Description
Lord of All the Dead is a courageous journey into Javier Cercas' family history and that of a country collapsing from a fratricidal war. The author revisits Ibahernando, his parents' village in southern Spain, to research the life of Manuel Mena. This ancestor, dearly loved by Cercas' mother, died in combat at the age of nineteen during the battle of the Ebro, the bloodiest episode in Spain's history.
Who was Manuel Mena? A fascist hero whose memory is an embarrassment to the author, or a young idealist who happened to fight on the wrong side? And how should we judge him, as grandchildren and great-grandchildren of that generation, interpreting history from our supposed omniscience and the misleading
perspective of a present full of automatic answers, that fails to consider the particularities of each personal and family drama?
Wartime epics, heroism and death are some of the underlying themes of this unclassifiable novel that combines road trips, personal confessions, war stories and historical scholarship, finally becoming an incomparable tribute to the author's mother and the incurable scars of an entire generation.
Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean
About the Author
Javier Cercas was born in 1962. He is a novelist, short-story writer and columnist, whose books include Soldiers of Salamis (which sold more than a million copies worldwide, won six literary awards in Spain and was filmed by David Trueba), The Tenant and The Motive, The Speed of Light and The Anatomy of a Moment. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. He lives in Barcelona. ANNE MCLEAN has translated works by Hector Abad, Julio Cortazar and Enrique Vila-Matas. She has twice won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize, for Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas and for The Armies by Evelio Rosero, and in 2012 was awarded the Spanish Cross of the Order of Civil Merit.
Reviews
There is no-one writing in English like this: engaged humanity achieving a hard-won wisdom -- David Mills * The Times *
A remarkable act of personal history: brave, revelatory and unflinchingly honest -- William Boyd
Cercas' candid wranglings with how to tell this tale, his own deep discomfort and the grave maturity with which he acknowledges he can't feel morally superior to Mena make him a wonderfully warm and wise guide through this sad, small chapter of the Spanish Civil War. -- Siobhan Murphy * The Times *
One of the strengths of Lord of All the Dead is the breadth of its subject matter. . . In this elegant and penetrating narrative Cercas shows us how important it is that Mena's life is not forgotten -- Nick Major * Glasgow Herald *
It's a subversive and disenchanted view of war in general and the Spanish conflict in particular, in a fine translation by Anne McLean . . . It can be moving, unexpectedly funny,
racy, demotic or deadpan.
An excellent novel . . . fascinating both in its exploration of the past and in the playful creativity of its own narrative. -- Angel Basanta * El Cultural *
An admirable novel, truly unique -- Alberto Moreiras * La marea *
Only Cercas could have written a novel like this, at the peak of his maturity as a writer; he is one of the best we have -- Jose Maria Pozuelo Yvancos * ABC *
A brave, persuasive novel -- Jose-Carlos Mainer * El Pais *
A powerful work of D.I.Y. history . . . It may help Spaniards, and people further afield, to better understand the lure of Fascism, a pressing task in today's world" * New Yorker *
Book Information
ISBN 9780857058324
Author Javier Cercas
Format Hardback
Page Count 288
Imprint MacLehose Press
Publisher Quercus Publishing
Weight(grams) 430g
Dimensions(mm) 217mm * 148mm * 30mm
