Soldados de Salamina / Soldiers of Salamis

Nueva edici n de Soldados de Salamina, novela imprescindible del siglo XXI, revisada a fondo por el autor y rematada por un esclarecedor ep logo escrito por l mismo. A finales de enero de 1939, apenas dos meses antes del final de la guerra civil, un grupo de prisioneros franquistas es fusilado cerca de la frontera francesa por soldados republicanos que huyen hacia el exilio. Entre esos prisioneros se halla Rafael S nchez Mazas, fundador e ide logo de la Falange, poeta y futuro ministro de Franco, quien consigue milagrosamente escapar y ocultarse en el bosque mientras los republicanos lo persiguen; hasta que un soldado lo descubre, lo enca ona y, mir ndolo a los ojos, le perdona la vida.

Sesenta a os m s tarde, un novelista fracasado descubre por azar este enterrado episodio b lico y, fascinado por l, emprende una investigaci n para aclarar sus circunstancias y desentra ar su significado. Qui n era de verdad Rafael S nchez Mazas? Cu l fue su verdadera peripecia de guerra? Qui n fue el soldado que le dej escapar? Y por qu lo hizo? Qu secreto escond a su mirada?

Novela revolucionaria y deslumbrante, Soldados de Salamina cosech un extraordinario xito de cr tica y p blico y catapult la carrera de uno de los novelistas m s prestigiosos de la actual narrativa espa ola. Desde entonces no ha dejado de leerse en todo el mundo con creciente admiraci n y catorce a os m s tarde sigue siendo, como afirm Mario Vargas Llosa, «una de las grandes novelas de nuestro tiempo .

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

New edition of Soldiers of Salamis, an essential novel of the 21st century, thoroughly revised by the author and rounded off with an enlightening epilogue written by him.

At the end of January 1939, barely two months before the end of the Spanish Civil War, a group of Francoist prisoners is shot near the French border by Republican soldiers fleeing into exile. Among those prisoners is Rafael S nchez Mazas, founder and ideologue of the Falange, poet, and future minister of Franco, who miraculously manages to escape and hide in the forest while the Republicans pursue him; until a soldier discovers him, points his gun at him and, looking him in the eye, spares his life.

Sixty years later, a failed novelist stumbles upon this buried episode of war and, fascinated by it, embarks on an investigation to clarify its circumstances and unravel its meaning. Who was Rafael S nchez Mazas really? What were his real wartime adventures? Who was the soldier who let him escape? And why did he do it? What secret did his gaze hide?

A revolutionary and dazzling novel, Soldiers of Salamis was an extraordinary critical and commercial success, and catapulted the career of one of the most prestigious novelists in contemporary Spanish fiction. Since then, it has continued to be read around the world with growing admiration, and fourteen years later it remains, as Mario Vargas Llosa said, "one of the great novels of our time."