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Publication
Madrid Alfaguara [1998]
Description
An outstanding collection of award-winning books and authors Santillana USA has compiled a selection of the most popular books in Spanish under the Alfaguara imprint. The world-renowned authors cover a range of genres including novels, short stories, anthologies, and poetry.A lost bullet, a tragedy in Havana, a mercenary-pilot, a one-eyed man, and the memories of a narrator all play a part in this mysterious masterpiece. Everything fits into this world, the unthinkable and what destiny bring.
Media reviews
Like the work of Jorge Luis Borges, of which it may superficially remind you, ''Dark Back of Time'' deals repeatedly and amusingly with the relationship between reality and the written word. But where Borges is cold, Marías is warm: his breath is in our ear, his urban reality is essentially our
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urban reality, and -- despite his interest in ghosts -- he is very much alive right now. Show Less
So treibt der Autor über viele Seiten hinweg ein detektivisches Spiel - voller Schadenfreude über die Unwissenheit der vermeintlich interpretatorisch unfehlbaren Philologen. Als Leser partizipiert man gern an diesem Schabernack, ohne allerdings zu wissen, auf welcher Ebene von Fiktion und
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Wirklichkeit man sich gerade bewegt. "Die Fiktion ist stärker als die Realität. Vielleicht ist sie die letzte Zuflucht der Erinnerung", hat Marías einmal in einem Interview bekundet. Vor allem hat Literatur bei ihm spielerischen Charakter. Das Jonglieren mit Fakten, Erinnerungen und Imaginationen bereitet Marías eben jenen Spaß, ohne den er sich seine Arbeit nicht vorstellen kann.
Herausgekommen ist nun mit "Schwarzer Rücken der Zeit" ein anspruchsvolles literarisches Puzzlespiel, bei dem man sich auf höchstem Niveau amüsieren darf. Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member MSarki
Undoubtedly a five-star book but the fact that I only "really liked it" is due to all the historical references that bogged down for me, especially near the end. And that is no fault of the writer, it is I who am the culprit here. History is something I respect and take seriously, but in general it
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bores me and I sometimes fall asleep, especially involved with lectures in large halls. But I do have other good qualities enough that it is hoped would and will forgive me of my sins against historical fiction and those who write it. I did love the digressions and the threads JM developed throughout the book. There are several great reviews of this book written on goodreads by my "friends" that I implore anyone reading this paltry piece to visit soon after leaving my page here. I will be continuing on with my JM study after a brief respite in which I might catch my breath. Show Less
LibraryThing member stillatim
Am I burning out on Marias? I hope not; 'The Infatuations' should be in my hands the day it comes out. But I found this much less gripping than his other works, for two connected reasons, that have a lot to do with my own prejudices, but those prejudices might also be your prejudices. So:
i) this
ii) I'm much more interested in fictional stories than non-fictional stories that replicate the themes and appearance of fictional stories. Some people prefer to read about 'real' people; I prefer to read books in which an author is more or less in control of the non-real people s/he moves around.
DBT is charming, certainly. There's a full cast of English eccentrics, one leading to another time after time. There are some very nice photos. There's a real sense of the detective story, as Marias tries to find out more and more about people who are randomly connected with his life. But the pay-off for his research--both intellectual and narrative--is pretty meager. Maybe that's because, as the narrator suggests, there might be a sequel to this, which would be good--I'd read a straight memoir by Marias with great interest. And there are some good bits here about the interaction between fiction and the 'real' world, particularly how the former can affect the latter.
DBT has many features of a Marias novel: the title taken from Shakespeare, and the play in question commenting on and being commented on by the novel; stories within the book as a whole commenting on each other in interesting ways; mini-essays; character sketches. I enjoyed all of those I've read. But I can only read about the difficulties of living with meaninglessness so many times before it becomes--worse than meaningless--boring and slightly insulting. Meaninglessness is only a problem if you insist on believing both that meaning can only be guaranteed by a transcendent x, and that there is no such x. Lop off either of those assumptions, and you'll be able to motor on quite comfortably.
i) this
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book is filled with much clearer and therefore worse statements of writerly existentialism--you know the stuff. Life is meaningless, we tell ourselves stories in order to give life meaning but that never quite papers over the meaninglessness. How deep. ii) I'm much more interested in fictional stories than non-fictional stories that replicate the themes and appearance of fictional stories. Some people prefer to read about 'real' people; I prefer to read books in which an author is more or less in control of the non-real people s/he moves around.
DBT is charming, certainly. There's a full cast of English eccentrics, one leading to another time after time. There are some very nice photos. There's a real sense of the detective story, as Marias tries to find out more and more about people who are randomly connected with his life. But the pay-off for his research--both intellectual and narrative--is pretty meager. Maybe that's because, as the narrator suggests, there might be a sequel to this, which would be good--I'd read a straight memoir by Marias with great interest. And there are some good bits here about the interaction between fiction and the 'real' world, particularly how the former can affect the latter.
DBT has many features of a Marias novel: the title taken from Shakespeare, and the play in question commenting on and being commented on by the novel; stories within the book as a whole commenting on each other in interesting ways; mini-essays; character sketches. I enjoyed all of those I've read. But I can only read about the difficulties of living with meaninglessness so many times before it becomes--worse than meaningless--boring and slightly insulting. Meaninglessness is only a problem if you insist on believing both that meaning can only be guaranteed by a transcendent x, and that there is no such x. Lop off either of those assumptions, and you'll be able to motor on quite comfortably.
Show Less
Language
Original publication date
1998
2001 (English translation)
Physical description
404 p.; 22 cm
ISBN
8420483834 / 9788420483832