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La viuda incompetente y otros cuentos

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Spanish

109 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

2 people are currently reading
50 people want to read

About the author

Juan José Millás

97 books1,240 followers
Juan José Millás is a Spanish writer and winner of the 1990 Premio Nadal. He was born in Valencia and has spent most of his life in Madrid where he studied Philosophy and Literature at the Universidad Complutense.

His first novel was influenced by Julio Cortázar and consequently shows the influence of the then-prevalent literary experimentalism, as well as the uncertainty of a fledgling author. Although very original, his second book, Cerbero son las sombras (1975), obtained the Premio Sésamo and received a positive critical response.

Thanks to an enthusiastic member of the judges panel for the Premio Sésamo, Juan García Hortelano, he was able to publish Visión del ahogado (1977) and El jardín vacío (The empty garden) (1981) with the prestigious publisher Alfaguara. But his most popular novel was Papel mojado (1983), an assignment for a publisher of young adult literature that was a commercial success and continues to sell well. Simultaneously, he began to publish articles in the Spanish press with great success, so he left the employment of the Iberian press and now makes a living as a journalist and author.

In his numerous works, which are mostly psychological and introspective, any daily fact can become a fantastic event. He created his own personal literary genre, the articuento, in which an everyday story is transformed into a fantasy that allows the reader to see reality more critically. His weekly columns in El País have generated a great number of followers who appreciate the subtlety and originality of his point of view in dealing with current events, as well as his commitment to social justice and the quality of his writing. On the program La Ventana, on the channel Ser, he has a time slot (Fridays at 4:00) in which he encourages viewers to send short accounts about words from the dictionary. Currently, he is constructing a glossary, within which these accounts have a large role. His works have been translated into 23 languages, among them: English, French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and Dutch. In his 2006 novel, titled Laura y Julio, we find his principal obsessions expressed: the problem of identity, symmetry, other inhabitable spaces within our space, love, fidelity, and jealousy.

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5 stars
18 (33%)
4 stars
17 (32%)
3 stars
14 (26%)
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
Profile Image for Jesús.
12 reviews
September 20, 2013
Awesome, excellent choice, I've enjoyed every story, that it must be said, You can read it by separate, without missing anything. Recommended.
Excelente elección. Disfruté cada cuento, debo decir que pueden leerse por separado, en cualquier orden. Absolutamente recomendable.
Profile Image for Elidanora.
383 reviews17 followers
November 8, 2013
Son cuentos cortos pero muy muy buenos. NO había leído nada de este autor y me sorprendio gratamente este librito.
Profile Image for Pilar.
16 reviews
October 7, 2024
Es un libro corto escrito por un hombre en los años noventa. Teniendo en cuenta el contexto y la sociedad de esa época: me gustó un montón.
Hay libertades otorgadas por el propio autor al narrar pensamientos o sensaciones en relación al deseo y al sexo que, irónicamente, me resultaron frescas y hasta chistosas.
Profile Image for C. de L..
452 reviews20 followers
August 11, 2021
“...pero no le importaba dormirse si al despertar podía recordarlo”.
Profile Image for Ariel_Carraro.
135 reviews3 followers
October 22, 2022
Una serie de historias breves que tienen el estilo peculiar del autor. Para pasar el rato.
Profile Image for Luislru99.
54 reviews6 followers
April 18, 2024
Relatos frescos e ingeniosos, perfectos para el que sufra un bloqueo lector, no es mi caso, nunca me ha pasado jajaja. Un libro de lenguaje sencillo con ligeros toques de existencialismo cotidiano.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews

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