Grobowiec w Sewilli. Podróż przez Hiszpanię u progu wojny domowej

by Norman Lewis, Janusz Ruszkowski (Translator)

Ernesto Corvaja, Sycylijczyk o hiszpańskich korzeniach, polecił zięciowi i synowi odnaleźć w Sewilli rodzinny grobowiec. Ich podróż zbiega się jednak z wybuchem walk w Hiszpanii, więc zamiast jechać prosto do celu, dwaj młodzi wędrowcy przemierzają kraj, poznając przy tym niezwykłe miejsca i ludzi. Murarza z Pampeluny pracującego przy budowie seminarium duchownego, a po godzinach dorabiającego produkcją gipsowych popiersi Lenina, ślepca z madryckiej ulicy ostrzeliwanej przez snajperów, kobiety odwiedzające rzeźnie i pijące dla kurażu jeszcze ciepłą krew, kierowcę autobusu do Salamanki, który okazuje się zapalonym przyrodnikiem, lokatorów jaskiń wokół Saragossy, portugalskich adeptów czarnej magii, czarownicę, która "popełniła samobójstwo na stosie", matadora, który ginie w trakcie corridy urządzonej w krótkiej przerwie między ulicznymi walkami, tajemniczego Niemca z fałszywym paszportem i Polaka mordercę.

Grobowiec w Sewilli to niezwykły obraz początków hiszpańskiej wojny domowej. Norman Lewis rejestruje sytuacje i galerię ludzkich typów, które umknęłyby nawet Hemingwayowi. A wszystko to na tle krajobrazu, który bezpowrotnie zniknął, zniszczony i zastąpiony przez kurorty i masową turystykę.

Genres: Nonfiction, Spain, Travel, History, Memoir, Spanish Civil War, 20th Century

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Norman Lewis was a British writer renowned for his richly detailed travel writing, though his literary output also included twelve novels and several volumes of autobiography. Born in Enfield, Middlesex in 1908 to a Welsh family, Lewis was raised in a household steeped in spiritualism, a belief system embraced by his grieving parents following the deaths of his elder brothers. Despite these early influences, Lewis grew into a skeptic with a deeply observant eye, fascinated by cultures on the margins of the modern world.
His early adulthood was marked by various professions—including wedding photographer, umbrella wholesaler, and even motorcycle racer—before he served in the British Army during World War II. His wartime experiences in Algiers, Tunisia, and especially Naples provided the basis for one of his most celebrated books, Naples '44, widely praised as one of the finest firsthand accounts of the war. His writing blended keen observation with empathy and dry wit, traits that defined all of his travel works.
Lewis had a deep affinity for threatened cultures and traditional ways of life. His travels took him across Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Mediterranean. Among his most important books are A Dragon Apparent, an evocative portrait of French Indochina before the Vietnam War; Golden Earth, on postwar Burma; An Empire of the East, set in Indonesia; and A Goddess in the Stones, about the tribal communities of India. In Sicily, he explored the culture and reach of the Mafia in The Honoured Society and In Sicily, offering insight without sensationalism.
In 1969, his article “Genocide in Brazil,” detailing atrocities committed against Indigenous tribes, led directly to the formation of Survival International, an organization committed to protecting tribal peoples worldwide. Lewis often cited this as the most meaningful achievement of his career, expressing lifelong concern for the destructive influence of missionary activity and modernization on indigenous societies.
Though Lewis also wrote fiction, his literary reputation rests primarily on his travel writing, which was widely admired for its moral clarity, understated style, and commitment to giving voice to overlooked communities. He remained an unshakable realist throughout his life, famously stating, “I do not believe in belief,” though he found deep joy in simply being alive.
Lewis died in 2003 in Essex, survived by his third wife Lesley and their son Gawaine, as well as five other children from previous marriages.

Reviews

[Daren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was interested to learn that this was the last book Norman Lewis wrote, and that it reprises the first book that he wrote (in part). It tells of a trip he took to Spain in 1934 with his brother-in-law Eugene Corvaja, as the request of his father-in-law. The purpose of the trip was to visit the family tomb, in Seville.

