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The
2005 Award
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Soldiers of Salamis by Javier Cercas Translated from the Spanish by Anne McLean
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Nominated by:
Publisher
of Nominated Editions:
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| the complete A-Z listing of nominated authors |
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ABOUT
THE BOOK
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In the final moments of the Spanish Civil War, as the remnants of the Republican army retreat north o exile, fifty prominent Nationalist prisoners are taken out to be shot. Among them is Rafael Sánchez Mazas - writer, fascist and founder of the Spanish Falange. As
the machine-guns begin to fire, Sánchez Mazas seizes his chance
and escapes into the forest. When a militiaman discovers his hiding place,
he faces death for the second time that day. But the unknown soldier simply
looks him in the eye, turns and walks away. Sánchez Mazas becomes
a national hero and ultimately a minister in Franco's first government.
The soldier disappears into history. |
| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |
| Javier
Cercas was born in 1962. He is a novelist, short-story writer and essayist,
whose books include El móvil (The Motive, 1987), and Relatos
Reales (True Tales, 2000). In the 1980s he taught for two years at the
University of Illinois, and since 1989 has been a lecturer in Spanish Literature
at the University of Gerona. He is a regular contributor to the Catalan
edition of El Páis. Soldados de Salamina has been published
in more than fifteen languages and has received many literary prizes. It
has also been filmed by David Trueba for release in 2003. In 2004, Soldiers
of Salamis was awarded the UK's prestigious Independent Foreign Fiction
Prize. |
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