Follow Spanish Property Investment Immigration and Spanish Culture: The European Book Award for 2013 was recently announced, with the novel 'The Cat Fight' by Spanish author Eduardo Mendoza winning the fiction category. This is the first Spanish novel to receive this award.
Eduardo Mendoza was born on January 11, 1943, in Barcelona. After graduating from law school, he worked as a lawyer and lived in New York from 1973 to 1982, serving as a translator for the United Nations. In 1975, he published his first novel 'The Truth of the Savolta Case' in the United States, which won the Spanish Critics' Prize and was hailed as "the first novel of the Spanish democratic transition period." His 1986 publication 'City of Miracles' was another major success, depicting the social conditions and urban revolution in Barcelona from 1888 to 1929. In 2010, he won the Planet Novel Prize for 'The Cat Fight,' receiving a prize of 601,000 euros, making it one of the highest monetary awards for a book in Europe.
'The Cat Fight—Madrid 1936' is set on the eve of the Spanish Civil War, with a plot that is dramatic, intricate, and filled with mystery. An Englishman named Anthony comes to Madrid to identify an unnamed painting by the famous Spanish painter Velázquez. This painting will play a decisive role in the political direction of Spain. At that time, Madrid was in chaos before the civil war, and women from different social classes developed complex emotional entanglements with him, while police, diplomats, politicians, and spies were also secretly searching for him. The novel also subtly portrays a real historical figure—Primo de Rivera—in a rich and vivid manner.
The European Book Award was established in 2007, with a prize of 10,000 euros. During the award ceremony, Mendoza reminisced about his unforgettable time as a translator at the United Nations. He believes that his award is due to the novel being translated into multiple languages. "The Italian philosopher Umberto Eco once said: Translation is the true official language of Europe." He stated in fluent French, "We Europeans must live like Europeans, and Europeans can have their own plans."
The chairman of this year's jury, French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy, also expressed his respect to the heads of the five major European newspaper groups, including Spain's El País. He pointed out that these five newspapers have well interpreted their national cultures on the basis of eliminating nationalist sentiments, making significant contributions to promoting European identity.
