocktail 256 pages 64 pages bars and parties and discovers that Hele- Malayalam na, his wife and art dealer, is cuckolding dc books him with a flamboyant new painter. He’s disarmed when he tries to seduce an ad- Portuguese olescent (and in the end, she’s the one (Worldwide) who seduces Heribert, who listlessly lets teorema her have her way). Serbian Splendour and biblioteka «What awesome lucidity Monzó has when he’s Glory of the alexandria International engaged in his ferocious dissection of the lies Dupe Spanish of our daily doings». El Mundo anagrama Three Christmases

The Best of Worlds

Eighty-six Stories (2001)  short stories (1999)  short stories (From top to 288 pages  Sold to: Hungarian 640 pages  Sold to: German bottom and from (patak könyvek), Italian (frankfurter verlag), Russian left to right) (einaudi), Spanish (anagrama) (atticus), Spanish (anagrama)

  quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016 quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016   Sergi Pàmies Songs of Love and Rain

The twenty-six stories of Cançons d’amor i de pluja are structured in the form of a recital of emotions and musings on the vulnerability and most absurd rituals of one’s mature years. In his precise, highly intense style, Sergi Pàmies reinterprets Fiction the clichés of archetypical romanticism Other titles and the servitude of sentimental hypo- (2013) by the author chondria. His pared-down, well-paced short prose and tone quest for balance be- stories tween causticity, vitality and melancho- 192 pages lia. Thus equipped, Pàmies plunges into the stagnant waters of love, dependence Rights sold: on inherited memory, pain suffered over French (1985)  short stories (1980)  short stories absent people and the pleasure of writ- actes sud 184 pages 144 pages  Serra d’Or Prize, 1981. ing without worrying about where the Sold to: English Worldwide) frontier between invention and autobi- Greek (ballantine books), Italian ography lies. papyros (marcos y marcos), Polish publishing group (wydawnictwo), Spanish (anagrama) «Short stories of brutal intensity». «An ironic and tender book». Spanish La Vanguardia El Mundo anagrama

«Reading Pàmies is a vice. There are lots of small gems in this book». La Vanguardia

sergi pàmies (Paris, 1960)—together with Quim Monzó— would be very close to topping the list Catalonia’s most widely-read authors in the past twenty years. Particularly known for his short-story collections, he has been translated into several languages and has received countless awards. Maians’ Island His most recent book Cançons d’amor i de pluja (Songs of Olivetti, Moulinex, Chaffoteaux Love and Rain) has been on the Catalan bestseller list for et Maury months. Pàmies appears regularly in the different branches (1978)  short stories of the Spanish media. 104 pages Oof, He Said Sold to: Spanish (anagrama) (From top to bottom and from left to right)

  quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016 quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016   Sergi Pàmies Sergi Pàmies If You Eat a Lemon The Great Novel without Pulling a Face about Barcelona

This title, with twenty «mini» stories by The fifteen short stories that make up Sergi Pàmies, has been reprinted fifteen this intense narrative experience offer a times. True to his distinctive style, this variation of profound and shrewd insi- collection is ironic, sarcastic and even ghts into human passion. Simultaneous- bitter. The opening story, «The Other ly, the Catalan author pays homage to Fiction Life» is a good example, starting with his hometown through a literary voyage Fiction the declaration, «I had to die to find out in various stages: from «Christmas Ca- (2006) whether anybody loved me. When alive, rol» which in fact is a Christmas misery, (1997) short I was never very popular, which was a to «Thirst», the confessions of an obses- short stories real problem for me and one that I ener- sive teetotaler, to Virginia Woolf in the stories 144 pages getically and fruitlessly pondered». As supermarket. Or in «Classical Music», 144 pages the writer and literary critic Enrique Vi- where we learn about homosexuality as City of Barcelona la-Matas puts it, «You can’t compare a proven remedy for the boredom of Serra d’Or Prize, Prize, 2007 him with anybody. He has an infinitely Sundays. And at the central pivot of all 1998 dark sense of humour. He may have cre- his stories is, of course, the city of Barce- Setenil Prize, ated an easy path but it is also terrible lona and its charm. 2007 because he has invented new images from the depths of despair». Lletra d’Or Prize, «Droll, satirical and unaffected». Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 2007 «An infinit book, never-ending… «Pàmies’ gaze is not misted over by vapours of revolt and no prejudice Rights sold: I’m staggered by it. It’s like an endless well… I’ll stop, stands in its way. This gives undeniable effectiveness to his painstaking, Basque Italian I must sleep, I have to re-read this book tomorrow». txalaparta donzelli frugal, methodical writing». Le Monde editore Enrique Vila-Matas French «Pàmies acts as if everything is as our eyes perceive it while, at the same éditions Spanish «High Literature». La Vanguardia jacqueline anagrama time and with a gaze we might say is evident, he overturns this chambon perception, letting out all the details that are going to shatter it». El País Galician xerais