As many will know, 1934 was just prior to the kicking off of the Spanish Civil war and at this time there was a communist uprising, which it transpired was much more a series of rumours and exaggeration than an actual uprising, although there was a brief and violent series of events which curtailed their journey for a period of time in Madrid. Nevertheless these were uncertain times to be travelling in Spain, and with the State of Alarm and travel restrictions their journey commencing in San Sebastian, in the north-west near the French border to Madrid, before heading further east to Salamanca and then into Portugal in order to travel south and return back into Spain and to Seville.
Upon reaching Seville, there are things to discover about the Corvaja Palace (so called) and the family tomb.

Spanish Adventure was Lewis' first publication, and covers the travel in Spain which The Tomb in Seville explains, but also France (before) and North Africa (after). It was not a popular book, as can bee seen by GRs two ratings, and no reviews. Lewis obviously felt he could do better with this reprise, and at 95 years old he wrote this (posthumously published). There are some interesting interactions with Eugene - who is committed to communism, is card-carrying and outspoken, and Lewis who is ambivalent and quietly attempts to encourage Eugene to consider his longer term prospects if he holds this position.

Lewis also impressed me with his willingness to carry on with this journey when it had obviously become dangerous, ducking in the train to avoid bullets, the trouble in Madrid, illegal border crossings and yet persisted in attending a bull fight and other tourist activities.

Written in great detail I expect Lewis either replicated the detail from his earlier book or worked from diaries, as the description is detailed and vivid. This is a shot book - only 150 pages - so is a short read, and for anyone with a passing interest, highly recommended.

4.5 stars, rounded down.

[Mike Robbins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have heard Norman Lewis referred to as the first really modern travel writer, but I wonder if that is true. Whether or not he was the first, however, the sheer volume and quality of Lewis’s work do mark him out. The Tomb in Seville was his last book and was published posthumously in the autumn of 2003; he had died several months earlier at the age of 95.

Lewis was born in 1908, in London, but to Welsh parents. Both were ardent spiritualists, and his upbringing (described vividly in his first volume of autobiography, Jackdaw Cake), was strange. As a young man he pursued various ventures, including the motor trade and motor racing, and was married, quite young, to the daughter of a Sicilian of noble Spanish descent, Ernesto Corvaja.

In September 1934, Corvaja sent Lewis on a mission to Seville in search of the Corvaja ancestral tomb, which he hoped would be found in the cathedral. His son, Eugene Corvaja, travelled with Lewis. The Tomb in Seville is the account of their journey.

There are some very odd things about this book, not least that it appeared not just posthumously but nearly 70 years after the journey it described. At the time, at least one critic expressed wonder that Lewis should still be writing so well in his 90s, but one wonders if this book was actually written much earlier. It may be that Lewis intended it as part of Jackdaw Cake, published nearly 20 years before - but then held it back for some reason, so that it remained unfinished business for decades. Certainly it has the air of something written much sooner after the event than 70 years.

Equally odd was the timing of their journey. Spain was politically very tense - so much so that October 1934 saw a brief civil war in Spain; it ended quickly, but was a savagely violent interlude, the precursor to the larger conflict that was to follow less than two years later. At one point, Lewis and the younger Corvaja have to secure a place on an armoured train that takes them to Madrid. Here they alight to find themselves in the middle of a firefight, and as they dodge bullets to leave the station, Lewis notices a poster that assures them, in English, that “Spain Attracts and Holds You. Under the Blue Skies of Spain Cares Are Forgotten.”

The book is packed with bizarre incident. As the fighting comes to an end, Lewis and Eugene Corvaja attend a bullfight, and see the rejoneador­ (a lead bullfighter who fights with a lance) apparently gored to death (“it was given out that he was dead”. In fact he was not, although Lewis does not mention this). They then decide to investigate a reported mania amongst Madrileños for drinking animal blood. They visit a slaughterhouse, but are “deterred by a woman on her way out, made terrible by the smile painted by the blood on her lips.” Later, on their way through Portugal, the pair hear of a witch-burning, no less, in a small village in Porto called Marco do Canavezes. They travel there to find that the story is substantially true.

The book sometimes raises questions it does not answer. Why would Corvaja senior send his son and his son-in-law on a quixotic journey through Spain in a time of trouble? Did they really hear of a witch-burning in Portugal? (Marco do Canavezes - actually Canaveses - is real enough, and is, oddly, the birthplace of the singer Carmen Miranda; but I can find no mention of the witch-burning story although that does not make it false.)

