Dies de frontera
Frontier Days | Proa, 2014
Dies de frontera is a novel about the partners we choose, the parents we get and the children we bring into the world (or choose not to).
It is, in short, a snapshot of the youth of today, doomed to a lifelong insecurity (not only socially and professionally) that blocks their path to the maturity and stability that comes with settling down and raising a family.
Pau and Teresa, the protagonists of our story, are a common-law couple content to drift blithely along until what he calls “the lapse” occurs, bringing in its wake an emotional meltdown, a change of home and a journey to the borderlands between Spain and France. Like so many others of their ilk, Pau and Teresa are a young couple on the move, but their final destination remains a mystery. Transition is, after all, a transitional state of affairs.
The narrator eschews melodrama in his telling of the protagonists’ tale and, along the way, takes stock of the past few decades, with the linguistic flair and comic touch that are the hallmarks of Vicenç Pagès Jordà.
Told over the course of more than a hundred chapters, many of which are extremely brief, the novel is a constantly shifting image that will seduce, move and entertain readers in equal measure, while enthralling with its ability to depict the world in which we live.
«Lightness of touch, savoir faire, using the tricks of the TV sitcom trade with the hallucinatory setting of La Jonquera as its backdrop.» Julià Gillamon, La Vanguardia
«Vicenç Pagès seems to be the new name to watch on the Catalan literary scene.» Carles Geli, El País
«Pagès has opened my generation’s eyes to a world of possibilities more at home in the United Kingdom and the States than on these shores.» Borja Bagunyà, El País
«One of the leading lights of contemporary Catalan letters.» Jordi Marrugat, El País
«A novel that draws the reader in. Not because of the mechanisms of the plot, but rather the way it is written. A daring stylistic and formal gambit. An unabashed look at today’s world ripped straight from the headlines.» Màrius Serra
«The clipped prose style moves the plot along at a brisk pace, while the narrator’s voice makes for a striking, delightful contrast. (…) The story is told with considerable panache.» Julià Guillamon, La Vanguardia
«A skilled craftsman and builder of worlds, blessed with a lightness of touch.» Joan Ventura, El Punt Avui
«With Dies de frontera, he has once again written a better (and more maddening) novel than his previous one.» Esteve Miralles, Núvol
«One of the leading proponents of post-modern fiction.» Jordi Marrugat, Ara
