On October 4, 2023, the Reading Club of the Casino de Agricultura in Valencia hosted an engaging meeting with writer Jorge Alacid, the author of the novel, “Los Seres Queridos.” The event was moderated by Margarita Quesada, of the social media channel la Escalera de Margarita (Instagram and YouTube) where she interviews great authors of Hispanic novels. Alacid, also a journalist for Las Provincias, delved into the novel’s conception, the evolving writing process, and how it ultimately crafted a vivid portrait of Spain in the mid-1970s, during the Transition period. He referred to this era as a captivating frontier rich in literary material, an undefined place where Bertolt Brecht’s principle held true: the new never ends being born and the old never ends dying.

“Los Seres Queridos” unfolds in the backdrop of the quintessential Spanish province, through the adventures of a newspaper director in the capital city, a place representative of Spain then and now. The novel’s structure, with self-contained yet interconnected chapters, exudes a sense of humour and uses a peculiar catalogue of distinctive secondary characters who accompany the protagonist, Viberti. This narrative pays tribute to the boundless potential of language and, in a way, also honours the true heroes of this tale: the Spain that emerged from a dark night to embrace the promise of freedom brought by democracy.

Report by Konrad Leśniak

Article copyright ’24/7 Valencia’

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