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The work and life of the Barcelona-based writer, Elisabeth Mulder (1904-1987), is, undoubtedly, among the most intriguing in Spanish contemporary literature. A contemporary author of the Spanish generation of ‘27, Mulder was one of the most promising literary figures of her generation. Before reaching the age of thirty, however, she abandoned poetry and become an excellent novelist. The novels and short stories by Elisabeth Mulder were compared at the time with those of Somerset Maugham and Katherine Mansfield. This was due, in part, to both their cosmopolitan quality and their unconventional psychological perceptiveness. Mulder never ascribed to the trends of the time, nor did she defend any political persuasion and it was, perhaps, because of this that after her death, she was unjustly forgotten. However, notable novels such as La Historia de Java (The Story of Java) and El Vendedor de Vidas (The seller of lives) should be included, due to their merits, in any overview of Spanish literature dating from the 20th century. Many of Mulder’s stories are near perfection and exude a Chekovian feel which may be appreciated by the discerning reader.
 
Sinfonía en Rojo (Symphony in Red) includes a sample of all the genres that Mulder developed, from poetry to novels, and including stories and journalistic articles. This work comprises a panoramic view of a literary work of both great originality and literary value.
 
Juan Manuel de Prada (Baracaldo, Vizcaya, 1970) is a writer who, for close to two decades has advocated the work of Elisabeth Mulder, as well as creating her as one of the characters in his book:  Las Esquinas del Aire. He is also the author of the novels, Las Máscaras del Héroe (Ojo Crítico Award), La Tempestad (Planeta Prize, La Vida Invisible (National Narrative Award), El Séptimo Velo (Biblioteca Breve Award) and Mirlo Blanco, Cisne Negro, among others. De Prada’s journalistic work has won him such prestigious prizes as the Mariano de Cavia Prize.

Tamaño: 200 x 210 mm
112 páginas
Tapa dura al cromo
ISBN: 978-84-946767-8-9
 

Punto de partida. Colección Isabel y Agustín Coppel

24 x 30 cm
216 pages
Language: Spanish and English 
Binding: hardcover
ISBN: 978-84-16950-43-0
 

The aim of this anthology is to provide a voice for two great Spanish intellectuals, unjustly forgotten, and whose philosophies are based on a visionary concern for the state of the human being. Because of this, they needed to be rescued in order to gain their justified privileged place in philosophical history, as figures from an era of transformation and doubt from which they have provided us with solutions for survival that are more valid than ever, now in the 21st century.
 
Marín Civera (Valencia 1900- México D.F. 1975), and Luis Abad Carretero (Almería 1895- Gádor1971) are two relatively unknown authors from the philosophical and essay spheres of Spanish literature over the past century. They can be considered literary masters, as well as hallmark pioneers, of contemporary and humanistic thought which, still today, can be considered as being both a revelation and contemporary. The Civil War and the exile that both suffered, influenced and guided their convictions, which were always in support of liberty and plurality. Civera was a supporter of possibilist unions, while Abad supported the Azaña party and was a favourite disciple of Ortega. Both attempt to seek a new humanism which can respond to the technical advances and, at the same time, offer a new solidarity among human beings, while harbouring a contemplative serenity in a world of haste and speed that they foresaw. The Valencian believed in a society where the presence of the Self would not be swamped by the technological beast, while the Almerian supported a personal renovation of the human nature, guided by vocation and the quest for happiness.
 
Ricardo Tejada (San Sebastián 1965) is a professor of Civilization of Modern and Contemporary Spain at the University of Le Mans (France) and a researcher of Philosophical Hispanism and exile. He has published books, such as De una sensibilidad por venir, Ensayos de estética contemporánea (2008), The critical edition of los Escritos sobre Ortega de Maria Zambrano (2011, Trotta) and Briznas del tiempo (2014 Endymion), as well as El pensamiento vivo de Séneca in Obras Completas de María Zambrano.

