Javier Cercas

Having done it all my life, I have attained a certain knack of mislaying things

Can the same ethical precept be honest and courageous on the lips of one person, and abject and cowardly on those of another?

Kafka’s vision of the world not only impregnates much of what was written after his time, but also much of what had gone before

In different times and places, two stories (or just the same truth) to restore a little faith in mankind

Few venture to say aloud that they think that the right to vote on Catalan independence is a load of meringue whipped up by the nationalists

Foreigners are often surprised to see how much good cheer there is still on display in Spain

A few words on the reports that would have been...

The joys of aphorisms

The economic crisis threatens to liquidate the best political idea we Europeans have ever had

Many of those who demand a change are playing into the hands of the far right

Overnight, everyone in Catalonia seemed to have turned secessionist; the news media, intellectuals and priests

The Collell monument to Francoist victims of execution is also part of “historical memory”

When I hear our premier Mas say that the road to independence runs through "unknown terrain," my hair stands on end

When Franco died and our transition to democracy began, political parties existed only in a fragile form, withered by half a century of clandestine existence

Cervantes invented the novel but in Spain, where fanatics ruled, his work was considered light reading

As long as the left laughs at the stunts of practical jokers such as Sánchez Gordillo, the right can rest assured

It is impossible to be a great writer without imbibing the tradition both of one's own nation and that of the world at large as well

Ankara's influence in the Middle East is growing; if Europe wishes to play a role there, the best instrument is a European Turkey

Talking to yourself is a lot like writing, because writing is similar to talking in dreams