There was so much to learn, to amaze, to interpret, that I never felt more like a foreigner on a trip to Spain. It started with my suitcase staying three extra days in Madrid Barajas Airport. Well, it’s been renamed for Adolfo Suárez, the country’s first Prime Minister after Franco’s death, but no one uses […]
A Greek Myth
Once in a while my professional life and my current interests intersect. I’m preparing a trip to Spain and I was invited to give a lecture based on my parents Civil War letters to some Gender Studies students at the University. Yes, I know, I’m supposed to be retired, but they didn’t get the memo. […]
A Mysterious Malady
My father had this mysterious malady. We knew it as “el pinchazo” (another one of those untranslatable Spanish words), a very sharp pain on his chest—the right side I think, but I’m not sure. It would appear after a ride home from the university on his scooter in the rain. Or he would wake up […]
Entretiempo
This new business of translating from Spanish into English is getting me into non-stop trouble. “Entre tiempo” is one of those expressions that doesn’t have an easy translation. It looks like something about the weather (el tiempo) or time on the clock (also tiempo), but although it’s related, it’s neither one. It has to do […]
An Echo
It’s hard to believe, but this past winter it was twenty years since Peter’s death. Despite wanting to remember him on his birthday and not on the day he died, this year was different and I was aware of this ominous anniversary. Some people ask me why do I want to remember him at all? […]
The First Snowfall Again *
I guess I am keeping my “non-new year resolution.” I have started the translation of A Night at Home and I finished the opening story, “The First Snowfall,” which I’ll summarize for you here. It happened when my family moved from warm Mediterranean Valencia to much colder Madrid. Much to my family’s dismay, my parents […]