But does that matter? Why strain at a story of witch-burning in 1934, when a much larger outbreak of atavistic savagery was just beginning? For the most part, the narrative seems heartfelt; the journey clearly left an impression on Lewis and, like Laurie Lee a few months later, he was struck by the poverty (in Andalusia, they “pass through settlements of windowless huts consisting of no more than holes dug in the ground with branch and straw coverings …to take the place of roofs”).

The book is also alive with Lewis's descriptive genius. Thus he and Corvaja, stranded by the conflict, must walk from city to city through the countryside:

…the rich gilding of summer returned to the Navarran landscape. …We moved across boundless plains of billowing rock purged of all colour by the sun. ...Behind the mountains ahead symmetrical and luminous clouds were poised without shift of position as we trudged towards them for hours on end. At our approach an anomalous yellow bloom shook itself from a single tree, transformed into a flock of singing green finches. Lizards, basking in the dust, came suddenly to life and streaked away into the undergrowth.

Therein lies this book’s great strength. It is intensely vivid. To be sure, the book's genesis is odd, and the circumstances of the journey mysterious; but it doesn't matter, for this is one of the best travel books of all time. Beautifully observed and written, it is like a trip through a wormhole - an almost covert glimpse of a world that has been forgotten. It is not perfect, but it does not have to be, for it has the freshness and warmth of a diary entry.

[Mewa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rada.
Podróż Lewisa najlepiej śledzić z mapą, by obserwować jego postepy i móc wyszukiwać zdjęcia każdej lokalizacji. Autor opisy kreśli plastyczne, pełne fascynacji naturą oraz kulturą, ale podróżuje przez Hiszpanię oraz Portugalię z połowy ubiegłego wieku, więc chociażby miasteczko Canillas w okolicach Madrytu aktualnie stanowi jego dzielnicę a miejscowość Praia da Rocha, z którą pewne młode kobiety wiązały nadzieję, faktycznie stała się popularną lokalizacją wakacyjną.

[César Lasso · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very entertaining book. Norman Lewis, an English traveler and journalist, describes his visit to Spain in 1934. To me, that is doubly motivating – on the one hand, you read travel literature and, on the other, the descriptions are referred to a world that no longer exists. Actually, the destination of the author’s adventure across the Iberian Peninsula (Spain + Portugal) was Seville, and my father was born there one year after the author’s visit.

There’s something I should mention about this work. Lewis initially wrote another account of that journey in 1935 (Spanish Adventure) where he also commented his stay in Southern France and Morocco. But, for some reason, he later on disowned that book. The version I have read was written at the end of his long life (95) and published the same year he died. Although the author draws on his travel notes, the old man had mixed in his memory his own experience with what he later on learnt about the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). It is true that he visited Spain in a turbulent year presaging the impending war. There was a rebellion of miners in the North (Asturias) and Catalonia briefly declared its independence. But the street fights Lewis describes in Madrid seem anachronistic and reminding too intensely the brushes that actually took place in the capital at the beginning of the war. Another lapse I caught is that he mentions Franco in 1934 and says the newspapers were already calling him the “Caudillo” (Spanish equivalent of German “Führer”). That is absolutely inexact. Franco actually kept a very low profile until the military rebellion had already started, and only took the lead after the major favorites (his rivals) disappeared of the scene. That is when the media began to call him “Caudillo”.

Nevertheless, the book is interesting for its descriptions, sometimes accompanied by very funny comments. For instance, after a combat in Madrid whence a butcher’s shop window was riddled with shots, the author says the pork pieces hanging from hooks had been inflicted with “posthumous wounds”.

The travel account will also be of interest for the Portuguese. The author had hoped to travel from Salamanca to Seville, but the Spanish situation was chaotic, so he was advised to go to Porto and, from there, travel South (Coimbra, Lisbon, Alentejo and Vila Real de Santo António) before illegally crossing the frontier again and finally arriving in Seville. And his impressions of that poor Portugal of the 1930s were very positive. Some shocked me or made me laugh… so much, that I will avoid spoilers and let you find for yourself.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-presented observations of Spain on the brink of Civil War by a disinterested observer.

[Simon Hollway · Rating 3 out of 5]

Those expecting an elegiac swansong from Lewis' last book, should stop at the border, retrace their steps and visit the Cowardesque stylings and deliciously arch wit of A Dragon Apparent. Lewis penned Tomb in Seville at the grand old age of 95 and, sadly, it's more a brief, last gasp than a show-stopping monologue.