German frank- furter verlag

Greek papyros publishing group

  quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016 quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016   Other titles Other titles by the author by the author

(2010)  short stories (2000)  short stories (1990)  novel  144 pages (1987)  novel 144 pages  Sold to: Bulgarian 152 pages  Sold to: French Ícaro Prize 1990  Sold to: French 144 pages  Sold to: (ciela), French (actes sud), (éditions jacqueline (éditions jacqueline chambon), Spanish (anagrama) Greek (michalis sideris), chambon), Spanish Spanish (anagrama), Ukrainian Spanish (anagrama) (anagrama) (calvaria publishing house), German (frankfurter verlag)

The Exercise Bike The Last Book of Sergi Pàmies Sentimental The Instinct The First Stone (1995)  novel (1992)  novel 184 pages  Sold to: French 170 pages  Prudenci Bertrana Prize, (1986)  short stories Infection (éditions jacqueline 1992  Sold to: Spanish (anagrama), 152 pages  Sold to: German You Should Be Ashamed of Yourself chambon), Spanish (anagrama), Ukrainian (calvaria publishing (frankfurter verlag), Spanish German (frankfurter verlag) house) (anagrama) (From top to bottom and from left to right)

  quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016 quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016   Francesc Serés Francesc Serés Russian Stories The Skin of the Frontier Francesc Serés writes, «Everything that happens in these stories strives to give shape to the history of a land and a coun- The old paths of the Baix Cinca and try that could be imaginary. After all, mi- Segrià regions are lost and new ones ght not the history of Russia over the last have opened up, running through Eu- century and a half be thought of as a huge rope and Africa to reach Romania and fable? With sagas of inconceivable mag- Ukraine, Mali, Senegal, Cameroon, Chi- Fiction nitude, the country itself is so big that it na and India. Over the past forty years Fiction hardly seems possible that it could exist, the rivers have changed course and the (2009) yet it has caused and brought upon itself mountain ranges have got lower. Trees (2014) short stories upheavals whose effects have been felt come from California and men come social chronicles 224 pages around the globe…» These short stories from everywhere. Directions and dis- 320 pages cover a period that extends from the ni- tances are so different that maps are no City of Barcelona neteenth century, which could be a kind longer useful. Neither are stories the Rights sold: Prize, 2009 of historical beginning, through to the era same. Men write their endings while in- Spanish of low-cost airlines, from recreating tradi- evitably erasing their beginnings. There acantilado Critics’ Prize, tional folk tales to portraying Russia’s di- is room for everyone on the skin of the 2009 fficult relationship the twenty-first cen- frontier, for people from outside and in- «A work in the finest literary side, men with their heads held high, Arabic tury. The stories speak of Russia from sefsafa Rights sold: tradition». Avui within Russia, far from trends that seek to men with downcast eyes, men who English turn this place into a no-place, or to dilu- come to stay and men who want to stay (Worldwide) «An excellent collection of twenty- te the individual and people as a whole in but never manage to arrive. The heroes of this story talk about how the world maclehose one short stories drawing on liquid societies. These are physical, speci- press has changed though they’re not sure different traditions and, once fic stories, with characters that are free of French existential anxieties, Slavic irony whether this world, caressed or clawed, again, bringing to light the timeless French and the ubiquitous postmodernism is theirs. A world that is theirs and ours. éditions themes of universal literature». which blurs forms and identities. jacqueline Caràcters chambon «His best book so far».La Vanguardia

