Javier Cercas
Teoksen Salamiin soturit tekijä
Tietoja tekijästä
Javier Cercas is the author of Soldiers of Salamis (which sold more than a million copies worldwide), The Tenant and the Motive, and The Speed of Light. He has taught at the University of Illinois and for many years was a lecturer in Spanish literature at the University of Gerona. His books have näytä lisää been translated into more than twenty languages. näytä vähemmän
Image credit: Miguel A. Monjas
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Tekijän teokset
The Anatomy of a Moment: Thirty-Five Minutes in History and Imagination (2009) — Tekijä — 599 kappaletta
Las leyes de la frontera 1 kappale
El Impostor [DVD] 1 kappale
SOLDADOS DE SALAMANCA 1 kappale
Niepodległość 1 kappale
Ο μονάρχης των σκιών 1 kappale
O Castelo do Barba-Azul 1 kappale
Inquilino, O 1 kappale
El mejor artifice 2002 1 kappale
No callar 2023 1 kappale
Associated Works
The Origins of Desire: Modern Spanish Short Stories (Modern European Short Stories) (1993) — Avustaja — 14 kappaletta
Merkitty avainsanalla
Yleistieto
- Kanoninen nimi
- Cercas, Javier
- Virallinen nimi
- Cercas Mena, Javier
- Syntymäaika
- 1962
- Sukupuoli
- male
- Kansalaisuus
- Spain
- Syntymäpaikka
- Ibahernando, Cáceres, Extremadura, Spain
- Asuinpaikat
- Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Illinois, USA - Koulutus
- Autonomous University of Barcelona (classical Spanish literature)
- Ammatit
- professor of Spanish Literature
- Organisaatiot
- University of Girona, Spain
- Lyhyt elämäkerta
- Since 1989, Professor of Spanish literature at the University of Girona, Spain. He is a frequent contributor to the Catalan edition of El País and the Sunday supplement. He worked for two years at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the United States.
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Even the Darkest Night is the first of three mystery novels by Javier Cercas. The good news is that there are at least two more out there. The bad news is that I don't think either has been translated into English yet. I suppose I can try to struggle through the Spanish over the summer, but I know I'll miss a lot. My Spanish was never more than competent at its best, and it's been 25+ years since I had even that competence.
The detective here is Melchor Marín, a police officer originally working in Barcelona who—for reasons I won't reveal—is forced to move temporarily to a small-town police force. His back story fascinates. He was raised by his prostitute mother and has no idea who his father is. As a teen he spent time in prison for work he'd done for a drug cartel. While in prison, he read Hugo's Les Misérables, which changed his life in two ways. First, it gave him a passion for 19th Century novels. Second, he came to identify with the obsessive Inspector Javert whose concept of justice is rigid and perpetual. His mother is murdered while he's doing time, and when he leaves prison, he trains to be a police officer, determined to set the world to rights in the way he sees fit, which is not necessarily by the books.
Even the Darkest Night opens in the rural community where he now works on the night of a particularly violent pair of murders. Evidence is scant, suspects are numerous, and higher ups decide to abandon the case once it stops drawing public attention. In a way, we know what the plot will be: Melchor will continue investigating against the instructions of his superiors, unexpected twists (some big ones) occur, and even once Melchor thinks he knows what's happened, he still feels as though he's missing a key part of the solution.
If you like mystery novels that are decidedly not cozy and that balance careful plotting with an eccentric and dangerous central character, you're in for a treat. You may also want to start brushing up on your Spanish because you'll definitely want to read the two novels that follow, and who knows when they'll be available in English?… (lisätietoja)