Pasiones pasadas

by Javier Marías

Spanish

237 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1995

About the author

Javier Marías was a Spanish novelist, translator, and columnist. His work has been translated into 42 languages. Born in Madrid, his father was the philosopher Julián Marías, who was briefly imprisoned and then banned from teaching for opposing Franco. Parts of his childhood were spent in the United States, where his father taught at various institutions, including Yale University and Wellesley College. His mother died when Javier was 26 years old. He was educated at the Colegio Estudio in Madrid.

Marías began writing in earnest at an early age. "The Life and Death of Marcelino Iturriaga", one of the short stories in While the Women are Sleeping (2010), was written when he was just 14. He wrote his first novel, "Los dominios del lobo" (The Dominions of the Wolf), at age 17, after running away to Paris.

Marías operated a small publishing house under the name of Reino de Redonda. He also wrote a weekly column in El País. An English version of his column "La Zona Fantasma" is published in the monthly magazine The Believer.

In 1997 Marías won the Nelly Sachs Prize.

Reviews

[Izabela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insights about Spanish everyday life and culture.

[Leonardo Rodríguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recomiendo a los perezosos "La venganza y el mayordomo", "Elogio del egoísta" y "El hombre que pudo ser rey". Un miniaturista de novela o un novelista en miniatura.

[Ors]

Javier Marías y yo podríamos haber sido muy panas :)
qué crítica y expresión tan agradable.

:D

[Cristina Aibar · Rating 4 out of 5]

El último no me ha gustado tanto. Demasiado ego

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prueba irrefutable de que el pensamiento de Marías siempre ha sido profuso, personalísimo, libérrimo, sagaz para "comentar" la realidad, los textos de esta antología son, como dice Elide Pittarello, "exquisitos testimonios intermedios de un estilo que es ensayístico en las novelas y novelesco en los ensayos... Como revelan las urdimbres felizmente impuras de los textos, en 'Pasiones pasadas' coexisten la intuición y el análisis, el relato y el concepto, en coordinaciones ocasionales y dinámicas como la realidad misma".

[Eduardo Blandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basta decir que tiene el sello "Marías" para concluir la calidad de su obra. El libro constituye una selección de textos que exploran la realidad desde la crítica cultivada sin afanes morales. Lo suyo parece ser un esclarecimiento personal que escarba con fines fundamentalmente personales. Es, aunque de tiempos pretéritos, un libro que debe leerse.