The balcony in winter is a novel by the Albuquerque writer Luis Landero. The work has a marked autobiographical tinge - this is affirmed by the same author in repeated interviews. It was published in 2014 under the Tusquets Editores SA publishing label, having an excellent reception by the Spanish and international public.
The work itself It is a remembrance of Spanish peasant life. It is what could be classified as a perfect manners painting of Spain at the beginning of the XNUMXth century.. The plot takes place in a continuous temporary sway, since everything is happening between the memories, in those lucid flashes that reach the mind of the narrator. We are talking about a writer protagonist who, frustrated by how unconvincing his new work is, takes a trip in memory towards his people. Being there, in his rural roots in Albuquerque, Extremadura, not only does he find some peace, but he ends up finding a better story to tell.
About the writer
Birth and origins
Luis Landero is a Spanish novelist born in Albuquerque on March 25, 1948. He came from a peasant family. This situation fully marked his later work as a writer, his characteristic stamp being the enhancement of Spanish rural culture.
His childhood days happened between the town where he was born and the neighboring town of Valdeborrachos. This was due to the fact that the family farm was located in this last location.
Moving to Marid
In 1960 - and the future writer being only 12 years old - his father decided to sell the farm and move the whole family to Madrid, more specifically to the neighborhood of Prosperity. The objective of this change of environment was clear: to give the new generation better life opportunities and prevent them from repeating the cycle of peasant existence.
"I reproach my father for stealing my childhood"
Four years after moving, Landero's father passes away. The event causes a lot of commotion in the 16-year-old. The same writer, in subsequent interviews, reproaches his father for (paraphrasing) "having stolen his childhood." This is due, as stated by the author, to the continuous comparisons that were made with other children and adolescents in the different tasks, denoting that they were better. That generated a certain degree of frustration in the boy. In fact, the writer affirms that his father saw in him as a kind of redeemer of his life, the one who would be what he could not.
Studies and first work
Over the years, Landero received a degree in Hispanic Philology from the Complutense University of Madrid.
At the age of 41 he published Late age games (1989, Tusquets), and ran with the enormous happiness that this first work turned out to be a total sales success, and one of the critics' favorites.
Works after success
After the triumph of this first novel, Landero saw it possible to live from letters and took it as his main occupation. From there comes his rich list of literary creations:
- Knights of fortune (1994, Tusquets). Novel.
- The magical apprentice (1998, Tusquets). Novel.
- Between the lines: the story or life (2000, Tusquets). Test.
- This is my land (2000, Regional Editor of Extremadura). Transcripts of his participation in the program “Esta es mi tierra”.
- guitarist (2002, Tusquets). Novel.
- How do I cut your hair, sir? (2004, Tusquets). Articles
- Today, Jupiter (2007, Tusquets). Novel.
- Portrait of an Immature Man (2009, Tusquets)
- Absolution (2012, Tusquets). Novel.
- The balcony in winter (2014, Tusquets). Autobiographical novel.
- Negotiable life (2017, Tusquets). Novel, (among the best sellers of March of that year)
- Fine rain (2019, Tusquets). Novel.
Awards
Such a prolific and well-accomplished career brings with it accolades, of which Landero has been well deserving. Here are his awards:
- 1989 Icarus Prize for new creators.
- 1989 Critic Award for Castilian Narrative.
- 1990 National Prize for Literature.
- 1990 Mariano José de Larra Award.
- 1992 Mediterranean Award for the best foreign work.
- 1992 Grinzane Cavour for Literature.
- 2000 Extremadura Prize for Creation for the Best Literary Work by Extremadura Author.
- 2005 Medal of Extremadura.
- 2008 Arcebispo Juan de San Clemente Narrative Award.
- 2015 Madrid Booksellers Award.
- 2015 Dulce Chacón Prize for Spanish Narrative.
Today, Landero dedicates himself fully to his passion, writing, and it motivates thousands to also join in writing.
The balcony in winter
The truth made novel from a balcony
The balcony in winter is a narrative of true events seasoned with the imagination of its creator to make them more digestible, funny and entertaining. The work places the reader in the shoes of an experienced writer, who, on a balcony during a cold winter, reviews his memories. The dead speak, yes, of us and of what is fleeting in existence itself.
The art of cyclical storytelling, memory itself
In that bustle in memories with an exquisite cyclical narration -while there is an internal struggle for a new novel that does not convince him at all — the author delves into what are the causalities of life. Who would think that a provincial boy with the desire to be a guitarist would end up being a writer and living by bringing to the public his childhood adventures and the lives of his loved ones and the hard times they had to live?
A novel with nothing invented
"In this novel I have not had to invent anything, everything was already invented," says Landero in an interview with Periodista Digital. What if, The balcony in winter it is a purely biographical work. But not only that, the author goes further. Each character, a unique profile; each situation, a detailed and honest narrative. There is no waste. If you read thoroughly and carefully, each Landero memory ends up being your own.
The historical factor
With his very prepared and precise pen, Landero makes a detailed description of the historical moment in which the events he mentions take place. This allows the reader not only to delve into the lives of the characters - as real as you or me - but also to witness the situations that marked the massive migration from rural settlements to the cities and the economic and political tensions by which civilians they must have happened in the early and mid-XNUMXth century.
El Balcón in winter letters to honor yours
The balcony in winter They are the memories of a man translated into letters to honor his loved ones and make them part of this present as a living memory of what a nation was. It is also a cry for respect for the cultural and idiomatic manifestations of each region, values so displaced by the growing technological wave that overwhelms the whole of humanity.