Makbara

Juan Goytisolo

Dalkey Archive Press, 2008 - Fiction - 270 pages

In Makbara, Juan Goytisolo -- widely considered Spain's greatest living writer -- again dazzles the reader with his energetic, stylistic prose, which he himself compares to a snake: cunning, sly, sinuous. But the themes in Makbara are perhaps more universal than in his earlier works. Makbara is full of its own kind of warmth, humor, and love. After all, makbara is an Arab word referring to the spot in North African cemeteries where young couples meet for romantic encounters. Sex, for Goytisolo, is clearly the greatest cosmic joke, the great leveller. "Sex," he says, "is above all freedom."

Contents

• COME FROM THE NETHER WORLD: 1
• RADIO LIBERTY: 16
• SEASIDE CEMETERY: 43
• SIC TRANSIT GLORIA MUNDI: 55
• LE SALON DU MARIAGE: 79

About the author

Juan Goytisolo Gay was born in Barcelona, Spain on January 5, 1931. He studied law at the University of Madrid and the University of Barcelona, but did not earn a degree. His first novel, The Young Assassins, was published in 1954. He wrote Children of Chaos and performed six months of military service before moving to Paris in 1956. He found work as a reader for Gallimard, one of France's premier publishing houses, and continued to write. His novels include Fiestas, Island of Women, Marks of Identity, Count Julian, Juan the Landless, Makbara, Landscapes after the Battle, The Marx Family Saga, A Cock-Eyed Comedy, State of Siege, and Exiled from Almost Everywhere. He also wrote two political travelogues entitled Countryside of Níjar and La Chanca and two memoirs entitled Forbidden Territory and Realms of Strife. He died on June 4, 2017 at the age of 86. Ne a Barcelone, en 1931, intellectuel engage, oppose au franquisme, Juan Goytisolo s'est tres tot exile a Paris. Aujourd'hui installe a Marrakech, il est devenu un critique implacable de la civilisation occidentale. Auteur d'une quinzaine de romans et de nombreux essais, il a recu, en 1985, le prix Europalia pour l'ensemble de son uvre, en 2002 le prix Octavio Paz, en 2004 le prix Juan Rulfo de litterature latino-americaine et caribeenne, et en novembre 2008 le prestigieux Prix national des Lettres espagnoles.Photo: Circulo de Lectores. Helen Lane contributed to In Praise of the Stepmother from Picador.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Makbara; Spanish literature series
• Author: Juan Goytisolo
• Translated by: Helen R. Lane
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Dalkey Archive Press, 2008
• ISBN: 1564785068, 9781564785060
• Length: 270 pages
• Subjects: Fiction / General; Fiction / Literary; Fiction / Romance / General; Performing Arts / General