A Companion to Javier Marías PDF
Preview A Companion to Javier Marías
JavierMariasjkt final:Layout 1 31/08/2011 10:22 Page 1 a J A V I E R c o m M A R Í A S p a n i o n is widely regarded as the most important and DaviD K. gifted novelist writing in spain today, and is Herzbergeris t known world-wide through the translation of professor and o chair of the his fiction into thirty-seven languages. But to department of J a large extent, he is perceived as an outlier hispanic studies A among contemporary spanish novelists: at the University V though he professes admiration for miguel de of california, I cervantes, as well as a small cohort of spanish riverside. E authors from the twentieth century, he has R rejected any link between his writing and novelistic tradition in spain. M this book provides the most comprehensive A study to date of the full range of marías R writing, including discussion and analysis of Í his literary and intellectual formation, his A development as a novelist and short story S writer, and his unique perspective offered in nearly twenty-five years of newspaper columns D on topics ranging from religion to football. A V above all, however, marías is examined here I D as a writer of fictions. throughout this study K the author examines marías’s constant . a companion to awareness of how language can be used to H E construct stories as the foundation for R engaging the world as well as for imagining Z B J A VI E R M A R Í A S it. the nature of marías’s storytelling, and the E R way in which he imagines, form the principal G focus of this Companion. E R DAVID K. HERZBERGER an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF and 668 Mt Hope Ave, Rochester NY 14620, USA Jacket design: simon LoxLey www.boydellandbrewer.com Jacket photograph: mick WaLsh Colección Támesis SERIE A: MONOGRAFÍAS, 297 A COMPANION TO JAVIER MARÍAS Tamesis Founding Editors †J. E. Varey †Alan Deyermond General Editor Stephen M. Hart Series Editor of Fuentes para la historia del teatro en España Charles Davis Advisory Board Rolena Adorno John Beverley Efraín Kristal Jo Labanyi Alison Sinclair Isabel Torres Julian Weiss DAVID K. HERZBERGER A COMPANION TO JAVIER MARÍAS TAMESIS © David K. Herzberger 2011 All Rights Reserved.Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner The right of David K. Herzberger to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 First published 2011 by Tamesis, Woodbridge ISBN 978 1 85566 230 8 Tamesis is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA website: www.boydellandbrewer.com A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The publisher has no responsibility for the continued existence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate Papers used by Boydell & Brewer Ltd are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY Contents Foreword vii Introduction 1 Chapter I: Writing in the Newspapers: Everything under the Sun 17 Chapter II: Two Early Novels:Los dominios del loboand 46 Travesía del horizonte Chapter III: Two Transitional Novels:El sigloand 71 El hombre sentimental Chapter IV: On Oxford, Redonda, and the Practice of Reading: 103 Todas las almasandNegra espalda del timepo Chapter V: Two Shakespearean Novels 139 Chapter VI: Tu rostro mañana 179 Chapter VII: Other Writings 212 SuggestedFurtherReading 229 Bibliography 233 Index 241 Foreword During the course of preparing this book, in addition to the customary reading of professional criticism on the work of Javier Marías, I sought also to stay abreast of the extensive flow of information about him on various blogsandinternetsites.InthiswayIwasabletocompileanarrayofinforma- tion from many sources offered from diverse points of view. As might be expected,someofwhatIfoundwasquiteuseful,providingadetailhereoran insight there into Marías’s life and works. Marías is a popular figure among casual readers as well as academic scholars, and the content of the various websites generally reflected the diversity of readers and opinions on what is important or not, what is good or bad, about Marías’s work. Beforesittingdowntowritethisbriefforeword,Ienteredthename“Javier Marías” one final time into the internet search engine Bing, and clicked on the submit button. As it turns out, my search produced a list of 242,000 entries (an increase of about one hundred over the week before)—not a surprisingnumbergiventhevolumeofMarías’swritingandthefactthathis works have been translated into thirty-six languages. However, I feel compelledheretoofferaqualificationconcerningmyinternetexploration:I have not read all of the entries listed under Marías’s name, and further, it is