I would like you, in these days in which we try to assimilate the terrible tragedy that DANA has caused, without forgetting about it, you read the interview that Gumersindo Lafuente, former deputy director of elDiario.es, has conducted with the writer and also journalist Martín Caparrós , at his house, last weekend. It is a fascinating conversation and a privilege to be there, listening to it, while we read to them.
It talks about memory, the summary of a life, what fathers and mothers, sons and daughters give, what Argentina gives and takes away, and militancy. But there is also talk of being in one place and fearing that we are losing what is happening somewhere else, of fear, of anger, of ALS.
Caparrós says: “And now, in this most extreme moment, let’s say, of the disease, I realize how many things that I didn’t give particular importance to were extraordinary. Many times I’m here writing and I think I’m going to get up and make myself a coffee, because when I write I generally forget about all this. And then I think: what the hell are you going to make a coffee, idiot!”
Every day something happens, sometimes tragic, other times not so tragic, that reminds us of the immense value of the ordinary.
Keep reading, in the cultural recommendations we tell you about the Fontaines DC concert in Madrid, which you should not miss, three new books in the bookstores that I recommend and many others that Librotea brings us, three films that Javier Zurro recommends, three plans for the weekend that Laura García Higueras proposes and we incorporate a novelty: three exhibitions that Jaime Molero Torres invites you to visit. The weekly cultural agenda of elDiario.es expands every day, be sure to follow us. You can also subscribe to the early bird newsletter to have it delivered to your inbox every Friday at 7 am.
a concert
The Irish group Fontaines DC has become with their fourth album, Romance, in the most relevant indie rock band on the Anglo-Saxon scene. They have made the leap thanks to this work, where each song resonates with a different musical style but they all have a bomb inside.
They have gone from post punk to being an equivalent (in songs and attitude) of any of the important Britpop groups (in a broad sense) of the nineties and two thousand. Getting your head out at that time was not difficult because all eyes were on the Anglo-Saxon world. Today, they have lost that hegemony. For those who missed the British, Irish and Scottish indie tradition, Fontaines DC has arrived to conquer it all for them.
As part of their European tour, they stop at the WiZink Center in Madrid for their only date in Spain this November 2, on a tour promoted by Houston Party. At elDiario.es, we will bring you the chronicle this weekend.
Three recommended books
- ‘The Parachutist’ by Ana Campoy (The Outskirts). This is the first novel written by the children’s literature author who created the character Pepa Guindilla (the girl who has two fathers, a mother, two houses and an unbearable neighbor). Ana Campoy wrote this article about Judith Kerr in elDiario.es that I recommend to you. In this story, Campoy immerses us in a wonderful rural reality, where you can smell the scorched earth of the postwar period and women transmit memories. In bookstores from November 4th.
- ‘Capitalist science fiction’ by Michel Nieva (Anagrama). The subtitle of this essay from the New Anagram Compacts says: “How billionaires will save us from the end of the world.” And its first page begins there, with the millionaires, specifically Mark Zuckerberg and his story of how he stole the word “metaverse” from the novel Snow Crash. This novel inspired much of the technological capitalism in which we live, which of course ignored its criticism but embraced its fashionism. The text takes us on (interspatial) journeys back and forth between business, literature and technology. And on the last page we find a message for Elon Musk. In bookstores from October 23.
- ‘Outside Diary’ by Annie Ernaux (Cabaret Voltaire). The essential publishing house Cabaret Voltaire does not pause in the task of editing the complete work of the Nobel Prize in Literature Annie Ernaux, and this time it brings us a few pages from her diary. This “photographic writing of reality,” in the words of its author, takes place between 1985 and 1992 and, through her descriptions, we see what she sees, like a shameless voyeur flooded with curiosity about what is foreign. The foreign, which is hers.
