Searing prose conveys reality of life under Franco
‘Where they burn books, they will eventually burn people,” German poet Heinrich Heine wrote in 1821.
{ "b" : "Books Burn Badly"}
By Manuel Rivas
Translated by Jonathan Dunne
Harvill Secker, €22.80
‘Where they burn books, they will eventually burn people,” German poet Heinrich Heine wrote in 1821. Heine’s words are a present absence throughout Manuel Rivas’ expansive new novel, in which the fate of a private library reflects the turbulence of life in Spain under Franco’s dictatorship.
The novel opens with a photograph: fascist soldiers burning books on ...
