Opiniones, reportajes y artículos de viaje que revelan el pensamiento y la experiencia de un escritor que ha dado a la literatura española contemporánea algunas de sus mejores páginas. « Últimamente hay demasiado ruido. Si de alguna manera tuviera que definir la época en la que estamos viviendo, es como un tiempo en el que hay tanto ruido que nadie escucha a nadie, ni siquiera a sí mismo.» En medio de esta constatación escéptica, la prosa tranquila, amable y socarrona de Julio Llamazares resulta ser un lugar de descanso, un oasis ameno donde la palabra del autor se confunde con las reflexiones del lector, un regalo para todos aquellos capaces de escuchar a los demás sin dejar por ello de oírse a sí mismos. A esos lectores dedica el autor Nadie escucha .
Julio Llamazares was born in Vegamián, a small village in the region of León. At the age of twelve he left the mountain area, attended a boarding school in Madrid and then studied law. Today Llamazares works as a writer, journalist and scriptwriter.
After two poetry volumes which were published under the titles of 'La lentitud de los bueyes' (1979) and 'Memoria de la nieve' (1982), his successful debut as a novel writer came out in 1985 'Luna de lobos'.
Llamazares had his literary breakthrough with the novel 'La lluvia amarilla' in 1988. The novel is about Andrés, an old man who is the last inhabitant of a forsaken village in the Pyrenees. Andrés reminds the former vitality of this place and contemplates about forgetting, death, and loneliness. With the story of the dying village, Llamazares has depicted a concise development of Spanish society in a bribingly direct speech. Hundreds of villages have disappeared in the last decades because the inhabitants have moved to the cities. In the first three years after its publication, 'La lluvia amarilla' was already re-published 15 times.
In the autobiographical novel 'Escenas de cine mudo' (1994), the narrator returns to Olleros, the place of his childhood. After the death of his mother he finds a photo album with old black and white photos. With the help of the yellowed photos he goes back to his past and describes, in loosely connected scenes, his experiences from the view of a child, thus bestowing an insight into the social history of the region.
Llamazares holds a special place in Spanish contemporary literature. He belongs to the few authors who concern themselves with rural Spain, the remote areas and the decline of damned mountain villages. With his unassuming and convincingly told stories of everyday life, he plays a large part in the existence of this world not being forgotten in the general frenzy of modernization.
Llamazares has published collections of stories, such as 'En mitad de ninguna parte' (1981) and chronicles ('El Entierro de Genarin', 1998). Furthermore, he edited an Anthology about the city of Madrid, which came out as 'Los viajeros de Madrid' in 1998. Articles he wrote as a journalist are collected in 'En Babia' (1991) and 'Nadie escucha' (1995). Llamazares’ travel reports about forgotten regions and districts were published as 'El río del ovido' (1990) and 'Trás-os-Montes' (1998). He also wrote filmscripts and extended reportages – among these, one about Berlin. Recently, his novel "El cielo de Madrid" (2005) was published. The author lives in Madrid and León.
Ahora que ando haciendo León-Madrid (espero que con retorno) este librito del Tito Julio ha sido mucho mejor que un paquete de cecina y mucho más barato, porque lo cogí prestado de la Biblioteca de León. Mi vecino se apellida Llamazares, pero no es familia del autor. Esto lo he leído como si Julio Llamazares fuera de la mía.