Las armas y las letras by Andrés Trapiello

Reading “Las armas y las letras” acted as a spur to undertake the reading of “Don Quixote”, although I must admit I did it more “out of stubbornness” rather than pleasure. I really encourage you to read it (I don’t know if there is an English version). It’s a reference book which left me a very good taste in the mouth. I recommend “Las armas y las letras” to anybody willing to learn something about Literature and History during the Spanish Civil War.

It was the month when I undertook the reading of two books: “Las armas y las letras” (Arms and Letters) by Spanish writer Andrés Trapiello and “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha” by Miguel de Cervantes. Other UPyD candidates were Fernando Savater and Magdalena Oliva Díaz.December 2015 was a particular month for me. He was a candidate for Unión Progreso y Democracia to one of the 3 seats of the Autonomous Community of Madrid in the Spanish Senate in the Spanish general election, 2015. Trapiello was awarded the Premio de las Letras de la Comunidad de Madrid in 2003 for his contributions to literature, followed by the Premio de las Letras de la Comunidad de Castilla y León in 2010. In addition to the above-mentioned works, he has published many more books, including fiction, poetry, and collections of essays and articles. His next novel, Al morir don Quijote, won the Premio Fundación Juan Manuel Lara in 2005. In 2003, Trapiello's novel Los amigos del crimen perfecto won the Premio Nadal.

The book was revised and significantly enlarged for a new edition in 2010. Literatura y guerra civil 1936-1939 received the Premio don Juan de Borbón. Also in 1993, his collection of essays Las armas y las letras. Trapiello won the Premio Internacional de novela Plaza & Janés for his second novel, El buque fantasma, (1992), and the Premio de la Crítica for his book of poems Acaso una verdad (1993). He is one of a group of well-known Spanish novelists, which includes Julio Llamazares, Javier Cercas, and Jesus Ferrero, who have published fiction in the vein of 'historical memory', focusing on the Spanish Civil War and the Francoist State.

This series, under the collective title Salón de pasos perdidos, now extends to 21 volumes and is regarded as one of the major projects in contemporary Spanish literature. His debut novel La tinta simpática appeared in 1988, followed in 1990 by El gato encerrado, the first volume of his diaries. His first book of poems, Junto al agua, appeared in 1980, under an imprint (Entregas y Libros de La Ventura) that he had set up himself with Juan Manuel Bonet.

Las armas y las letras by Andrés Trapiello