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We celebrate the English language edition of 'Centroeuropa' (Peninsula Press) with the author, Vicente Luis Mora.
Hosted by translator Robin Munby
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PEN Translates Award Winner 2022
Winner of the Malaga Prize 2019
At the dawn of the nineteenth century, European feudalism is starting to crumble. Newly widowed, Redo Hauptshammer arrives in a small Prussian town to claim a plot of arable land and the simple life of a freehold farmer. Digging a grave, Redo finds the body of a soldier. The next day, Redo uncovers two soldiers from an earlier time, perfectly preserved.
This archaeological novel digs into the strata of the European soil, uncovering a long history of oppression, expropriation and erasure. It contains the story of Redo’s mysterious life, and the great love at the heart of it, revealed in chapters of increasing length: as the bodies proliferate, the story gets more complicated. What will be excavated from the earth, and what will remain buried?
Audacious, playful and wickedly funny – in a bold yet lyrical translation by Rahul Bery – Centroeuropa cements Vicente Luis Mora’s reputation as one of Europe’s pre-eminent experimental writers, while introducing him to the English-speaking world.
Praise for Centroeuropa:
‘Impeccable, from beginning to end.’ – El Pais
‘Mora embarks on a radical adventure in a Europe ravaged by wars and revolutions that has no reference in our current literature.’ – La Vanguardia
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Born in Córdoba in 1970, Vicente Luis Mora is a literary critic, professor, and the author of many novels. He has also adventured into theatre, hoax (Quimera 322, 2010), digital literature and literary critique in his blog Diario de lecturas. Centroeuropa is his first book to be translated into English; first published in Spanish in 2020, it won the Malaga Prize.
Robin Munby is a literary translator from Liverpool, based in Madrid. His translations from Spanish, Russian and Asturian have appeared in publications including The Glasgow Review of Books, Wasafiri Magazine, World Literature Today, The Spanish Riveter and Poetry Ireland Review. He has translated writers such as Luisa Carnés, Xaime Martínez, Ekaterina Simonova and Margaryta Yakovenko. In December 2023 he was the inaugural resident of the Residencia Lliteraria Xixón.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Desperate Literature, Calle de Campomanes, 13, 28013 Madrid (Madrid), España,Madrid, Spain