Italian «I have no hesitation in highly «The most solid contribution any Catalan writer has ever made to the guanda recommending this book». non-fiction genre».El País El Mundo Spanish (Worldwide) «One of the most important books to appear in recent times». El Mundo mondadori francesc serés (Saidí, 1972) is the author of works in- Arabic cluding novels and the successful short-story collection Con- «Don’t miss this book». El Periódico sefsafa tes russos (Russian Stories, 2009). His books have been trans- publishing lated into several languages and he has been awarded major literary prizes, notable among them, what is probably Catalo- nia’s most prestigious cultural award, the 2007 National Cul- ture Prize for La força de la gravetat (The Force of Gravity).

  quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016 quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016   Francesc Serés Bite the Apple

The Force of Gravity (2012) short stories The seventeen stories of La força de la gra- 160 pages vetat describe the life of one main charac- ter: the country of Catalonia. They detail Shortlisted by La Vanguardia as destiny and disappointment in the daily one of the best ten books in the existence of lightning hunters, workers, Catalan language in 2012 pyromaniacs and quacks, all of them bio- graphy-free characters that push realism Fiction into surrealism. The stories also prove what Serés says, «The only way to unders- (2006) tand ourselves is to narrate ourselves». Other titles short by the author stories 256 pages

National Culture Prize, 2007

Serra d’Or Prize, Manure and Marble 2007

Rights sold: (2003) Italian novel gran via 528 pages edizioni Rights sold to: French Spanish éditions alpha decay féderop French (World) Spanish hippocampe édtions (Worldwide) alpha decay

  quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016 quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016   Francesc Trabal Francesc Trabal Waltz She Was Just Another Woman The poet Gabriel Ferrater wrote in a let- ter (1958) to his fellow poet and critic The theme of this novel is unhappiness. José María Valverde that Vals (1935) was Two acquaintances meet up at the burial the only truly well-written Catalan novel, of an old friend, Erènia. On the way with prose equivalent of Carner’s poetry from the church to the cemetery they («something like Carner rendered in strike up a conversation about how the prose»). Moreover, Vals is fruit of an ef- deceased—the little girl who grew up to Fiction fort to produce a novel that is close to its Fiction be a woman without knowing it, and in own time rather than being indebted to whom «a pair of pigeons billing and (1998) the standards of the previous century. (1994) cooing on the windowsill awakened a novel Shunning nineteenth-century realism, it novel kind of thirst that she was never able to 264 pages still appears, even today, with the 144 pages slake»—has died in strange circumstan- still-valid merits of modernity. Creixells Prize, ces. In his usual resolute style, shunning 1936 melodrama, psychologism and vehe- mence, Francesc Trabal takes the story Rights sold: of Erènia’s thirst and the impossibility of English quenching it, links it with the constraints (Worldwide) «A truly obscure object of desire. A long neglected and hypocrisies of Catalan social life in dalkey author». The World Street Journal the first three decades of the century, archive and sifts the action through the fine filter press of irony.

Dutch francesc frabal (Sabadell, 1899 - Santiago de Chile, 1957) mkw was a novelist, journalist and humorist with a deep commit- menken ment to his generation and his country. Brilliant and of restless kasander disposition, he played an active and notable role in the Catalan & wigman cultural world of his times. After the outbreak of the Spanish uitgevers Civil War he went into exile in Chile where he created the Chilean-Catalan Institute for Culture while also engaging in different publishing initiatives. In general, his work deals with the unsatisfactory nature of human relations in well-to-do soci- ety, with a sense of humour associated with the vanguard tradi- tion in tending towards the absurd.

  quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016 quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016   Francesc Trabal The Man Who Got Lost

