The Spanish writer and poet Manuel Vilas delivers with “Irene” a poetic and moving introspective story about the life of a woman who has just lost her husband whom she loved passionately. A novel that earned him the prestigious 2023 Nadal Prize for best Spanish novel.
It is a story of love, mad love, between a man, Marcelo, and a woman, Irene. The first is dead, the second doesn’t know what to do with her money.
So, to fill the absence, she sets off on a journey without destination, in a luxury car and from one palace to another, according to chance, and collects lovers. Luxury, the flesh and pleasures as a bulwark against grief and this unbearable loss, and as a means of rediscovering “ Dolce Vita » and to summon the memory of her deceased husband.
In his new novel, imbued with the suffering of mourning and the beauty of poetry, Manuel Vilas takes us into the passage of time and into the psyche of an extraordinary woman. Until the final twist.
“ Irene ” of Manuel Vilas, translated from Spanish by Isabelle Gugnon, is published by Editions du Sous-Sol.
Simultaneous translation provided by Pascale Fougere.
Reporting : Clara Gabillet was interested in the documentary film “ Think of me » by Cécile Lateule. The chronicle filmed from the perspective of men in the daily life of an Emmaüs community. Most of the people who live there are migrants. They come from Albania, Chechnya, Morocco, Georgia, Mongolia, Afghanistan…