A Heart So White by Javier Marías

Javier Marías

Javier Marías is a Spanish novelist. He is also a translator and columnist.-Life:Javier Marías was born in Madrid. His father was the philosopher Julián Marías, who was briefly imprisoned and then banned from teaching for opposing Franco...

 was first published in 1992 and received the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is an international literary award for a work of fiction, jointly sponsored by the city of Dublin, Ireland and the company IMPAC. At €100,000 it is one of the richest literary prizes in the world...

 in 1997. Margaret Jull Costa

Margaret Jull Costa

Margaret Jull Costa is a translator of Portuguese and Spanish fiction and poetry, including the works of Nobel Prize winner José Saramago, Eça de Queiroz, Fernando Pessoa, Javier Marías and José Régio.-Works and awards:...

's English translation was published by New Directions in 2000.

Summary

With unnerving insistence A Heart So White chronicles the relentless power of the past. Juan knows little of the interior life of his father Ranz; but when Juan marries, he considers the past anew, and begins to ponder what he doesn't really want to know. Secrecy - its possible convenience, its price, an even its civility - permeates the novel. A Heart So White becomes a sort of anti-detective story of human nature. Intrigue; the sins of the father; the fraudulent and the genuine; marriage and strange repetitions of violence: Marías elegantly sends shafts of inquisitory light into shadows - and reckons the costs of ambivalence. ('My hands are of your colour; but I shame/To wear a heart so white" - Macbeth.)

Reception

Called "dazzling" by The Times Literary Supplement

The Times Literary Supplement

The Times Literary Supplement is a weekly literary review published in London by News International, a subsidiary of News Corporation.-History:...

and "a landmark by a genuine artist" by Le Monde, A Heart So White won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

The International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award is an international literary award for a work of fiction, jointly sponsored by the city of Dublin, Ireland and the company IMPAC. At €100,000 it is one of the richest literary prizes in the world...

 and was rated by El Pais as "his best and most ambitious novel."

External links

• "Stranger Than Fiction," by Wendy Lesser
  Wendy Lesser
  Wendy Lesser is an American critic, novelist, and editor based in Berkeley, California.Lesser did her undergraduate work at Harvard College and her graduate work at University of California, Berkeley, with time in between at King's College, Cambridge...
  
  , New York Times, May 6, 2001.
• A Heart So White reviewed by Ben Donnelly, Review of Contemporary Fiction, Spring 2001.