Soldados de Salamina
or "Soldiers of Salamine"
Author: Javier Cercas
Year of publication: 2001
Plot summary: The author/reporter Cercas stumbles across the story about Rafael Sanchez Mazas, one of the founders of the Falange, and how he escapes his execution and is then saved by an anonymous republican soldier. Cercas is then determined to find out all he can about this incident, about the life of Sanchez Mazas and, above all, about the identity of the republican soldier.
The novel is divided into three parts, the first being mainly concerned with the research Cercas made before writing the novel. The second part is structured similarly to a very detailed biography about Mazas. In the third part, we return to the first person perspective of Cercas, where he declares that he was at ths point finished with the novel, but that he felt it was lacking something. This is when he decides to try and locate the anonymous soldier. In my opinion, the novel only really intrigues me the last twenty pages or so. On the other hand, if I didn't have all the background information given in parts one and two it wouldn't have intrigued me. And I do find the different testimonies from the civil war fascinating, but I don't feel they are given the right attention in this format. I don't regret reading this, however: it was very insightful and sometimes humorously written, with a good portion of self-irony and historical facts. Just hold on through the first chapter; it's worth it.
Author: Javier Cercas
Year of publication: 2001
Plot summary: The author/reporter Cercas stumbles across the story about Rafael Sanchez Mazas, one of the founders of the Falange, and how he escapes his execution and is then saved by an anonymous republican soldier. Cercas is then determined to find out all he can about this incident, about the life of Sanchez Mazas and, above all, about the identity of the republican soldier.
The novel is divided into three parts, the first being mainly concerned with the research Cercas made before writing the novel. The second part is structured similarly to a very detailed biography about Mazas. In the third part, we return to the first person perspective of Cercas, where he declares that he was at ths point finished with the novel, but that he felt it was lacking something. This is when he decides to try and locate the anonymous soldier. In my opinion, the novel only really intrigues me the last twenty pages or so. On the other hand, if I didn't have all the background information given in parts one and two it wouldn't have intrigued me. And I do find the different testimonies from the civil war fascinating, but I don't feel they are given the right attention in this format. I don't regret reading this, however: it was very insightful and sometimes humorously written, with a good portion of self-irony and historical facts. Just hold on through the first chapter; it's worth it.
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