I won't watch you die
I won't watch you die is a contemporary novel written by the essayist, poet, short story writer, author and member of the Royal Spanish Academy Antonio Muñoz Molina. The work was published on August 30, 2023 by the Seix Barral publishing label, known for its commitment to high-quality Latin American literature. With this book, Muñoz Molina returns to fiction through a frankly moving work.
Thanks to this novel, The author's work has been elevated to the best literary moments of the Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard. In I won't watch you die, Antonio Muñoz Molina draws one of those love stories marked by memory, loss and the reunion with the object of desire and with oneself. Here, the certainty of a passion and nostalgia for what was merge in a display of beautiful prose.
Synopsis of I won't watch you die
A surreal encounter
The first sentence of a literary text is the most important. Not only is it a door to the rest of the volume, but it is also responsible for setting the tone for the entire work. I won't watch you die fully complies with this unenforced rule, beginning with a beautiful line that sparks curiosity, sets up poetic prose, and frames the conflict: “If I'm here and I'm seeing you and talking to you, this must be a dream.”
This is what it tells you Gabriel Aristu a Adriana Zuber, his former true love, whom he has not seen for fifty years. While she was trapped in dictatorship-era Spain, he enjoyed the pleasures of professional success in the United States.. But five decades later, when they meet again, everything seems possible. The meeting slides through old reproaches, caresses and urgency.
The power of forgetting and memory
When they were young, Gabriel Aristu and Adriana Zuber They had one of those loving relationships that inspire authors to create their romances.. They were made for each other, or so they thought before life took them on different paths. Consequently, both compressed in their chests a passion so deep that it remained embedded in time, unfolding with a devastating force years later.
The separation and subsequent stagnation of feelings created a latent obsession in both lovers. Not only were they unconsciously crazy to meet again, but somehow, The figure of each one was the approach to their own personalities, dreams and past lives., which had the opportunity to revive after their collision.
A touching portrait of old age
The ravages of time and the obstinacy of love are very frequent themes in I won't watch you die. The denial of forgetting the desired person and the need to remember them become the leitmotiv by Gabriel Aristu and Adriana Zuber, who are going through a hopeful senescence. Written with extreme sensitivity and subtlety, this work presents two elderly people facing teenage love.
When they see each other again, they do so with joy, passion, excitement and fear. Despite the frenzy, the fear of getting lost again is greater than the first time. I won't watch you die It talks about dreams, about the way in which, despite time, the protagonists continue to reside in their respective consciences with an aspiration that goes beyond simple daydreaming. Although not only love is remembered, but also friendship.
Execution of the plot axis of the work
Gabriel Aristu and Adriana Zuber met in Madrid, in the mid-sixties. She was a married woman, and he was a lawyer who was taking his first steps in what would be a successful professional career. They both began to see each other secretly until, at some point, After one of their passionate encounters, they stopped doing it. Later, Gabriel moved to the United States and Andriana stayed in Spain.
The latter is described in a gloomy and gloomy light, compared to the bright future of the protagonist, who went to work for an impressive company on the rise. Many years later, the man meets Julio Máiquez, a professor who teaches in the United States and who, in turn, is the Adriana's daughter's teacher. Later, Gabriel plans a reunion with his former lover.
Not only love is important here
Beyond the intense love relationship between the main characters, Antonio Munoz Molina He cared about developing each element within the novel. Gabriel's professional career is vital, as is the historical context and its consequences.. I won't watch you die It is an adult book, difficult to digest at times, lacking in cheap arguments and melodramatic plots worthy of literary social networks.
This is, without a doubt, a title to fall in love with the philosophy behind the political ideals of an era, of music, of the sound of cellos, of x-rays of past and present memory. Despite the little modesty that exists on the part of the author in some love scenes, I won't watch you die does not fall into the vulgarism of dark romance, dedicating themselves to giving beautifully written scenes.
About the Author
Antonio Muñoz Molina was born on January 10, 1956, in Úbeda, Jaén, Andalusia, Spain. He studied Art History at the University of Granada, and later enrolled in Journalism. at the Madrid school. Later, he settled in Granada, where he worked as a civil servant and columnist for the newspaper Ideal, whose experiences he took advantage of to create his first book of articles.
This process helped the author write his first novel, which meant a lot to his growth as a literary creator, since, at that time, he had not had a genuine opportunity. Soon, He became a prolific writer, winning the Critics' Prize. and the National Narrative Award for Winter in Lisbon and the Planet for The Polish Rider.
Other books by Antonio Muñoz Molina
Novels
- Beatus Ille (1986);
- Winter in Lisbon (1987);
- Beltenebros (1989);
- The Polish Horseman (1991);
- The mysteries of Madrid (1992);
- The owner of the secret (1994);
- Warrior ardor (1995);
- Plenilunio (1997);
- Charlotte Fainberg (1999);
- Sepharad (2001);
- In the absence of Blanca (2001);
- The wind of the Moon (2006);
- The night of the times (2009);
- Like the shadow that leaves (2014);
- Your steps on the ladder (2019)
stories
- The other lives (1988);
- Nothing special (1993);
- The Hudson's End Lighthouse (2015);
- The fear of children (2020)
Tests
- Córdoba of the Umayyads (1991);
- The reality of fiction (1992);
- Why is not the literature useful? (1993);
- Pure joy (1998)
- The reality of fiction: I. The plot and the story; II. The character and his model; III. The voice and style, and IV. The reader's shadow (cycle of lectures given at the Juan March Foundation in January 1991);
- The invention of a past: Exile and mistime by Max Aub (1996);
- The trace of some words (1999);
- Jose Guerrero. The artist who returns (2001);
- The daring to look (2012);
- All that was solid (2013)
Diaries
- Manhattan Windows (2004);
- diary days (2007);
- All that was solid (2013);
- A lonely walk among the people (2018);
- Back to where (2021)
Articles
- The urban Robinson (1984);
- Nautilus Diary (1986);
- Appearances (1995);
- The garden of Eden: writings and diatribes about Andalusia (1996);
- Written in an instant (1996);
- Some Pla glasses (2000);
- The life ahead (2002);
- Crossings (2007)