Lluís Frederic Picàbia loses his fiancée. Shortly afterwards, he loses his cigar case. Then he loses ten umbrellas, a wristwatch, a comb belonging to his mother—may she rest in peace—three cameras, eighteen walking sticks, two monocles, a suitcase, four raincoats, thir- Fiction teen pipes, three wallets, a secretary, se- nyoreta Virgili, etcetera. Losing things (1982) becomes a career in which Picàbia per- Other titles novel forms miraculous feats. He loses a by the author 162 pages twenty-four-store building in Fifth Ave- nue, New York, three elephants on a ri- Rights sold: verbank, one thousand eight hundred French Fords in the middle of a racing track in les éditions autrement Honduras, five thousand Chinese chil- dren in Tampico (Mexico) and the Swe- (1988)  novel (1987)  novel dish crown jewels… This is a book of 160 pages 152 pages delirious humour, absurd situations and complicated adventures that will all end in tragedy for the demented hero is lost to himself.

«Francesc Trabal, a writer, of unique temperament and highly personal technique, nudges at the limits of the genre of the novel with his L’home que es va perdre». La Vanguardia

Quo vadis, Sànchez? Some Men Cry because the Sun Sets

(1986)  novel Temperature 224 pages (From top to bottom and from left to right)

  quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016 quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016   Jo Alexander Mercè Ibarz The Greenhouse City under Construction

Jane, a well-to-do young woman, is forced The three stories of A la ciutat en obres to spend the summer in a quiet village in (City under Construction) shift between southern France. Her father, Colonel reality and dreams, with some reference d’Alembert, wants to keep her some- to the work of the artist Feliu Elias. On where safe while he fights the Nazis. She the basis of this book, several critics is sent to stay with Anna, a close friend have said that Mercè Ibarz is one of the of the Colonel, who lives in a beautiful most outstanding Catalan writers. Fiction house surrounded by a splendid garden. Fiction Anna, who turns out to be an ambiguous (2009) character, becomes Jane’s bond with the (2002) novel reality around her, although this is not short 152 pages accomplished by means of any kind of stories 104 pages teaching but through the secrets she holds. The true nature of her relation- Pedro Saputo ship with Jane’s father will come to light, Prize, 2002 through a stack of letters and photo- graphs she has stowed away. Further- more, Jane will find something in the old «A pleasant surprise». El País mercè ibarz (Saidí, Baix Cinca, 1954) is novelist and jour- greenhouse at the end of the garden that nalist who has also applied her exigent spirit to her work with will nurture a new, more humane vision the genre of the literary and political essay, a good part of «A nostalgic novel with erotic of life. Old secrets emerge from both which has been devoted to biographical studies of the writer women. As Jane adjusts to her new life, overtones». Ara Mercè Rodoreda, about whom she has published three books. she finds a German soldier in hiding. Erotic tension grows as all secrets are unveiled.

L’hivernacle (The Greenhouse) is the second novel by jo alexander and the first to be published in Catalan. Before becoming a fiction writer, she worked in television and as a reporter. She is also a musician with the group Los Ángeles and currently works in the cultural supplement of the news- paper La Vanguardia.

  quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016 quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016   Mercè Ibarz Maurici Pla Street Fever The Alchemy of the Alchemies Market Febre de carrer (Street Fever, 2005) of- fers eight short stories of considerable In this novel art takes centre stage. A musicality, wisdom and real skill. With museum administrator, Alexander Kahn, this ironic, noisy book Mercè Ibarz has is doing his utmost to find the original of joined the ranks of the leading Catalan Town with Watchtowers, a work by writers today. 1929 Paul Klee. His quest for the authentic Fiction drawing has him traversing the city’s Fiction darkest subterranean haunts, physical (2005) but also sentimental spaces. In Pla’s (2011) short words, «There is a universal theme in novel stories the background, namely the commodifi- 152 pages 128 pages cation of relationships and how this harms people. Hence the set of charac- ters I’ve chosen are presented by means of exaggeration and caricature». Pla’s is a literary voice of remarkable singularity. In this novel he explores—with a tech- nique similar to that of the comic strip of «Sometimes, stimulating and clear lines and playful, malicious hu- mesmerising literary innovations mour—the limits and value of things appear. L’Alquímia del mercat and human relations, deceit, fraud and is a good example stupefaction. d’alquímies of this». El País

