Posts by Josep Carles Laínez
La tumba de Leónidas
Alma will be my favorite book, perhaps because of my youth, but La tumba de Leónidas is undoubtedly the most beautiful, and the one in which I am and recognize myself the most. It is not a historical novel, but a mixture of diary, of historical revisitation, of travel book about the sacrifice of Leonidas…
Read MoreEscritos taurinos
The Escritos taurinos [Bullfighting Writings] of Francesc Almela i Vives (1903-1967) came to light because I was preparing a prologue for the reprinting of his essay Valencia y su reino [Valencia and Its Kingdom], and Ricard Triviño, director of the bullfighting collections of the Valencian region government, was interested. Almela i Vives is one of…
Read MoreMosén Pedro
Benjamín Jarnés is a novelist about whose work more could have been written. The Centro de Estudios del Jiloca wanted to celebrate a Jarnesian anniversary by reprinting the facsimile of the novel Mosén Pedro, an early text by the Aragonese. I was in charge of the introductory study, and Olatz Arechaga was commissioned to write…
Read MoreCaballinos del diañu, lluciérnagues y caparines
Caballinos del diañu, lluciérnagues y caparines [Dragonflies, Fireflies, and Butterflies] is a book that includes several haiku on animal themes. The translation into Spanish was done by Vicente Haya, and I did the translation into Asturian; Vicente introduced the haiku to the readers, and I spoke about haiku in Asturian poetry. The result was a…
Read MoreUna más en la familia
This booklet was one of the first in Spain in terms of LGTBQI+ children’s literature. It came out at the same time as Juan Manuel Soler’s book: Mi padre tiene un novio policía. The story narrates the anniversary of Verónica’s 18th birthday, when she introduces her parents to someone special… Una más en la familia…
Read MoreEne marginalia
Ene marginalia gathers most of the articles I published in Asturian in the weekly Les Noticies, where I was a columnist for four years (2000-2003). It is a book of small texts (the columns consisted of 190 words), of a purely lyrical nature. It is not the typical incendiary article, but a morose reflection on…
Read MoreConstrucción metafórica y análisis fílmico
Cinema has been one of my greatest dedications in my passage to adulthood, and although I am not a compulsive cinephile, I still have my totemic directors (Atom Egoyan, David Cronenberg, F. W. Murnau…). This essay has as its precedent my undergraduate thesis, which I read in 1995 under the direction of Vicente Sánchez-Biosca, and…
Read MoreLo mejor está por llegar
The Best is Yet to Come, by the director, writer, and performer Annie Sprinkle, belongs to my time of wine and roses. It is not a book, but a pamphlet where we collected an article by the North American. It was designed with humor and grace by Victor Devicienti. Annie Sprinkle, Lo mejor está por…
Read MoreUna noche más
Una noche más is also a post-apocalyptic story in which I wanted to explore how a homosexual relationship would take place when there was nothing left to dream about. The characters are two boys who do not know if they are waiting for something, and they give themselves to the flesh and to a sentimental…
Read MoreIn hoc signo vinces (estonian)
My book of aphorisms In hoc signo vinces was published in Estonian by the University of Tartu in translation by Jüri Talvet. I shared a volume with Harvey L. Hix, poet, critic, and professor at the University of Wyoming. The leading Estonian newspaper, Postimees, gave the book a glowing review. In hoc signo vinces, Tartu,…
Read More