"We can hear a country speak and better learn its secrets through the voices of its great writers . . .
an engaging series—a compelling idea, thoughtfully executed."
-Isabel Allende
Spain has long been, and remains today, a favorite destination for world and armchair travelers alike. From the timeless windmills of La Mancha depicted in Cervante's Don Quixote to the Moorish splendor of the Alhambra in Granada, the bull runs of Pamplona, and the contemporary silhouette of the new Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain's many treasures have enticed countless travelers to cross its borders. But there exists a Spain that lies, as Federico García Lorca wrote, "beyond the great caravans of rowdy tourists fond of cabarets and grand hotels." That soul, depicted by Spain's literary greats, lies waiting to be discovered within the pages of Spain: A Traveler's Literary Companion.
Explore Spain's rich literary landscape with some of the country's best contemporary writers. Arranged geographically, these thirty stories — many of which appear in English for the first time — transport the reader through Spain's many enchanting regions: experience a bull-run with Juan Goytisolo in Albacete, join Bernardo Atxaga in a Basque village, travel to the misty woods of Galicia with Manuel Rivas, and reminisce nostalgically with Julio Llamazares over black-and-white photos of his childhood Spain.
Peter Bush is Director of the Sebald International Centre for Literary Translation at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. He edited The Voice of the Turtle, an anthology of Cuban stories (Grove), and is the translator of leading Hispanic writers including Nuria Amat, Juan Goytisolo, Juan Carlos Onetti, and Senel Paz. Lisa Dillman has translated Spanish, Catalan, Cuban, and Argentinian fiction, as well as biography, art history, and pedagogy. She teaches in the Spanish department at Emory University.
Spain: A Traveler's Literary Companion
Trade paperback original
Travel/Fiction
5 x 7¼, 256 pp., $14.95
ISBN 1-883513-12-X
Publication date: April 2003
