66- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
Spain cares greatly for its writers and there is,
undeniably, much to be proud of in the nation’s library.
Any shelf of world literature would surely feature the
Cantar de Mío Cid,Don Quixote, a novel or two by
Galdós and the poetry of Lorca.That much of Spain’s
brightest writing has emerged during the country’s
darkest hours, from the slow-mo collapse of the
Habsburg years to the national ignominy of 1898 and
self-mutilation of the Civil War, speaks of how great
Spanish literature addresses the nation’s ills. Whatever
the subject today, from historical romp to whodunnit,
the enthusiasm the Spanish have shown for popular
literature since censorship died with Franco proves that
many love to read, even if, comparatively, they’re not
the world’s biggest bookworms. Around one in five of
them have a novel on the go right now, with the female
half of the population proving more bookish.Don Quixoteby Miguel de Cervantes.
The first great novel of Western literature has sold by the donkey load since the
17th century day it was first published.Fortunata y Jacintaby Benito Pérez Galdós.
Bed hopping and class conflict from the maestro of Spanish Realism.Los pazos de Ulloaby Emilia Pardo Bazán.
A rare, absorbing female voice of 19thcentury literature.La familia de Pascual Duarteby Camilo José Cela.
The controversial kingpin of 20thSpanish literature does peasant woe.Asesinato en el Comité Centralby Manuel Vázquez Montalbán.
An early detective novel from a post-Franco favourite.If you only ever read five Spanish books, read these:2.1.1 Spanish reading habits
In their own words
In 2005 approximately
80 per cent of books
published in Spain were
written in Castilian.
Some 15.5 per cent were
in Catalan, 2.5 per cent
in Galician and 2 per cent
in Basque.
The most read book
in Spain in 2005 was
The Da Vinci Codeby
American novelist Dan
Brown.La sombra del
vientoby Catalan author
Carlos Ruiz Zafón came
second. Cervantes’Don
Quixotecame a highly
respectable fourth on its
400 thbirthday.