¡No pasarán!: Un relato del sitio de Madrid

by Upton Sinclair, F. Susanna Montaner (Translator), Jorge Ordaz (Contributor)

Protagonist Rudy Messer, like so many of his 1930s New York contemporaries, is concerned primarily with knowing the right people, wearing the right clothes, and making as much money as possible. A chance meeting with Jewish socialist Izzi Bloch at a demonstration in favor of the Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War, however, shakes up Rudy’s comfortable lifestyle and inspires him to join the International Brigade. Moved by the outbreak of the war in Spain, Upton Sinclair wrote this novel with the dual purpose of informing American readers about the events on the Spanish battlefields, as well as warning the rest of the world about the danger that fascism's triumph in Spain would suppose. Providing an American point of view of a crucial moment is Spanish history, this entertaining historical novel will appeal to fans of Sinclair as well as readers interested in European history. El protagonista Rudy Messer, como tantos de sus contemporáneos de la Nueva York de los 1930s, está mayormente preocupado con conocer la gente apropiada, vestirse de la manera apropiado y ganar cuanto dinero sea posible. Un encuentro fortuito con el socialista judío Izzi Bloch en una manifestación a favor de las fuerzas republicanas en la Guerra Civil Española, sin embargo, sacude a Rudy de su vida cómoda y lo inspira a unirse a la Brigada Internacional. Movido por el estallido de la Guerra Civil Española, Upton Sinclair escribió esta novela tanto para informar al lector estadounidense sobre los eventos en los campos de batalla españoles como para alertar al mundo sobre el peligro que supondría el triunfo del fascismo en España. Proveyendo el punto de vista americano sobre un momento crucial en la historia española, esta entretenida novela histórica deleitará tanto a los amantes de la obra de Sinclair como a los lectores interesados en la historia europea.

256 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2012

About the author

Upton Beall Sinclair, Jr. was an American author who wrote close to one hundred books in many genres. He achieved popularity in the first half of the twentieth century, acquiring particular fame for his classic muckraking novel, The Jungle (1906). To gather information for the novel, Sinclair spent seven weeks undercover working in the meat packing plants of Chicago. These direct experiences exposed the horrific conditions in the U.S. meat packing industry, causing a public uproar that contributed in part to the passage a few months later of the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the Meat Inspection Act. The Jungle has remained continuously in print since its initial publication. In 1919, he published The Brass Check, a muckraking exposé of American journalism that publicized the issue of yellow journalism and the limitations of the “free press” in the United States. Four years after the initial publication of The Brass Check, the first code of ethics for journalists was created. Time magazine called him "a man with every gift except humor and silence." In 1943, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.

Sinclair also ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a Socialist, and was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of California in 1934, though his highly progressive campaign was defeated.

Reviews

[Jordi Sellarès · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un excel·lent llibre, amb una més que interessant missió pedagògica en el moment de ser escrit. Una meravellosa història sobre la presa de consciència, sobre la solidaritat i el sacrifici de les Brigades Internacionals. Malgrat no es parla de la vida al front fins gairebé al final del llibre, m'ha agradat tant com Homenatge a Catalunya, que ja és dir! molt recomanable!!

[Marian Lopez · Rating 2 out of 5]

No me gusta la manera en la que está escrito, no me resultó una lectura fluida.