A pleasant, if insubstantial read, that spasmodically relives being caught up in the first few intermittent days of the Spanish Civil War but goes no further than describing a few bullet holes glanced at by a disaffected traveller. Lewis' sputtering act of nostalgia is not enough to spark the requisite amount of charge that animates his previous, superlative prose.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad travel writing. I liked the descriptions of the countryside both of places I had and had not experienced myself. The inclusion of these pastoral snapshots interspersed among the attitudes and actions pertaining to the build up of the Spanish Civil War blended nicely for a nice, leisurely read. It might flow too slowly for some, though.

[Marta Sangrà · Rating 3 out of 5]

No us mentiré, m’he saltat algun capítol del principi perquè era per un treball de classe, però m’ha acabat agradant bastant i un cop posada, l’he llegit del tirón.

Humor anglès, un cosí revolucionari i un viatge accidentat per Espanya abans de la Guerra Civil.

[nicola · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Tomb in Seville, is a real literary treat. Norman Lewis has a precise eye, the kind that reminds you of Hemingway's impressive In Our Time vignettes. Like Hemingway, Lewis couples finely drawn (and pregnant) images and events to a clear and understated prose. Such a combination recalls the best efforts of Rebecca West, Graham Greene and, going back, Turgenyev. To some extent I found The Tomb in Seville superior to Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, though the comparison is somewhat uneven. I think, looking back, we now view Orwell's effort as part of his indictment of Communism. Lewis' effort, which precedes the events of Orwell's book, is more limited in scope (and better written).

Mention is made in the Introduction of this being Lewis' final book. But mention is also made of an earlier Spanish effort. Considering the slightness of the book, I have to wonder if Seville is more or less notes and outtakes of that previous effort. If so, these are quality notes and outtakes, and further testament to a fine writer.

[Danielle McClellan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this memoir of crossing into Spain at the moment that the Civil war was beginning. Apparently this was Lewis's last book, and it retraced the events of his journey over seventy years later. Clearly, Lewis worked from excellent notes because this memoir is vivid and immediate. Lewis has a wry sense of humor and creates the world of Spain with beautifully honed details.

[Jeanette (Ms. Feisty) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm now officially nuts for Norman. I love this guy's style and brevity. Things slumped a bit near the end of the journey, but it was so fascinating to read about how they found themselves in Madrid just as the revolution was starting. And scary, too!

[Tim Weed · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully written travelogue of the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Lewis' descriptive powers are second to no travel writer I've read, and the story is leavened with a dry and self-deprecating sense of humor. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Spain and/or travel writing.

[Misterawi Bahatawi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Characteristically Lewis’ writing is such that you feel as though you are an additional companion on his journey. Beginning his pilgrimage to his marital family’s tomb in Seville, in the Basque Country. The foreboding conflagration is palpable. What had been thought to be a relatively contemplative quiet trip has in fact by way of the state of alarm, meant Spain is in the throes of political upheaval and the first salvos of the civil war that would pit traditionalist monarchists and fascists against liberals socialists and anarchists of all stripes, means marked changes to any itinerary they had on embarking on this journey. Lewis’ description of traversing mountainous terrain, sun scorched plains, old Saracen settlements. And their stays in white washed caves amongst simple rural peoples their customs and mores, make for a rich text. Mirroring the polarised Spanish polity, are Lewis’ and his accompanying brother in law Eugene and later to join them father in law Ernesto’s views on the matter. Eugene a card carrying red prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for the left cause, much to the worry of his less ideologically minded father and Lewis an agnostic with no religious conviction sees this latest proletarian theology as not dissimilar to the millenarian movements that preceded it.The three stars are because I have come to expect so much of Lewis’ writing.

[Natalia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sięgając po ten reportaż oczekiwałam znacznie większej dawki informacji niż to, co przedstawił autor. Temat podjęty przez Normana Lewisa na ogół mógł być ukazany w dużo bardziej rzetelny sposób.

Z opisu, jaki można przeczytać, nie wydaje się na pierwszy rzut oka, aby w trakcie reportażu działo się mało, a jednak miałam wrażenie, że ważnych informacji jest jak na lekarstwo. Właściwie większość z tego, co można znaleźć w opisie nie jest rozwinięta. Według mnie to tylko krótkie wspomnienia o danych zdarzeniach bez głębszej analizy.