Three recommended films, by Javier Zurro
- ‘Hail Mary’. Without a doubt, this is one of the best Spanish films of the year. How wonderful this return of Mar Coll to the feature film with a film about motherhood that becomes a horror film with touches of body horror and what a discovery by Laura Weissmahr, who deserves all the awards for that hypnotic and complex character. Don’t miss it and take the opportunity to discover the cinema of one of the great recent authors of our cinema.
- ‘Jury No. 2’: Clint Eastwood is 94 years old and he is still there, as if nothing had happened, making his classic cinema, with transparent editing, and stuck to his obsessions, morality, justice and guilt. Many moderns would already sign this thriller: intelligent, funny and ambiguous. Also with several of his conservative tics, but no one is going to ask good old Eastwood to change at this age.
- ‘Anora’: Although it sounds like a phrase from Paquita Salas, if a film wins the Palme d’Or, you see the Palme d’Or. Even if it is out of curiosity, but on top of that we are going to get tired of hearing the name of Anora, the heroine that Sean has created Baker, one of the filmmakers who best looks at the margins and who here turns the tables on pretty woman to create the class-conscious anti-romantic comedy. One of the favorites for the Oscars.
Three plans for the weekend, by Laura G. Higueras
- Death Festival (Palencia). I admit that I am not a particularly fan of Halloween, but it is a holiday around which very interesting alternatives always end up emerging, like this festival organized in the Palencia towns of Tabanera de Cerrato and Villahán. The congress includes a conference on necrophilia, necropolitics and archaeology, an Anthropology workshop for those curious about death, another workshop to make your own Epitaph, dance and concerts. Tremble!
- Coven in Medinaceli (Soria). The DEARTE Foundation proposes this theatrical experience that mixes mystery, music, witches and heroes this Friday the 1st, to pay tribute to the ancestral magic of the festival of the dead. And be careful, its inspiration is the Congress of the Universal Organization of Timeless Witches and Wizards, held every two centuries in a corner of the cosmos. This time, in the Andromeda Galaxy and Medinaceli has been chosen for its closure.
- The Night of the Souls (Soria). This November 1, Soria also celebrates La Noche de las Ánimas, a tribute to Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer and his legend El Monte de las Ánimas, considered one of the best horror stories in Castilian literature. The text will be read on the banks of the Duero River, next to a large bonfire accompanied by the torches of a group of monks. A concert of medieval and Renaissance music will follow.
Three exhibitions, by Jaime Molero Torres
- ‘Goya x Lita Cabellut’ (Madrid). Recently inaugurated, this exhibition inspired by Francisco de Goya’s Disparates arrives in Madrid. A dialogue between the works of the prolific painter and the pieces of the artist Lita Cabellut that exhibit her views on the human condition, but with different languages. If you have been or are a fan of Goya, this seems like an incredible opportunity to take a look at what you knew about him and understand him from his darkest and most macabre version.
- ‘MiróMatisse. Beyond images’ (Barcelona). The thing is about dialogues between artists. I leave Goya and Cabellut to propose immersion in the work of two great painters. Matisse’s fauvism and Miró’s surrealism join forces with a selection of their paintings to seek conversation between artistic currents. A unique opportunity with more than 160 pieces that has just opened its doors in Barcelona and that can serve as an excuse to visit the picturesque building of the Joan Miró Foundation if you have not been yet. It is not every day that you can see the works of two modern art leaders together.
- ‘The Machados. Family portrait’ (Seville). Leaving the painting aside, I propose an exhibition with a more historical tone in homage to two figures that you surely know. The life of the Machado brothers through photographs, documents and original objects that trace the ins and outs of their relationship. A chance to sneak into the family room for a few minutes and listen to their conversations. If you dare to see it, it is now on display in the historic Artillery Factory of Seville, and if you are not in the area, don’t worry, the exhibition will later travel to Madrid and Burgos.
Librotea’s recommendations
This week at Librotea we have an interview with that great National Award winner that is Manuel Rivas, the success of reading clubs like Dua Lipa’s and the best that you will find in bookstores in November:
Three readings
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