In this original and heterodox Brief History of Spain of the last 41 years – the age of Kafka when he died in Kierling – the main characters of the different national episodes are all children without children, people who do not want any descendents, beings whose very nature removes them from society and who, contrary to what one might think, do not need any help, for if they truly want to remain alone they can only feed off themselves; people who have invented a kind of distant indifference that allows them not to be tied to reality but by an invisible thread like that of the spider, and where everything seems to fit in with what Kafka wrote in his Diary in August 1914: «Today Germany has declared war on Russia. In the afternoon I went swimming». In other words, everyone places historical and personal planes on the same level.
For that reason, Hijos sin hijos is not only an audacious and surprising run through our latest and recent history, but it is also an anthology of ambulant ghosts, Czech shadows, poor people and other swimming stars.
«A complete masterpiece. A masterpiece that makes him an irreplaceable author.» Ignacio Echevarría, El País
«Excellent overcoming of dogmas in literature.» J. A. Masoliver Ródenas, La Vanguardia
«An ambitious book like few others in recent years.» Mercedes Monmany, Diario 16
France: Bourgois, 1999 / Pocket, Titres, 2006; Portugal: Assirio & Alvim, 2003
In this original and heterodox Brief History of Spain of the last 41 years – the age of Kafka when he died in Kierling – the main characters of the different national episodes are all children without children, people who do not want any descendents, beings whose very nature removes them from society and who, contrary to what one might think, do not need any help, for if they truly want to remain alone they can only feed off themselves; people who have invented a kind of distant indifference that allows them not to be tied to reality but by an invisible thread like that of the spider, and where everything seems to fit in with what Kafka wrote in his Diary in August 1914: «Today Germany has declared war on Russia. In the afternoon I went swimming». In other words, everyone places historical and personal planes on the same level.
For that reason, Hijos sin hijos is not only an audacious and surprising run through our latest and recent history, but it is also an anthology of ambulant ghosts, Czech shadows, poor people and other swimming stars.
«A complete masterpiece. A masterpiece that makes him an irreplaceable author.» Ignacio Echevarría, El País
«Excellent overcoming of dogmas in literature.» J. A. Masoliver Ródenas, La Vanguardia
«An ambitious book like few others in recent years.» Mercedes Monmany, Diario 16
France: Bourgois, 1999 / Pocket, Titres, 2006; Portugal: Assirio & Alvim, 2003
Montevideo | Seix-Barral, 2022
This Senseless Fog | Seix Barral, 2019
Cabinet d'Amateur, an Oblique Novel | Whitechapel, 2019
Try Your Luck | Círculo de Tiza, 2018
Mac's Problem | Seix Barral, 2017
Marienbad Electric | Seix Barral, 2016
Kassel Does Not Call For Logic | Seix Barral, 2014
Girl | Alfaguara Infantil, 2013
Away From Here | Galaxia Gutenberg, 2013
Dylan's Air | Seix Barral, 2012
An Absolutely Wonderful Life. Selected Essays | PRH/Debolsillo, 2011
The slowest traveller. The art of finishing nothing | Anagram, 1992; Seix Barral, 2011
Chet Baker thinks about his art | RHM - DEBOLSILLO, 2011
In a Lonely Place | RHM - DEBOLSILLO, 2011
Dublinesque | Seix Barral, 2010; Debolsillo, 2011
Losing Theories | Seix Barral, 2010. Colección Únicos
She was Hemingway, I’m not Auster | Alfabia, 2008
Volatile Diary | Anagrama, 2008; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2016
Explorers in the Abyss | Anagrama, 2007
Doctor Pasavento + Bastian Schneider | Anagrama, 2005; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2016; Seix Barral, 2017
Light Wind in Parma | México, Sexto Piso, 2004 / España, 2008
Paris Never Ends | Anagrama, 2004; Seix Barral, 2013; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2014
Montano’s Malady | Anagrama, 2002; Seix Barral, 2012; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2013
Bartleby & Co | Anagrama, 2000; Seix Barral, 2015; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2016
From the Restless City | Alfaguara, 2000
The Vertical Journey | Anagrama, 1999
In Order to End Up with Round Numbers | Pre-Textos, 1997
Strange Way of Life | Anagrama, 1997; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2013
A Long Way from Veracruz | Anagrama, 1995; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2011
Invented memories | Anagrama, 1994; Compactos, 2007
Exemplary Suicides | Anagrama, 1991; PRH/DeBolsillo, 2015
A House For Ever | Anagrama, 1988 / Compactos, 2002
A Brief History of Portable Literature | Anagrama, 1985; PRH-DeBolsillo, 2015
Imposture | Anagrama, 1984
An Enlightened Murderess | Tusquets, 1977 / Lengua de Trapo, 1996 / Lumen, illustrated edition, 2005