Jestem zdania, że reportaż, podejmujący jakikolwiek temat, powinien być poprowadzony w dokładny sposób i jak najlepiej przybliżyć odbiorcy dane zjawisko. W tej sytuacji byłam zachęcona poprzez opis o dowiedzeniu się więcej na temat burzliwego czasu w Hiszpanii, jednak po skończeniu nie czułam, abym wyniosła z tej książki cokolwiek wartościowego.

Liczyłam na to, że trudna historia zostanie ukazana w solidny sposób, lecz niestety tak się nie stało.

[Les Dangerfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly short account of a journey to Seville Norman Lewis made in the 1930s during the early rumblings of the Spanish civil war, which put such obstacles in his way that he had to make a substantial detour through Portugal. The book is an interesting insight into social and economic conditions in both Spain and Portugal at this time and also about the confusion of the early days of civil conflict in Spain. The quest to find a friend’s family tomb in Seville cathedral gives the journey a purpose but is otherwise not very interesting in itself. The book was his last published travel book but I can only think that the level of some of the detail must mean that he based it on notes written at the time.

[Karolina Góras · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pierdololo. Nie mam pojęcia, dlaczego Czarne to wydało. To już archaiczny tekst, który bardziej pasowałby na zajęcia z antropologii i potępiania starych dziadów :)
Lewis uważa, że wojna domowa w Hiszpanii wyniknęła z tego względu, że kobiety wywalczyły sobie prawo do głosu (hehe xd). Większość dialogów, szczególnie te na temat komunizmu moim zdaniem toczyły się w umyśle pisarza. Jest to tekst niesamowity, ze względu na orientalizacje Hiszpanii i Portugalii. Nie ironicznie było to całkiem odświeżające, bo teraz przywykliśmy do orientalizowania innych regionów świata. Można zobaczyć, że świat nie jest aż tak postępowy XD

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book I read by Norman Lewis was Naples ‘44. I would recommend that book to anyone. It had a sense of time and place that was compelling. A Tomb in Seville was interesting but at times tedious. Obviously we are looking at a Spain that no longer exists but also a world that dis exist and holds a lesson for us today. This lead up to the Spanish civil war is a glimpse at forces that helped shape our modern world.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another journalistic depiction of a place in an interesting time, this time Spain on the cusp of the Spanish Civil War. The frequent stoppages of transportation make for many detours, including through Portugal. There’s gunfire in the streets of Madrid but the cafes stay open. In rural areas some people still live in caves or holes dug into the ground. They stop at a small Portuguese town to find out about a recent “witch” burning.

[Shane W. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ładny język i nudna, nawet dobrze niezaakcentowana historia wyjazdu w poszukiwaniu korzeni. Miało być o Hiszpanii i początkach wojny domowej - było, ale za mało. Trochę nie wiem jak traktować tę książkę, bo czytała się bardziej jak opowiadanie.

[Chris Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

I discovered Norman Lewis’s travel writing purely by accident. Set almost 100 years ago, the pictures and people he describes are truly from another age, in many cases seemingly 2 or 300 years earlier, such was the situation in Spain and Portugal then. Well worth getting to know this author!

[Hubert Piwnica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Podróż przez Hiszpanię tuż przed wybuchem wojny domowej ukazana z uwagą na codzienne życie ludzi, lokalne zwyczaje i atmosferę napięcia, która powoli narasta. Książka wciąga drobnymi historiami i szczegółami, pozwalając poczuć klimat tamtej epoki - warto przeczytać.

[Paul Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps because it is a road trip or perhaps because it was written many years after the event, but the content is shallow. Little connection with local life.

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5

[zosiaziom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Myślałam że będzie lepsze

[Liam Binfield · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

Good

Makes me want to go to Spain

Makes me want to know more of the civil war there

Nasser

[zvtracenie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Przez matury nie mam nawet zbytnio czasu na czytanie 😭😭😭

[Olga Vannucci · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always changing, never bland,
A strange time in a strange land.

[ola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naprawdę ciekawa jak na reportaż

[William Dove · Rating 5 out of 5]

Norman Lewis wrote this book just before his death in 2003.

A beautifully written travel story with many funny and upsetting anecdotes.