War, So Much War

(Paperback)

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Description

Adri Guinart is leaving Barcelona out of boredom and a thirst for freedom, embarking on a long journey through the backwaters of a rural land that one can only suppose is Catalonia, accompanied by the interminable, distant rumblings of an indefinable war. In vignette-like chapters and with a narrative style imbued with the fantastic, Guinart meets with numerous peculiar characters who offer him a composite, if surrealistic, view of an impoverished, war-ravaged society and shape his perception of his place in the world.

Reviews

"Merc Rodoreda has been a favorite of mine ever since college. . . . War, So Much War helps to expand our understanding of a world-class writer's fiction, with, hopefully more to come."Jeff VanderMeer, author of The Southern Reach Trilogy "Episodic in style, [Rodoreda's] language is breathtaking and transportive, ultimately showing the reader the universal beauty and injustice of fate. . . . An incredibly original work and not to be missed."Mark Haber, Brazos Bookstore "Rodoreda's clear, clean prose, rendered so capably into English by Relao and Tennent, creates a mood of desperation that will engage the contemplative reader . . ."Library Journal "Merc Rodoreda's War, So Much War is a gripping story, passing as the account of the wanderings of a highly sensitive young man. . . . Rodoreda is not afraid to probe man's humanity in the face of ubiquitous warfare that ought to destroy mankind orat the leastsend it back to the Dark Ages."CounterPunch

Author Bio

Merc Rodoreda is widely regarded as the most important Catalan writer of the twentieth century. Exiled to France during the Spanish Civil War, and only able to return to Catalonia in the mid-1960s, she wrote a number of highly praised works, including The Time of the Doves and Death in Spring. Maruxa Relao is a journalist and translator based in Barcelona. She has worked as a translator for The Wall Street Journal, a writer for NY1, and wrote articles for the New York Daily News, Newsday, and New York magazine, among other publications. Martha Tennent was born in the U.S, but has lived most of her life in Barcelona where she served as founding dean of the School of Translation and Interpreting at the University of Vic. She translates from Spanish and Catalan, and received an NEA Translation Fellowship for her work on Rodoreda.