Customer Reviews

El jinete polaco (Spanish Edition)

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Antonio Munoz Molina is a journalist and novelist who has come of age along with his homeland. Born in the Andalucian town of Ubeda in 1956 he was twenty years old when Franco died and Spain began its transition from the last fascist state in western Europe to the modern democracy it is today.

El Jinete Polaco is his masterwork (so far - he is still only 44) and weaves a partially autobiographical storyline around a history of the town of Magina - Ubeda by another name. The protagonist is a simultaneous translator, travelling the world from conference to conference, belonging nowhere and to no-one. The story is told in flashbacks, both to the main character's youth and to the history of the town and its people.

Munoz Molina's writing evokes the alienation of a misfit youth, the hard miserable life of the peasant olive growers of southern Spain and the torment of the civil war years in equal measure. At a time when Latin American writers in Spanish have captured the attention of the literary world, here is a Spanish Spanish writer worthy of equal attention.

Unfortunately as far as I am aware there are no English translations of Munoz Molina's work although I think I have seen him in French. Maybe the publishers of Marquez and Allende in English could look eastwards for their next star.

Excellent book! the amazing narrative it makes you visualize every single line. You are not reading a book, you are really "seeing" what is happening. A masterpiece!

Excelente novela, que ganó un importante premio en España. Tiene el estilo característico del autor, con una prosa trabajada, para ser leída sin prisas, y una constante introspección en los personajes de la trama. Hay en ella muchos recuerdos del propio escritor, de su familia y de su niñez y juventud. Absolutamente recomendable.

Probablemente, la novela que más he disfrutado en mi vida. Me pareció muy personal, íntima y cierta.

really good literature