«The way in which Maurici Pla combines art, sex and drugs through the ambiguous and apparently naïve character of Alexander Kahn is truly exceptional». La Vanguardia

maurici pla (Barcelona, 1959) is an architect and writer and, moreover, a translator from French, English and Italian. He has regularly combined writing for publications in his aca- demic field with producing works of fiction. In1999 Qua- derns Crema published his novel Dissabte a les fosques (Satur- day in the Dark) and L’alquímia del mercat d’alquímies (The Alchemy of the Alchemies Market) is his second novel.

  quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016 quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016   Josep Maria Esquirol Eugeni Xammar Intimate Resistance. Sixty Years Wandering Essay on a proximity the World of philosophy This is a singular book for several rea- sons. First, it was the only volume that La resistència intima is a percipient, pro- Xammar himself gave to the printer. Sec- found essay on the human condition. Es- ond, it bears exceptional human and his- Non- quirol reveals how proper care of oneself toric witness to the events of the last cen- Non- Fiction gives light and warmth to those around tury. Finally, as a memoir, it has the all the Fiction us, protecting them and showing the way freshness and charm of a friendly conver- ahead. «We recognise that intimate resist- (2015) sation with a most gregarious and insight- (2007) ance is what we call an experience be- essay ful man. essay longing to the region of proximity; a re- 176 pages 584 pages gion that is not visited in a day, but where one tends to stay. Yet today it is hard to Rights sold: remain there. Proximity is not measured Spanish acantilado in metres or centimetres. Its opposite is not distance but, rather, the ubiquitous (see page 54) monochrome of a world in thrall to tech- Ciutat de nology. We have seen how everyday mat- eugeni xammar (Barcelona, 1888 – L’Ametlla del Vallès, Barcelona ters, and what is communicated by a 1973) is a member of the extraordinary generation of journal- Prize for the Best home are extremely important modes of ists—among them Assía, Corpus Barga, Julio Camba, Manuel the experience of proximity». Essay 2015 Chaves Nogales, Gaziel and Josep Pla—which emerged in Spain during the 1930s. The Acantilado catalogue offers fur- ther information about his works El huevo de la serpiente (The «A work that is read with real enjoyment. A splendid Snake’s Egg) and Crónicas desde Berlín (Chronicles from Berlin). book!». La Vanguardia

«Thoughts expressed in accessible words and with deep and unusual proximity to the things we humans can do with our autonomy». El Mundo

josep maria esquirol (Alt Penedès, 1963) is a lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Barcelona, where he heads the research group Aporia. He has written numerous studies and gives seminars on contemporary philosophy at universities in several countries.

  quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016 quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016   The translation of this dossier has received a grant from the Institut Ramon Llull [email protected] Ms. AnnaMuñoz Rights Department: @ facebook.com/quadernscrema www.quadernscrema.com @ facebook.com/editorialacantilado www.acantilado.es quaderns_crema acantilado [email protected] Ms. AnnaMuñoz Rights Department: @ facebook.com/editorialacantilado www.acantilado.es acantilado 1999

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acantilado - quaderns crema rights catalogue 2016- 2017

Llom: 5,25mm.calculatpera112pàgines,enpaperde90gm/m Tel. 934144906–Fax.636956 2002 national prizeforbest quaderns Muntaner, guadalajara international publishing contribution rights catalogue culture awarded bythe generalitat (provincial 2014 national prizefor publishing meritaward awarded bythespanish jaume vallcorbaplana ministry ofeducation, acantilado culture andsport Director andpublisher jaume vallcorba government) of book fair, 2010 sandra ollo 462 –E 2016-2017 catalonia Founder - 08006 Barcelona crema

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