The Shadow of the Wind

The Shadow of the Wind ("La sombra del viento") is a 2001 novel by Spanish writer Carlos Ruiz Zafón, and a worldwide bestseller. The book was translated into English in 2004 by Lucia Graves. Prior to that it had already achieved huge success on mainland Europe, topping the Spanish bestseller lists for weeks, and gaining praise from the German Ex- Vice-Chancellor and Ex-Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. After being translated in 2004, the book was again published in The United States by Penguin Books, as well as in Great Britain by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and by Orion Books. However, in his own home city of Barcelona which is vividly depicted in the book, Catalan nationalists strongly took issue with Zafón for having written it in Castilian rather than Catalan.^[1]

Plot summary

The novel, set in post- Spanish Civil War Barcelona, concerns a young boy, Daniel. Just after the war, Daniel's father takes him to the secret Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a huge library of old, forgotten titles lovingly preserved by a select few initiates. According to tradition, everyone initiated to this secret place is allowed to take one book from it, and must protect it for life. Daniel selects a book called The Shadow of the Wind by Julian Carax. That night he takes the book home and reads it, completely engrossed. Daniel then attempts to look for other books by this unknown author, but can find none. All he comes across are stories of a strange man - calling himself Lain Coubert, after a character in the book who happens to be the Devil - who has been seeking out Carax' books for decades, buying them all and burning them. In time this mysterious figure seeks out Daniel and attempts to make him part with the book. Terrified, Daniel returns the book to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books. But by now Daniel is already in the middle of a story that began many years ago, and will come to threaten his own life.

Characters

• Daniel Sempere - The main character of the story. Son of a bookshop owner. After visiting the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and picking out 'The Shadow of the Wind' by Julian Carax, Daniel learns that he should treasure this book because a mysterious figure has been searching for all of Julian Carax's books, and in finding them, burns them on the spot. After reading Carax's book, Daniel wants to learn more about him. What he doesn't realize is that there's more to the story than he could ever dream.

Character histories

• Tomas Aguilar - Best friend of Daniel Sempere. Tough and strong, very protective of his sister Bea, and also a rather intelligent inventor.
• Fermin Romero de Torres- Sidekick, friend, and mentor of Daniel Sempere. After some hard times and several years on the streets, he is assisted by Daniel and Daniel's father, who give him an apartment and a job at the bookshop.
• Beatriz Aguilar - Love interest of Daniel Sempere and sister of Tomas. A very pretty young woman, Bea is still in school. It is due to her that Daniel and Tomas became friends in the first place because, when the two were schoolboys, Daniel made a joke about Bea that made Tomas start a fight with him. After the blood had dried, they became the best of friends. Bea's father and brother are very protective of her and she has been for several years engaged to marry an army officer, a staunch upholder of the Franco dictatorship.
• Clara Barcelo - Love interest of Daniel Sempere and niece of the wealthy Mr. Barcelo. She is blind and also very beautiful. For several years, Daniel comes to her uncle's house to sit and read with her. He develops a schoolboy crush on her even though she is ten years his senior.
• Julián Carax - The author of "The Shadow of the Wind". Daniel desperately seeks to find out the truth about this mysterious man: the reasons for his journeys, the truth about his childhood, and the explanation for why his books are all being destroyed.
• Francisco Javier Fumero - An odd schoolboy friend of Julián Carax who grows up to be a ruthless police inspector.
• Miquel Moliner - A schoolboy friend of Julián Carax, fun-loving and loyal, very wealthy.
• Father Fernando Ramos - A schoolboy friend of Julián Carax who later becomes a priest at their old school. He assists Daniel in his quest for the truth about Julián.
• Jorge Aldaya - A schoolboy friend of Julián Carax, sometimes rather moody, very wealthy.
• Penélope Aldaya - Love interest of both Julián Carax and Javier Fumero and sister of Jorge. She is very pretty, sweet, and wealthy.
• Jacinta Coronado - The devoted former governess of Penélope Aldaya, now living in a retirement home, who helps Daniel in his quest.
• Nuria Monfort - An intelligent, beautiful woman who worked at the publishing house where Julián's books were published. She was also friends with Julián while he lived in Paris. Daniel goes to visit her for more information on Julián but later realizes that she wasn't much help: most of what she told him was lies. She is also the daughter of Mr. Monfort, who holds the keys to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where Daniel found "The Shadow of the Wind."

