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Enrique Vila-Matas
Enrique Vila-Matas was born in Barcelona in 1948. His works include Bartleby & Co, Montano, Never Any End to Paris, The Vertical Journey, winner of the Premio Romulo Gallegos, and Dublinesque, which was shortlisted for the 2013 Independent Foreign Fiction Prize. 'February 2008' is an excerpt from his novel Dietario Voluble, published by Anagrama in 2008.

Articles Available Online


Writers from the Old Days

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Issue No. 13

Enrique Vila-Matas

TR. J. S. Tennant

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Issue No. 13

Augusto Monterroso wrote that sooner or later the Latin American writer faces three possible fates: exile, imprisonment or burial.   I met Roberto Bolaño...

poetry

January 2015

Litanies of an Audacious Rosary

Enrique Vila-Matas

TR. Rosalind Harvey

poetry

January 2015

FEBRUARY 2008   * I’m outraged, but I’ve learned a way of reasoning that quickly defuses my exasperation. This...

21 April   Imagine a passport to get into the house Trump announces ‘the suspension of immigration, unprecedented measures in the United States’ One morning coffee, Nescafé classic; then another ‘These measures were not even taken during the Second World War’ Flights cancelled in Europe, borders again etc Apparently swallows can stay in the air for up to 10 months without touching down on land A practical system in 2020 At two coffees, the morning begins to have the minimum light required for the head of a living subject Somebody talks about swallowing up the world and then spitting it out No one from outside can come in Anybody is a potential enemy The bunker is an architecture of politics, as of March 2020 Apply the system to each state, then to each city, then to each neighbourhood, then to each house The house: nobody from outside can come in Banning immigration At most, only those from inside can come in But whoever is inside can’t come in, that would be too stupid, they’re inside already Passport shown outside, at the window, to be able to get the door open Jastrow’s ambiguous figure: the look is deceptive If you look to the left you see a duck; if you look to the right, a rabbit There’s not much point Oktoberfest beer festival cancelled Pope postpones World Youth Day to 2023 And petrol sold this Monday at negative prices The whole mix of new stories of the highest and lowest importance at a great gallop is a kind of censorship through speed Speed covers up with the advantage of seeming to show What is important is not covered or hidden: it is just putting speed into the legs or the motor of what is important so that it’s quickly off the stage How many dead today and what was the final score in the match? 2-0? A video of Bob Dylan

Contributor

August 2014

Enrique Vila-Matas

Contributor

August 2014

Enrique Vila-Matas was born in Barcelona in 1948. His works include Bartleby & Co, Montano, Never Any End to...

Leaving Theories Behind

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Issue No. 9

Enrique Vila-Matas

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Issue No. 9

I. I went to Lyon because an organisation called Villa Fondebrider invited me to give a talk on the relationship between fiction and reality as...

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fiction

Issue No. 17

Boom Boom

Clemens Meyer

TR. Katy Derbyshire

fiction

Issue No. 17

You’re flat on your back on the street. And you thought the nineties were over.   And they nearly...

feature

June 2016

Heteronormativity and the Single Mother

Jacinda Townsend

feature

June 2016

I.   This spring, in cities and towns all over the United States, schools, churches and other organisations will...

Prize Entry

April 2017

The Critic of Tombs

Ethan Davison

Prize Entry

April 2017

Emilia came to Tombs [1] in the twelfth year of the interregnum. It was the first time in history...

 

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