Elide Pittarello Books

Juan knows little about his widowed father Ranz, a man with a troubled past. He does know, however, that before marrying Juan's mother, Ranz was married to her elder sister, who had committed suicide. The unspoken dialogue between father and son soon becomes a spelling out of the horrifying truth once Juan marries Luisa, who turns discreet confessor to the burdened old man. What gradually emerges into the cold light of day is a repetition of scenes already witnessed by Juan in the course of his travels: a married man blackmailed by his mistress in a Havana hotel, a woman in New York pursuing a sequence of shabby lovers through the lonely-hearts columns. Produced with remarkable skill and delicacy, this is a startling picture of two generations, two marriages, and the secret commerce between spouses that rests on the gossamer-thin threads of an unspoken accord.

"Durante años creí que esta novela era la mejor de cuantas había escrito y que seguiría siéndolo durante bastante tiempo..." Así comienza el prólogo de Javier Marías, que sin duda ha mejorado la presente con sus novelas posteriores.Y sin embargo, El siglo no sólo prefigura sus mayores logros, sino que además resulta ser la más nacional de sus obras. Cuenta la historia de un hombre, Casaldáliga, nacido en 1900 y juez ya retirado, que en su juventud buscó un destino nítido e inconfundible, intentando ser primero mártir por amor y luego héroe de guerra, para finalmente convertirse, a los treinta y nueve años, en delator.