Eduardo Mendoza was born on a day like today in 1943. With a long and successful career that includes a Cervantes Prize in 2016His narrative style, simple and very direct, also stands out for its richness and the use of a very particular humor. Among his best known works are The verdict on the Savolta case (with which he achieves his first success), The city of wonders, No news from Gurb, the series of novels starring that grotesque detective with no name that includes titles such as The Labyrinth of Olives, The Mystery of the Haunted Crypt, The struggle of the bag and the life o The adventure in the ladies' room The amazing journey of Pomponio Flato, Catfight, and the trilogy The king receives, The yin and yang trade and Transshipment in Moscow. Esta es una selection of phrases and fragments to read and celebrate.
Eduardo Mendoza - Selection of phrases and fragments
No news from gurb
Because Catalans always talk about the same thing, that is, about work ... There are no people on Earth more fond of work than Catalans. If they knew how to do anything, they would be the masters of the world.
The amazing journey of Pomponio Flato
And what is the truth? Sometimes the opposite of the lie; other times, the opposite of silence.
The city of prodigies
On the way back to the pension Onofre went out to meet Delfina.
"I was taking a walk," the boy said to the wench, "and by chance I saw you coming." I can help?
"I am enough and I am left over," said the woman, accelerating the march, as if to show that the weight of the crammed baskets did not weigh her down.
"I didn't say you couldn't with the purchase, woman." He was just pretending to be nice, ”Onofre said.
-Why? Asked Delfina.
"There's no reason," Onofre said. You are kind for no reason. If there is reason, it is no longer kindness, but interest.
"You speak too well," the wench cut off. Go away or I will goad you on the cat.
The labyrinth of the olives
I opened the briefcase like someone who does not want it, I let his eyes soak in the vision of the money it contained and I closed it again. When he looked at my face, not only had his expression changed, but his chest girth had visibly increased.
"Kindly follow me," he stammered.
I took advantage of the elevator journey, as I have been used to doing in recent times, to ruminate on how powerful money is and how many doors it cannot open, how many chains to break, how many perceptions to cloud and how much malice to turn into gossip. The truth is that never, in all the years that I have been walking through this arid valley, have I been in possession of the vile metal, as those who do not like it well call it, and I am not, therefore, authorized to pontificate on the deleterious effects that those who know him attribute to him. I can speak of ambition and greed, because I have seen them up close. Of money, no. Precisely, as I know from experience, it serves to avoid those who have it sticky contact with those who do not. And with all honesty I confess that it does not seem bad to me: the poor, unless the statistics fail me, are ugly, foul-mouthed, clumsy in treatment, disheveled in clothing and, when the heat is pressing, quite pestilential. We also have, they say, an excuse that, in my view, does not alter reality at all. It is no less true that we are, in the absence of another credential, more given to working hard and being talkative, detached, modest, courteous and affectionate and not sour, selfish, petulant, rude and uncouth, as we would undoubtedly be if we were to To survive we would not depend so much on falling from grace. I think, to conclude, that if we were all wealthy and we did not have to work to earn the chickpeas, there would be no footballers or bullfighters or cupleists or whores or sausages and life would be very gray and this planet would be a very sad plaza.
The mystery of the haunted crypt
From that stage I remember joyfully throwing time overboard, hoping that the balloon would take flight and take me to a better future. Crazy longing, because we will always be what we already were.
Cat fight
When the future is uncertain, actions and feelings are concentrated in the present that in normal times would develop more calmly and with more decorum.
The year of the flood
It is in human nature to falter when dreams begin to materialize.
The secret of the missing model
Your mission is to find the puppy and return it safe and sound to its owner. If you do it before dark, they will give you a snack and you will have the ephemeral and surely rare, but never negligible, gratitude of influential people. Otherwise, we'll beat you up before we send you back to the shrink. You will see.