Diary of a Pigheaded Old Man by Pablo Martin Sanchez
There is a vitality in Pablo Martín Sánchez that permeates his books, a jovial intellectuality that guarantees eternal youth in his literature. [...] You have to follow this author closely because he juggles intellectually right from the beginning."
Antonio Iturbe, Heraldo de Aragón
"Like Cortázar's Rayuela, everyone can read the book as they please, in order, skipping fragments or starting wherever they like. Diario de un viejo cabezota is a text of linguistic, thematic and reflexive juggling. Because what Pablo Martín proposes is a stylistic game, deliciously Oulipian, between reality and fiction."
Anna Carreras i Aubets, Núvol
"Read one of the best Catalan writers writing in Spanish."
Màrius Serra, La Vanguardia
Diary of a Pigheaded Old Man by Pablo Martin Sanchez
Acantilado, 2020
For rights, contact: Gabriela Ellena Castellotti gabriela@casanovaslynch.com
Please get in touch with me if you wish to see my sample
The book is speculative near-future fiction set in Catalonia, 2066, after "The Great Blackout" has left the world's population without power. The narrative irreverently plays with the distinction between fact and fiction, and takes the form of a fictional diary, written in the end pages of great literary works such as Gogol's "Diary of a Madman," prefaced by an introductory editor's note from the fictitious future publisher. The author of this diary, a minor Spanish author who lived at the time, (named, incidentally, Pablo Martín Sánchez) resides, along with several other determined hangers-on, in Catalonia's Pere Mata hospital, a building whose modernist architecture and presence occupy central positions in the narrative (the narrator includes a map of the building in his narration). He recounts his romance with his doctor Audrey, their adventures, their resistance in face of outside attacks, and how together they adopted a blind girl named Naisha.
The narrative voice assumes a performatively academic register, which directly addresses his imagined readership, while the book itself is rich in terms of theme and content, laden with literary references and concepts, including using the decimals of pi as a compositional framework for writing poetry. Choral, suspenseful, a constant ode to Perec, Pablo Martín Sánchez's much-awaited new novel is equally entertaining and thought-provoking.