Central Europe

BOOK REVIEW

CENTRAL EUROPE

Author: Vicente Luis Mora From the reader report by: François Michel Durazzo

In Centroeuropa, Redo (Oder in reverse) Hauptshammer tells the story of his life as it draws to a close. We discover a rich and fascinating narrative, written in remarkably subtle and beautiful Spanish. Very gradually, the reader discovers that the text has been translated into Spanish from German by a translator.

However, the quality of the writing and composition is not the stand-out quality of this work. Instead, it is the human, poetic, philosophical and historical profundity that contributes to making this hard-working, passionate, loyal, secretive, intelligent and skilful character the real hero in this bildungsroman. Redo combines the power of an iron will with the humility that makes him the best friend of two opposing figures: the brilliant Jakob who teaches him to write so he is able to recount his memoirs at the end of his life, and his peasant neighbour Hans, who is always willing to lend him a hand, assistance that is rewarded by an inestimably generous donation: half the accounting work that Redo performs for the baron is used to free Hans from his servitude. These themes are developed through a narrative that keeps the reader enthralled, impatient to find out how Redo will dispose of the bodies of soldiers that will not defrost, to know more about Redo’s mysterious past, his real name, how he acquired his land, and also to see whether he will be able to shore up his fortune by growing beetroot.

PUBLISHED IN NEW SPANISH BOOKS FR

GALAXIA GUTENBERG

Title CENTRAL EUROPE CENTROEUROPA

Author Vicente Luis Mora Genre Literature Pages 184

ISBN 978-84182 -180-88 Year of publication 2020 Number of editions 2 Language Spanish Spanish retail price 18.50 €

Author’s biography: Vicente Luis Mora (Córdoba, 1970) is a writer, literary critic and teacher. His recent books are the novel Fred Cow-Head (Sexto Piso, 2017), the book of poetry Series (Pre-Textos, 2015), the essay The Escape of Imagination (Pre-Textos, 2019), the monograph The Wooded Subject (Iberoamericana Vervuert, 2016), the book of aphorisms Nanomoralia (Isla de Siltolá, 2017), and the anthology The Fourth Person Plural, anthology of contemporary Spanish poetry (Vaso Roto, 2016). He has also performed stage monologue, written The Hoax, (Quimera 322, 2010), and online literature, and he writes reviews in his blog Diario de lecturas. www.vicenteluismora. blogspot.com

Synopsis: Prussia, somewhere near the River Oder, on the Polish border, one winter of the first decades of the nineteenth century. A man arrives from afar with the aim of cultivating the hard soil of the region, and unloads from his cart a coffin carrying the body of his wife, who didn’t survive the journey. As he digs her grave in the frozen earth he makes a surprising discovery, the frozen body of a Prussian hussar soldier. That was the first body. When you find a body buried on your own land, in your own soil, you suspect it is not alone. Anyone who finds a body is fearful or imagines other bodies waiting silently for their turn. The story starts with the discovery of the first soldier’s body, the story of a continent forged by war and the story of the mysterious narrator Redo Hauptshammer

Publisher who has published: Galaxia Gutenberg S.L.

Publisher: Galaxia Gutenberg Galaxia Gutenberg is an independent Spanish publishing company. We have a very successful literary and humanistic catalogue that combines fiction and non-fiction, as well as poetry and other genres.

Publishing rights available from: Galaxia Gutenberg S.L.- CIF B65521957 Diagonal, 361 1-1 A. 08037 Barcelona, Barcelona www.galaxiagutenberg.com Contact: Maria Ridao Mestres [mridao@galaxiagutenberg.com] Phone: (+34) 664 100 983

Comments: Carlos Zañón in Babelia: “The only way Central Europe isn’t included in the best of the year is that whoever makes these lists, quite simply, hasn’t read this fascinating and crazy book.”