Javier Marías
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Javier Marías (20 September 1951 – 11 September 2022) was a Spanish novelist, translator, and columnist. He is one of Spain's most celebrated novelists, and his work has been translated into 42 languages.
Quotes
[edit]- Life is a very bad novelist. It is chaotic and ludicrous.
- "Javier Marías, The Art of Fiction No. 190", interview with Sarah Fay, The Paris Review 179 (Winter 2006)
Todas las Almas [All Souls] (1989)
[edit]- All Souls, trans. Margaret Jull Costa (New Directions, 1992), ISBN 978-0811214537
- El que aquí cuenta lo que vio y le ocurrió no es aquel que lo vio y al que le ocurrió.
- The person recounting here and now what he saw and what happened to him then is not the same person who saw those things and to whom those things happened.
- p. 3
- The person recounting here and now what he saw and what happened to him then is not the same person who saw those things and to whom those things happened.
- Un imbécil detectivesco es un imbécil listo, un imbécil lógico, los peores, porque la lógica de los hombres, en vez de compensar su imbecilidad, la duplica y la triplica y la hace ofensiva.
- A fool with the mind of a detective is an intelligent fool, a logical fool, the worst kind, because men's logic, far from compensating for their foolishness, only duplicates it, triplicates it, makes it dangerous.
- p. 30
- A fool with the mind of a detective is an intelligent fool, a logical fool, the worst kind, because men's logic, far from compensating for their foolishness, only duplicates it, triplicates it, makes it dangerous.
- Nos condenamos siempre por lo que decimos, no por lo que hacemos.
- We always condemn ourselves by what we say, not by what we do.
- p. 31
- We always condemn ourselves by what we say, not by what we do.
- ...sabe más de sí misma, que es el conocimiento que hace atractivas a las personas.
- ...possessed of more self-knowledge, which is the kind of knowledge that makes people attractive.
- p. 68
- ...possessed of more self-knowledge, which is the kind of knowledge that makes people attractive.
- Para mí este territorio es territorio de paso, pero se trata de un paso lo bastante dilatado para que deba procurarme lo que se llama un amor mientras estoy aquí.
- This is just a stopping-off point for me but I'll be stopping long enough to make it worth my while finding what people call 'someone to love'.
- p. 69
- This is just a stopping-off point for me but I'll be stopping long enough to make it worth my while finding what people call 'someone to love'.
- Los amores pasados siempre ofenden a los amantes nuevos, por muy muertos que estén aquéllos.
- However dead a past love may be, new lovers are much...upset by them.
- p. 93
- However dead a past love may be, new lovers are much...upset by them.
- La fidelidad (lo que así se llama para referirse a la constancia y exclusividad con que un determinado sexo penetra o es penetrado por otro igualmente determinado, o se abstiene de ser penetrado o penetrar en otros) es producto de la costumbre principalmente, como lo es también la llamada—contrariamente— infidelidad (la inconstancia y alternación y el abarcamiento de más de un sexo).
- Fidelity (the name given to the constancy and exclusivity with which one particular sex organ penetrates or is penetrated by another particular sex organ, or abstains from being penetrated by or from penetrating others) is mainly the product of habit, as is its so-called opposite, infidelity (the name given to inconstancy and change, and the enjoyment of more than one sex organ).
- p. 122
- Fidelity (the name given to the constancy and exclusivity with which one particular sex organ penetrates or is penetrated by another particular sex organ, or abstains from being penetrated by or from penetrating others) is mainly the product of habit, as is its so-called opposite, infidelity (the name given to inconstancy and change, and the enjoyment of more than one sex organ).
- ...y lo que me hace levantarme por las mañanas sigue siendo la espera de lo que está por llegar y no se anuncia, es la espera de lo inesperado, y no ceso de fantasear con lo que ha de venir.
- ...and what gets me out of bed in the mornings continues to be the expectation of what might happen, all unannounced. I'm always expecting the unexpected, and I still fantasise about what might still be.
- p. 137
- ...and what gets me out of bed in the mornings continues to be the expectation of what might happen, all unannounced. I'm always expecting the unexpected, and I still fantasise about what might still be.
- Todo lo que nos sucede, todo lo que hablamos o nos es relatado, cuanto vemos con nuestros propios ojos o sale de nuestra lengua o entra por nuestros oídos, todo aquello a lo que asistimos (y de lo cual, por tanto, somos algo responsables), ha de tener un destinatario fuera de nosotros mismos, y a ese destinatario lo vamos seleccionando en función de lo que acontece o nos dicen o bien decimos nosotros.