highlyunlikelythatIwillevermanagetodoso.Atthesametime,Iamquite confidentthat,ifIhavemissedsomethingcritical,otherswillhastentofillin any significant lacunae. Although my perusal of internet sites may have fallen somewhat short of completeness, my aim in this book is to provide the most comprehensive reading of Marías’s work to date. In fact, as I finish this study, it is the only book to cover all of his major works. I begin with a general introduction to Marías,includingabriefoverviewofhislifeandhisthoughtsonavarietyof topics,aswellashowhiswritingmightfruitfullybeviewedinthecontextof Francoist (1939–1975) and post-Francoist Spain. I touch only briefly in the introduction on a number of thematic and aesthetic elements that inform his writing in general—these are then filled in with greater depth in subsequent chapters. In the past decade and a half Marías has written hundreds of columnsforthenationalpressinSpain;chapterIexploresthewiderangeof VIII FOREWORD interests and opinions expressed in these writings, including his thoughts on literature in general and fiction in particular. Themajorpartofmystudy,chaptersIItoV,isdevotedtoMarías’snovels, whichI(andnearlyallcritics)considertheimaginativecoreofhiswork.Itis clearlythepartthathasresonatedmostfullywiththepublicandalsoreceived the most intense scrutiny from critics. For the most part, I have studied his novels in chronological order, grouping them in chapters by the common ideas and techniques that characterize them. Only in chapter IV, where I discussTodaslasalmas(1989)andNegraespaldadeltiempo(1998),haveI deviatedfromthischronologicalprogressionforreasonswhichIhopewillbe apparent. In the final chapter I include Marías’s short fiction and other non-fictional works—these merit critical attention for how they convey his versatility as a writer, but on the whole have not generated the same level of national or international acclaim. I wish to thank Elspeth Ferguson of Tamesis, who first suggested this studyandarrangedforitsinclusionintheCompanionseries.Iamgratefulto my research assistants, J’leen Saeger, Lucero Flores-Paez, and Jason Wells, fortheirassistanceintrackingdownandorganizingbibliographicmaterial.A sabbatical leave granted by the University of California, Riverside, allowed me to undertake the early research for this project and conceptualize its development.Asalways,IamthankfultomywifeSharonforhersupportin ways both large and small. Introduction WhenJavierMaríaswasaskedinaninIINNTTRROODDUUCCtTTIIOONNerviewin2006,“Whatisyournatural state?” he responded with a single word: “Indecision.” But he quickly quali- fied his response, suggesting that another layer needed to be peeled away. “But that doesn’t mean I never make decisions,” he pointed out. “It means I take my time.”1 For readers with more than a passing familiarity with his writing and, in particular, with his novels, Marías’s observation that he takes his time will comeasnosurprise.Indeed,forthenarratorswhotellhisstories,andforthe readers who navigate the complicated path through them, time and patience are both required and rewarded. A contemplative, even bemused indetermi- nacyliesatthecoreofMarías’sfiction,whichisconstructedmostoftenwith ameanderingstylethatgrowsslowlyandpersistentlytoconfigurehistextual worlds. Marías admires the precision of language (he is an accomplished translator from English to Spanish), yet he celebrates its elusiveness. He constructs his fiction with lengthy, complex sentences replete with subordi- nate clauses and distant antecedents; his voluble meditations and stylistic digressions sometimes try the forbearance as well as the confidence of even the most assiduous of readers. YetMaríashasalsoshownanextraordinaryabilitytowritedirectly,tosay whathewishestosaywithefficiencyandcandor.Usingastylepracticedand polished for more than fifteen years in his weekly columns for the national press (with specific deadlines and word quotas), Marías has published hundreds of short pieces that are narrowly focused and remarkably concise. Whenconsideringtheentiretyofhiswork,therefore,heenvisionshimselfas awriterdivided:heissometimesMaríasthe“citizen”andothertimesMarías the“novelist.”Asheputitin2006,whenrespondingtoaseriesofquestions 1 SarahFay,“JavierMarías:TheArtofFiction,”InterviewwithJavierMarías.The Paris Review, 179 (2006). http://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/5680/the-art-of- fiction-no-190-javier-Marías. No page numbers. The question about Marías’s “natural state”arisesinthecontextofMarías’sobservationthatJosephConrad’snaturalstatewas “disquiet bordering on anxiety.”
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