Rafael Chirbes

Rafael Chirbes (in the Kulturkirche Cologne, September 28, 2008)

Excerpt from the author's reading of Chirbes' novel Krematorium (Cologne, September 28, 2008)

Rafael Chirbes [ rafaˈel ˈtʃiɾβes ] (born June 27, 1949 in Tavernes de la Valldigna , Valencian Community ; † August 15, 2015 ibid) was a Spanish writer . Most recently he lived in Beniarbeig / Alicante as a freelance journalist.

subjects

In his novels, Rafael Chirbes dealt with the era of Franquism and the Spanish present. He described the stagnation during the dictatorship, which lasted more than a generation, the petty-bourgeois, unimaginative narrowness. In his novel The Long March , the fate of seven families from 1940 to 1970 is told across generations.

His novel The Fall of Madrid , which takes place on a single day, November 19, 1975, the day before Franco's death , was also successful . This day of upheaval in the lives of several people is depicted: an entrepreneurial family, professors, workers, students, opposition members, etc. The portrayal of the characters and their motives should not only describe the day before the change of power, it also gives an insight into Spanish society Present.

In his novel The Gunshot of the Hunter he also addresses Franco society by describing the life of a fellow traveler.

Alte Freunde , Chirbes' novel from 2003, deals with the development of democracy after Franco's death and draws a bitter balance sheet. The “friends” mentioned in the title are former fighters against Franco and protagonists of the political upheaval after 1975, who betrayed the ideals of the past between adaptation and rebellion.

His novel Crematorium from 2007 describes in long internal monologues the story of a Spanish family against the background of the real estate and tourism boom on the Spanish Mediterranean coast at the turn of the millennium. Chirbes received several literary prizes for this moral painting.

In the novel Am Ufer from 2013, Chirbes castigates the refuted “fairy tale of prosperity” in view of the financial and economic crisis in Spain.

In his work, Rafael Chirbes repeatedly recalled the civil war and its “terrible excess of material violence and emotional devastation” (Claus-Ulrich Bielefeld).

death

Chirbes, who had attended the German Hispanic Day in Heidelberg in March 2015, died on August 15, 2015 at the age of 66 in his birthplace Tavernes de la Valldigna near Valencia as a result of longstanding bronchial carcinoma .

Quote

“[…] We novelists of today wander around shyly and alone, sniffing out the confusing smell of time, chasing something we don't even know what it could be. Poetry is not proclaimed, it is tried [...]. Everyone chews their own novel the way everyone chews their own death - the pills and the water glass on the bedside table. Our claim goes so far as to be chroniclers of our own life, to note our way through the world on the pad that death makes available to us - for a truly short period of time. [...] "

- Rafael Chirbes

Awards and honors

1999: Prize of the SWR best list for The beautiful writing and The long march
2007: Premio Nacional de la Crítica for Crematorio
2007: A book for the city of Cologne for Die Schöne Schrift

Works (selection)

Novels

Mimoun. Translated by Elke Wehr . Wagenbach, Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-8031-0174-3 (Quarthefte; Vol. 174).
En la lucha final. Novela . Editorial Anagrama, Barcelona 1991, ISBN 84-339-0918-5 (Narrativas hispánicas; Vol. 108).
The beautiful font . (“La buena letra”, 1992, translated by Dagmar Ploetz ). Kunstmann, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-88897-211-6 .
The hunter's shot. (“Los disparos del cazador”, 1994, translated by Elke Wehr ). Kunstmann, Munich 1996, ISBN 3-88897-167-5 .
The long march. (“La larga marcha”, 1996). Kunstmann, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-88897-191-8 .
The fall of Madrid. (“La caída de Madrid”, 2000). Kunstmann, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-88897-243-4 .
Old friends. ("Viejos amigos", 2003). Kunstmann, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-88897-363-5 .
Crematorium. (“Crematorio”, 2007, translated by Dagmar Ploetz). Kunstmann, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-88897-521-9 .
On the bank. (“En la orilla”, 2013, translated by Dagmar Ploetz). Kunstmann, Munich 2014, ISBN 978-3-88897-887-6 .
Paris – Austerlitz. (“París – Austerlitz”, 2016, translated by Dagmar Ploetz). Kunstmann, Munich 2016, ISBN 978-3-95614-122-5 (posthumous).

Stories and essays

On the Mediterranean. (“Mediterráneos”, 1997, translated by Thomas Brovot ). Kunstmann, Munich 2001, ISBN 3-88897-260-4 .
The sedentary traveler. City images; literary walk through 42 cities. ("El viajero sedentario. Ciudades", 2005, translated by Dagmar Ploetz and Willi Zurbrüggen ). Kunstmann, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-88897-428-3 .
Por cuenta propia. Empty y escribir. Editorial Anagrama, Barcelona 2010, ISBN 978-84-339-6304-8 .

