Black Bread: 18 (Biblioasis International Translation Series (18))

by Peter Bush (Translator), Emili Teixidor (Author)

New
Paperback
2016
$13.66

In the rough hill country of rural Catalonia, the Spanish Civil War is over and the villagers live under occupation by the fascist Civil Guard. With his father in jail, facing possible execution as a subversive, and his mother working long hours in a factory, eleven-year-old Andreu is sent to live with his grandmother, uncles, aunts and cousins in a farmhouse in a remote valley. His inquisitive, self-taught grandmother encourages him to study, but who will Andreu become? He doesn't want to be a farmhand, or work in a factory, or flee into exile in France like his uncle and aunt. His cousin Nuria invites him to play sex games with her in the woods, but Andreu cannot stop thinking about a young man he sees lying naked in a monastery garden. Confronted on all sides by the need to define himself, Andreu must make a difficult decision. One of the major novels of contemporary Spain, and the inspiration for the first film in the Catalan language to be nominated by Spain for an Academy Award, Black Bread brings to life a rural world of mythical force as it traces with piercing psychological insight, in gorgeous prose, the movements of a boy's psyche as he contemplates growing into an adult. Born in 1933, Emili Teixidor's first novel, Retrato de un asesino de pajaros, was published to tremendous acclaim in 1988, followed by several more which established him as one of Spain's greatest contemporary authors. Teixidor died in 2012.

Synopsis

In the rough hill country of rural Catalonia, the Spanish Civil War is over and the villagers live under occupation by the fascist Civil Guard. With his father in jail, facing possible execution as a subversive, and his mother working long hours in a factory, eleven-year-old Andreu is sent to live with his grandmother, uncles, aunts and cousins in a farmhouse in a remote valley. His inquisitive, self-taught grandmother encourages him to study, but who will Andreu become? He doesn't want to be a farmhand, or work in a factory, or flee into exile in France like his uncle and aunt. His cousin Nuria invites him to play sex games with her in the woods, but Andreu cannot stop thinking about a young man he sees lying naked in a monastery garden. Confronted on all sides by the need to define himself, Andreu must make a difficult decision. One of the major novels of contemporary Spain, and the inspiration for the first film in the Catalan language to be nominated by Spain for an Academy Award, Black Bread brings to life a rural world of mythical force as it traces with piercing psychological insight, in gorgeous prose, the movements of a boy's psyche as he contemplates growing into an adult. Born in 1933, Emili Teixidor's first novel, Retrato de un asesino de pajaros, was published to tremendous acclaim in 1988, followed by several more which established him as one of Spain's greatest contemporary authors. Teixidor died in 2012.

$13.66

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 304
Edition: Translation
Publisher: Biblioasis
Published: 19 Jul 2016
ISBN 10: 1771960906
ISBN 13: 9781771960908
Book Overview: * Co-op available.* 100 copy ARC mailing.* Galleys available by request.* North American Print Campaign. General interest: The Believer, Bookforum, The Atlantic, The New York Times, NYTBR, LA Times, Time, LARB, Harper's, Washington Post, Vanity Fair, SF ChronicleTrades: Publisher's Weekly, Booklist, Kirkus, Library JournalCanadian Interest: Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, National Post, Vancouver Sun, Montreal Gazette, and Winnipeg Free Press* North American TV & Radio Campaign.Pitch reviews to NPR and CBC.* Online and Social Media Campaign.Pitch reviews to The Rumpus, The A.V. Club, Electric Literature, The Millions, Largehearted Boy, Identity Theory, New Yorker's Book Bench, Bookslut, Shelf Awareness, The Awl, Slate, Salon, Daily Beast's Book Bag, LARB, NYRB, Vol. 1 Brooklyn, Quarterly Conversation, Brooklyn Rail, Flavorwire, Buzzfeed.* General Ebook Plan.Ebook available.Biblioasis and author websites.

Media Reviews

This richly written saga, set in the Catalan countryside in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, 11-year-old Andreu has gone to live with his grandparents while his father awaits execution for reputedly subversive activities. Initially, Andreu enjoys romping with cousins Quirze and Nuria--the old plumtree is their base of operations--and Teixidor's details of family, school, and country life are homey and surprisingly gratifying. The story gets darker and increasingly interesting as we learn more about Andreu's parents, with Andreu reflecting bitterly on his meek mother's single-minded obsession with saving his off-balance father and proclaiming, Love burns. Love destroys. Love kills. His confusion is compounded when he's distracted from Nuria's teasing sex games by the sight of a young man stretched out naked in a monastery garden. Eventually, Andreu must leave his own garden for the wider world, convinced that he's a monster. VERDICT A taut and tender coming-of-age story that's both resonant and intriguingly different. --Library Journal Black Bread frequently alludes to memory's instability, its wavering between continuity and transience: What images and words trigger memories to reappear? Why do some individuals stay in our mind longer than others? ... Perhaps Black Bread's most distinctive achievement is the acute awareness ... of both the harsh reality of [the protagonist's] time and the somnolence of a life fading away before ones eyes, beyond his control ... A bold, commendable effort to expose a troubling legacy from the past. --Music & Literature Black Bread... builds slowly, through the accrued detail of seemingly disconnected scenes... or, let's say, a string of scenes where the narrative throughline is not immediately apparent to the reader. --Ron Hogan, Beatrice

Author Bio

Emili Teixidor was born in Roda de Ter, Barcelona, Spain in 1933. Known best for his numerous children's books, his first adult novel, Retrato de un asesino de pajaros, was published to tremendous acclaim in 1988. Several more novels followed, establishing his reputation as one of Spain's greatest contemporary authors. Emili Teixidor passed away in 2012.