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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...

The meteorite retraced its orbit in the solar system for fifteen million years until a passing comet pushed it towards the earth It took twenty thousand years to collide with the planet, as glaciers melted, mountains formed, and waters receded Countless life forms went extinct as others fought fiercely, adapted, and populated the earth When the foreign object finally entered the atmosphere, the force of impact reduced it to a shower of glowing fragments that burned up before reaching the ground Only the heart of the meteorite was spared from violent disintegration An igneous ball, one and a half metres wide, hit the ground outside San Borja; its spectacular descent from the sky was witnessed by a married couple who were arguing in their home at five thirty in the morning   It was totally dark when Ruddy got up to wash the dishes He tiptoed out of the room so that he wouldn’t wake Dayana, who slept with her mouth open, making little pig-like grunts He stopped in the hallway to feel the darkness The crickets chirped in a hysterical chorus; he heard the sleepy neighing of the horses in the distance Once again he felt his body buzzing with the evil energy He went into the kitchen and turned on the light The dirty plates were still sitting on the counter, seething with ants: Ely, the girl, had missed work that day and Dayana hardly ever cleaned at all Out here in the country, any food left out was devoured by insects in a matter of hours He had imagined the army of bugs swarming over the dirty plates and the thought was so unsettling that it pulled him from bed He vigorously scrubbed each dish, pot, and pan The chore momentarily expelled some of the evil energy that had stored up in his body He felt triumphant: he had conquered the ants Captain America, he thought Then he dried the silverware and put it away He stretched out an arm to open the cupboard but as he leaned over the counter his belly brushed the edge of the

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...

READ NEXT

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Issue No. 20

Editorial

The Editors

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Issue No. 20

    As a bookish schoolchild in Galilee, the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish was invited to compose, and read...

poetry

Issue No. 3

The Far Shore

Michael Hampton

poetry

Issue No. 3

Windblown: gone with the summer wind. Windblown: gone with the autumn wind. Windblown: gone with the winter wind. Windblown:...

poetry

Issue No. 2

Portraits of Pierre Reverdy and Three Poems

Sam Gordon

poetry

Issue No. 2

ANDRÉ BRETON The most memorable thing about our meetings [around 1919-1920] was the almost complete bareness of the room in...

 

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