literature

Essays

Helmut C. Jacobs : Entrevista con Rafael Chirbes. In: Iberoamericana , Vol. 23 (1999), Issue 3/4, pp. 182-187, ISSN 0342-1864 .
Augusta López Bernasocchi: Un apunte sobre la reception de "La larga marcha" de Rafael Chirbes, en el ámbito lingüístico alemán. In: Manuel López de Abiada (ed.): Entre el ocio y el negocio. Industria editorial y literatura en la España de los 90 . Editorial Verbum, Madrid 2001, pp. 119–124, ISBN 84-7962-190-7 .
Horst Rien: Biography and History as a Project. Analysis of the novel by Rafael Chirbes. In: Iberoromania. Revista dedicada a las lenguas , Vol. 65 (2007), pp. 73-89, ISSN 0019-0993 .
Sabine Witt: Rafael Chirbes. From the private to the political. In: Hispanorama. Journal of the German Spanish Teachers Association , Vol. 103 (2004), pp. 53–56, ISSN 0720-1168 .
Jonas Nesselhauf: "Es la crisis". Rafael Chirbes' “En la orilla” and the poetics of the crisis. In: Ibero-American Yearbook for German Studies , No. 8 (2014), pp. 217–233, ISSN 1865-5319 .
Rita Nierich, Peter B. Schumann: Spain in the construction swamp. Authors about the state-threatening crisis in their country. In: Romanische Studien , Nr. 1 (2015), pp. 253–266, online: http://www.romanischestudien.de/index.php/rst/article/view/7 .

Monographs

María-Teresa Ibáñez: Ensayos sobre Rafael Chirbes. Iberoamericana, Madrid 2006, ISBN 84-8489-269-7 .
María J. Navarro Escudero: Spain in the narrative work of Rafael Chirbes. Master's thesis, University of Frankfurt / M. 2002.
Eva Hecht: Coming to terms with the civil war and Franco dictatorship . The “memoria literature” in contemporary Spanish literature with special consideration of the exemplary work “La larga marcha” by Rafael Chirbes. GRIN-Verlag, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-640-89261-7 .
Augusta López Bernasocchi among others: La constancia de un testigo. Ensayos sobre Rafael Chirbes. Editorial Verbum, Madrid 2011, ISBN 978-84-7962-705-8 .
Simone Stengele: Memory and Identity in Rafael Chirbes' novels “La caída de Madrid” and “Los viejos amigos”. Master's thesis, University of Frankfurt / M. 2006.
Julia Wichmann: From political history to everyday stories. The portrayal of Franco Spain in Rafael Chirbes' novel “La larga marcha”. Master's thesis, University of Frankfurt / M. 2001.

Web links

Commons : Rafael Chirbes - collection of images, videos and audio files

Literature by and about Rafael Chirbes in the catalog of the German National Library
Short biography and reviews of works by Rafael Chirbes at perlentaucher.de
Literature by and about Rafael Chirbes in the catalog of the Ibero-American Institute in Berlin
Literature by and about Rafael Chirbes in the catalog of the library of the Instituto Cervantes in Germany
Rafael Chirbes in the Internet Movie Database (English)
http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2015/08/15/actualidad/1439657617_135750.html

Individual evidence

↑ Spanish writer Rafael Chirbes died
↑ Pessimist and connoisseur. Report by Martin Oehlen about a visit to Rafael Chirbes
↑ Every economy creates its own rubbish pit. Review by Paul Ingendaay in the FAZ on January 24, 2014, accessed January 28, 2014.
↑ Book review in the show 52 best books on Swiss radio .
↑ Claus-Ulrich Bielefeld: In Spain's hell the ruins of greed. (Book review) welt.de, January 29, 2014, accessed on August 15, 2015.
↑ The moral paintings of a social critic. Obituary in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , August 16, 2015. Accessed August 16, 2015.
↑ Rafael Chirbes: The novel on the bedside table. In Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , No. 261 of 10./11. November 2007, page 31, from the Spanish by Dagmar Ploetz.
↑ Prize of the SWR best list 1999
↑ as an audio book: The beautiful writing . Kunstmann, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-88897-497-7 ; 2 CDs, read by Kornelia Boje .

personal data
SURNAME	Chirbes, Rafael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Spanish writer
DATE OF BIRTH	June 27, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH	Tavernes de la Valldigna
DATE OF DEATH	15th August 2015
Place of death	Tavernes de la Valldigna

[1] Spanish writer Rafael Chirbes died

[2] Pessimist and connoisseur. Report by Martin Oehlen about a visit to Rafael Chirbes

[3] Every economy creates its own rubbish pit. Review by Paul Ingendaay in the FAZ on January 24, 2014, accessed January 28, 2014.

[4] Book review in the show 52 best books on Swiss radio .

[5] Claus-Ulrich Bielefeld: In Spain's hell the ruins of greed. (Book review) welt.de, January 29, 2014, accessed on August 15, 2015.

[6] The moral paintings of a social critic. Obituary in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , August 16, 2015. Accessed August 16, 2015.

[7] Rafael Chirbes: The novel on the bedside table. In Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger , No. 261 of 10./11. November 2007, page 31, from the Spanish by Dagmar Ploetz.

[8] Prize of the SWR best list 1999

[9] s an audio book: The beautiful writing . Kunstmann, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-88897-497-7 ; 2 CDs, read by Kornelia Boje .