César M. Arconada (Astudillo, Palencia, 1898- Moscow, 1964), a renowned figure in the intellectual world of the 1920s and 1930s with works that covered the world (Vida de Greta Garbo, Cómicos del Cine), he was Chief Editor of La Gaceta Literaria, a music and literary critic, revolutionary novelist (Los Pobres contra los Ricos, Reparto de Tierras), storyteller, poet and playwright.

In 1956, he set off on a journey of several thousand kilometers to document and write a chronicle of China which was then under the rule of Mao Tse Tung. The result was a journalistic and literary document, unpublished until now, which covers a fascinating combination of popular legends and folk wisdom, customs and landscapes, which provides the reader with a humane and social vision of this giant Asiatic power.

Gonzalo Santonja, Professor of Spanish Literature at the Complutense University of Madrid, Managing Director of the Castillian and Leonés Institute of Language and a specialist in the Silver Age of Spanish literature, the Civil War and exile, wrote the prologue and compiled this volume.

This conscientious selection of autobiographical tests and essays by Victoria Ocampo (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1890 – Beccar, Buenos Aires, 1979) enables us to appreciate the most valuable pieces of her work from the “burning disorder” which is how she herself described her work. The result is one of the greatest accomplishments in Spanish autobiographical literature. This book reflects the friendship the author enjoyed with intellectuals of the period, such as Ortega y Gasset, Virginia Woolf, Tagore, Borges or Stravinsky and includes witty reflections on jealousy, adultery, love and the art of “deciphering a face”. Some of the tragic figures from the century make a brief and albeit painful appearance, such as the French writer, Drieu La Rochelle.

Tamaño 130 x 200 mm
102 páginas
Encuadernación tapa blanda
ISBN: 978-84-943583-6-4
D. L.: M-16809-2016

 

This volume, included within the Fundamental Works Collection, comprises a collection of previously unpublished correspondence between Antonio Buero Vallejo (Guadalajara, 1916-Madrid, 2002) and his close friend, Vicente Soto (Valencia, 1919-Madrid, 2011). 
 
History, politics, ufology, yoga, Eastern philosophy and lifestyle tips are all topics that are included in this book that reveals Buero’s inner self, as one of the most profound Spanish playwrights since Calderón de la Barca; and Vicente Soto, short story author and novelist who was exiled to London and was awarded the 1966 Nadal prize, despite being one of the great ‘forgotten’ writers in Spanish literature. Cartas boca arriba [Cards facing upwards] is a political, literary and human reflection covering more than forty years of Spanish history, enriched by the sentimental narrative of a close friendship from the view of both protagonists.
 
Domingo Ródenas, literary critic and professor at the Universitat Pomepu Fabra of Barcelona, oversaw the selection of texts and has authored the prologue of this volume, which was published to coincide with the centenary of the birth of Buero Vallejo.

Carlos Fuentes (Panamá 1928 – Mexico D.F. 2012) and Luis Buñuel (Calanda, 1900-Mexico D.F. 1983) are two names that resonate strongly in the Ibero American culture of the 20th century. The first, the recipient of a Cervantes Prize, and one of the major representatives of the Ibero American literary boom; the second, a pioneer of Spanish film and one of the most universal and far-reaching film directors, who influenced the collective thinking of writers, such as García Márquez, Cortázar, Vargas Llosa and Donoso, thanks to his visual and narrative cosmology.

Luis Buñuel o la mirada de la Medusa, an unfinished and unpublished essay by Carlos Fuentes on the great filmmaker, has been, until now, the property of the University of Princeton in the USA. It is now available for readers, together with formerly unpublished letters written between both artists, and which illustrate the process and context of this work, revealing both their relationship and personalities, against the backdrop of the revolution of May 1968. The visionary capacity of Buñuel, the legacy of realism and surrealism, Sade and the religion or presence of the Hispanic trinity –Don Quixote, Don Juan and La Celestina are all reflected in this work, which is beyond labels and is brimming with humanism.

Javier Herrera Navarro (Murcia, 1951), librarian and art historian and one of the great specialists in the figure of Buñuel, is the author of an impressive body of works including Las Hurdes de Buñuel. Evidencia fílmica, estética y lenguaje (2007) and Luis Buñuel en su archivo (2015)