The Civil War and Franco Dictatorship

The Spanish Civil War forms much of the background for the book, as a still fresh traumatic memory, and there are many extensive flashbacks to that period. The book presents positively the Generalitat - the autonomous Catalan authority which (partially) administered Barcelona during the Civil War and was brutally suppressed after Franco's victory, and whose executed leader Companys is revered by Catalans as a hero and martyr. Daniel's friend Fermin Romero de Torres, among the book's most sympathetic characters, is mentioned as having been a senior secret agent for the Generalitat and having been horribly tortured and persecuted for it after the fall of Barcelona in 1938. In contrast, the Anarchist movement FAI - which, among others, had won George Orwell's approval and warm admiration in his classic "Homage to Catalonia" - is here consistently presented in a very negative light. "The Anarchists, the Communists and the Fascists" are repeatedly mentioned as essentially three gangs of murderous thugs of whom there was no essential difference - symbolized by the fact that the psychopathic Fumero continually flirted with all three, ever ready to throw his lot with whoever came on top. The present time of the book's plot is entirely under the Franco dictatorship. There is the ever-present shadow of the sinister Inspector Fumero - whose acts of torture and murder are, however, presented as deriving from a personal insanity more than from official ideology or policy. The mass extrajudicial executions in the immediate aftermath of Franco's victory are still remembered with a shudder, and in the Barcelona depicted, a person arbitrarily beaten up by police has no legal recourse. Nevertheless, most people live their ordinary lives, much as people do everywhere, and there is no general atmosphere of terror. In fact, people often regard the regime with contempt rather than fear, and many of the quotations of official propaganda are clearly intended as satire ("A book attributed to a disciple of Darwin, showing that Spaniards are evolved from a more developed type of simian than the French"). Adherents of the regime, such as Beatriz's intended the military officer or the vain Professor Velasquez, are presented as ridiculous buffoons. One passage mentions a scrawled graffiti reading "Fascist Dickheads". It is mentioned that that publication of leaflets for the clandestine metal-workers' trade union could lead one to years behind bars. Yet in another place a taxi driver is mentioned as outspokenly proclaiming to casual passengers his Communist sympathies - specifically his admiration for Stalin as well as for La Pasionaria - with no evident sign of apprehension. Conspicuosly absent is any reference to the Franco regime's efforts to suppress the Catalan language, as it did towards other non-Castilian languages throughout Spain. In the circumstances described, police and avowed adherents of the regime can be assumed to speak Spanish invariably; Fermin, an outspoken dissident with ties to the suppressed Catalan government, might be expected to be often speaking Catalan; and other characters might switch between the two languages according to circumstances. As mentioned, however, the book - originally written in Spanish - makes no reference at all to this issue. In the depiction of the police there is quite literally a Good cop/Bad cop opposition, with the satanic, psychopathic Inspector Fumero contrasted to Officer Palacios, who is revealed towards the end to be quite decent and well-meaning. Following Fumero's death at the book's climatic scene, the clouds seem to disperse and the book moves smoothly towards a happy ending - symbolizing Spain's smooth transition to democracy following Franco's death in 1975. (The writer personally experienced that key event at the age of 11 - which is the narrator's age in the book's opening chapter.)

References

1. ^ Graham Keeley, "The Emperor's New Clothes: Catalan nationalism" [1]; "Spanish writers snub invite to Frankfurt fair in spat over Catalan nationalism" [2].

External links

• Places in the book marked out both on the Barcelona city map and as a Google Earth placemarks file (in English)
• Website about The Shadow of the Wind (in Spanish)

Reviews:

• The Economist (Subscription), Apr 1st, 2004.