- Everything that happens to us, everything that we say or hear, everything we see with our own eyes or we articulate with our tongue, everything that enters through our ears, everything we are witness to (and for which we are therefore partly responsible) must find a recipient outside ourselves and we choose that recipient according to what happens or what we are told or even according to what we ourselves say.
- p. 140
- Everything that happens to us, everything that we say or hear, everything we see with our own eyes or we articulate with our tongue, everything that enters through our ears, everything we are witness to (and for which we are therefore partly responsible) must find a recipient outside ourselves and we choose that recipient according to what happens or what we are told or even according to what we ourselves say.
Corazón tan blanco [A Heart So White] (1992)
[edit]- A Heart So White, trans. Margaret Jull Costa (New Directions, 2002), ISBN 978-0811215053
- La noche pertenece al día anterior en nuestro sentimiento.
- According to us, the night belongs to the previous day.
- p. 80
- According to us, the night belongs to the previous day.
- La gente sólo se casa cuando no tiene más remedio, por pánico o porque anda desesperada o para no perder a alguien a quien no soporta perder. Siempre hay mucha chaladura en lo que parece más convencional.
- People only get married when they've no other option, out of panic or desperation or so as not to lose someone they couldn't bear to lose. It's always the most conventional things that contain the largest measure of madness.
- p. 121
- People only get married when they've no other option, out of panic or desperation or so as not to lose someone they couldn't bear to lose. It's always the most conventional things that contain the largest measure of madness.
- La verdadera unidad de los matrimonios y aun de las parejas la traen las palabras, más que las palabras dichas—dichas voluntariamente—, las palabras que no se callan—que no se callan sin que nuestra voluntad intervenga—.
- Real togetherness in married couples and indeed in any couple comes from words, not just the words that are spoken – spoken voluntarily – but the words one doesn't keep to oneself – at least not without the intervention of the will.
- p. 132
- Real togetherness in married couples and indeed in any couple comes from words, not just the words that are spoken – spoken voluntarily – but the words one doesn't keep to oneself – at least not without the intervention of the will.
- Toda enfermedad viene causada por algo que no es una enfermedad.
- Every illness is caused by something which is not an illness.
- p. 227
- Every illness is caused by something which is not an illness.
Mañana en la batalla piensa en mí [Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me] (1994)
[edit]- Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me, trans. Margaret Jull Costa (New Directions, 1997), ISBN 978-0811214827
- Lo más intolerable es que se convierta en pasado quien uno recuerda como futuro.
- What is truly unbearable is that the person one recalls as part of the future should suddenly become the past.
- p. 126
- What is truly unbearable is that the person one recalls as part of the future should suddenly become the past.
Tu rostro mañana, 1. Fiebre y lanza [Your Face Tomorrow, Vol. 1: Fever and Spear] (2002)
[edit]- Your Face Tomorrow, Vol. 1: Fever and Spear, trans. Margaret Jull Costa (New Directions, 2005), ISBN 978-0811216128
- Todo está ahí a la vista, en realidad todo es visible desde muy pronto en las relaciones como en los relatos honrados, basta con atreverse a mirarlo, un solo instante encierra el germen de muchos años venideros y casi de nuestra historia entera.
- Everything is there on view, in fact, everything is visible very early on in a relationship just as it is in all honest, straightforward stories, you just have to look to see it, one single moment encapsulates the germ of many years to come, of almost our whole history.
- p. 35
- Everything is there on view, in fact, everything is visible very early on in a relationship just as it is in all honest, straightforward stories, you just have to look to see it, one single moment encapsulates the germ of many years to come, of almost our whole history.
- Le quedaban por conocer muchas noches en las que sucumbiría a mujeres que su avidez y el alcohol le harían juzgar deseables, para llevarse a la mañana siguiente las manos a la cabeza al descubrir que se había metido en la cama con descomedidas parientes de Oliver Hardy o con casquivanas émulas de Bela Lugosi.
- [He] would know many nights on which he would succumb to women whom a combination of over-eagerness and alcohol would make him think desirable, only to clutch his head in the morning on discovering that he had got into bed with some vast relative of Oliver Hardy's or with some flighty Bela Lugosi look-alike.
- p. 59
- [He] would know many nights on which he would succumb to women whom a combination of over-eagerness and alcohol would make him think desirable, only to clutch his head in the morning on discovering that he had got into bed with some vast relative of Oliver Hardy's or with some flighty Bela Lugosi look-alike.
