Michael Kevane

Am about 300 pages in… very intense Zola-like, Trollope-complex, anticipating Lawrence in the sensuality… like all of those, kind of a slog tbh… Will see if I carry on… might take it to a used bookshop and trade for something more modern…

Wow that was a sad two hours. The novella Réquiem por un campesino español by Ramón J. Sender telegraphs the ending right away so the feeling of dread and injustice and historical memory suffuses every page. Reading it in Spain doubles the feeling? Nicely structured, with parallel narratives- the interior monologue of the priest, the altar boy singing the local song about Paco el del Molino, the dijendas of the women in the carasol, and the actions of the hombrecitos who come to do the killing. The distant duke and his wife are never seen.

I picked the book up at random in a used bookstore in Ourense and I think it will stay in my head for the rest of my life.

Went to Reina Sofia museum today in Madrid and two degrees later … from Zulueta to Los Planetas to here…

https://youtu.be/72pAMC8QORI?si=m7308kxUfsCJEtJn

A gorgeous morning.

A Cantinflas movie on the tv in our Airbnb in Madrid. I’m twelve years old again.

The paintings by Goya, Velasquez, Fortuny, and El Greco are amazing in the nearby Prado but you can’t take photos in the museum and really what can I add about Las Meninas, just a spectacularly amazing painting? The bonsai are all about 75 years old it seemed.

Will write more about our very smooth travel later, but for now just want to say that it’s nice to be in Madrid!

I will be traveling in Spain for the next couple of weeks riding bicycles in the Galicia area. Very much looking forward to this break. We will be in the towns of Lugo, Orense, Pontevedra. will try to post pictures here and updates of the trip!