Alan Spence (1) (1947–)

La tierra pura
Alan Spence
Publicado: 2006 | 319 páginas
Novela Otros

En 1858, Thomas Glover, un joven aventurero escocés, acepta un empleo de mercader en Japón. En los siguientes diez años amasa una gran fortuna, aprende las tradiciones de los samuráis y colabora en la destitución del Sogún. Sin embargo, tras el éxito se esconde un hombre que no es feliz. Su historia de amor con una cortesana quedaría inmortalizada en la famosa ópera Madame Butterfly.Moderna novela épica e inolvidable viaje del espíritu, La Tierra Pura recrea la trayectoria de la auténtica ascensión y declive de la vida de Glover y describe una saga de cien años que culmina con la destrucción de Nagasaki en 1945.… (mehr)

‘Sometimes it seems the fragments contain the whole; and every moment is eternity, every little thing is infinite. And the moment itself is its own significance, its own meaning.’

I’m generally not a big fan of short stories – I tend to find them insufficient, too lacking in depth, too, well, short. But this collection from Alan Spence, a re-issue of his debut 1977 work, is more than just a series of stories. Each can stand on its own but, as you read through the collection, characters re-appear, phrases echo, images repeat, and the first and last stories round themselves off by revisiting the same family a few years after the first story as the older Aleck remembers a moment from his past.

These stories are a testament to a city and its people, Glasgow in the 1970s and the lives of its ordinary, working-class citizens. Here are moments of childhood fun hanging about with pals, families struggling to put food on the table but living with dignity and community, of family get-togethers (a wedding, Christmas, New Year). Here is a city changing, as the old slums are torn down and its people relocated to high-rise blocks of flats. Some of the dialogue might be a struggle for some non-Scots, but you will get attuned to it. I have to admit to some bias – in that my mother’s family is from Glasgow and it remains one of my favourite cities. And this collection of stories, although certainly rooted in the 1970s with its references and details, still has plenty to say – in its focus on moments in our lives - about now, about how we live, and of how we live with others. They are about ‘all the beautiful sadness of our little lives, the fullness and the transitoriness of it all’. A wonderful, honest and touching collection that deserves to be read or re-read.… (mehr)

The Magic Flute follows four Glasgow boys as they grow up through the 1960s, 70s and 80s, from childhood through girlfriends, adult responsibilities and disillusionment. A major theme is the music that they listen to at different times of their lives - there are also many elements from Mozart's opera scattered through the book. But while I was engaged in the boys' lives at the beginning, as they grow up the book visits them at ever less frequent intervals, and it becomes more difficult to care about them.

Sample: Twice he made them jump with false starts, put the stylus down in the wrong place letting loud guitar-noise shriek out at them. Then at last he judged it right, placed the needle just so in the space between the tracks with its soft expectant click and hiss. 'Now,' he said, and the music began. And after a few bars Tam felt the tension in his gut begin to ease. He let the music carry him, flow round him like water.… (mehr)