- A veces resulta imposible explicar lo más decisivo, lo que más nos ha afectado, y guardar silencio es lo único que nos salva en lo malo, porque las explicaciones suenan casi siempre algo tontas respecto al daño que uno hace o le han hecho.
- Sometimes it's impossible to explain the really important things, those that have affected us most deeply, and keeping silent is all that saves us in difficult times, because explanations almost always sound so lame with respect to the pain we have inflicted or that others have inflicted on us.
- p. 94
- Sometimes it's impossible to explain the really important things, those that have affected us most deeply, and keeping silent is all that saves us in difficult times, because explanations almost always sound so lame with respect to the pain we have inflicted or that others have inflicted on us.
- Tendemos a desconfiar increíblemente de nuestras percepciones cuando ya son pasado y no se ven confirmadas ni ratificadas desde fuera por nadie, renegamos de nuestra memoria a veces y acabamos por contarnos inexactas versiones de lo que presenciamos, no nos fiamos como testigos ni de nosotros mismos.
- We tend to be incredibly distrustful of our own perceptions once they have passed and find no outside confirmation or ratification, we sometimes renounce our memory and end up telling ourselves inexact versions of what we witnessed, we do not trust ourselves as witnesses.
- p. 140
- We tend to be incredibly distrustful of our own perceptions once they have passed and find no outside confirmation or ratification, we sometimes renounce our memory and end up telling ourselves inexact versions of what we witnessed, we do not trust ourselves as witnesses.
- Las mentiras son las mentiras, pero todo tiene su tiempo para ser creído.
- Lies are lies, but all lies have their moment to be believed.
- p. 179
- Lies are lies, but all lies have their moment to be believed.
- ...al mantener el brazo en alto me permitió contemplar su axila, y cuando una mujer desnuda permite ver eso, y descubre una o ambas, es como si ofreciera un suplemento de desnudez con ello.
- ...she kept her arm raised and thus allowed me to observe her armpit, and when a naked woman allows you to do that, uncovering one or both, it's as if she were offering up to you an additional nakedness.
- p. 269
- ...she kept her arm raised and thus allowed me to observe her armpit, and when a naked woman allows you to do that, uncovering one or both, it's as if she were offering up to you an additional nakedness.
Tu rostro mañana, 2. Baile y sueño [Your Face Tomorrow, Vol. 2: Dance and Dream] (2004)
[edit]- Your Face Tomorrow, Vol. 2: Dance and Dream, trans. Margaret Jull Costa (New Directions, 2008), ISBN 978-0811217491
- Todo insiste y continúa solo, aunque opte uno por retirarse.
- Everything persists and continues on its own, even if you yourself decide to withdraw.
- p. 42
- Everything persists and continues on its own, even if you yourself decide to withdraw.
- ...y un poco más tarde viene la pregunta que nadie se hace antes de obrar ni antes de hablar: ‘Do I dare disturb the universe?’, porque todo el mundo se atreve a ello, a turbar el universo y a molestarlo, con sus rápidas y pequeñas lenguas y con sus mezquinos pasos.
- ...and a little later comes the question that no one asks before acting or before speaking: 'Do I dare disturb the universe?', because everyone dares to do just that, to disturb the universe and to trouble it, with their small, quick tongues and their ill-intentioned steps.
- p. 111
- ...and a little later comes the question that no one asks before acting or before speaking: 'Do I dare disturb the universe?', because everyone dares to do just that, to disturb the universe and to trouble it, with their small, quick tongues and their ill-intentioned steps.
- Tenía capacidad para sorprender, como todos los imbéciles mayúsculos, y por supuesto para irritar de nuevo en un solo segundo.
- He had an ability to surprise, as does every major idiot, and, of course, to irritate, all in the space of a single second.
- p. 213
- He had an ability to surprise, as does every major idiot, and, of course, to irritate, all in the space of a single second.
- No desdeñes nunca las ideas imaginativas, Jack, a ellas se llega sólo después de mucho pensamiento, de mucha reflexión y mucho estudio, y de notable atrevimiento.
- Never dismiss ideas born of the imagination, Jack, you only get to them after much thought, much reflection and study, and considerable boldness.
- p. 337
- Never dismiss ideas born of the imagination, Jack, you only get to them after much thought, much reflection and study, and considerable boldness.
External links
[edit]
Encyclopedic article on Javier Marías on Wikipedia
Media related to Javier Marías on Wikimedia Commons
