Recommended Books & Films

Books

Art & Architecture -- The Moors contributed much to Spanish culture, leaving Spain with a distinct legacy that is documented in Titus Burckhardt's Moorish Culture in Spain (McGraw-Hill).

Spain's most famous artist was Pablo Picasso. The most controversial book about the late painter is Picasso, Creator and Destroyer by Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (Simon & Schuster).

Spain's other headline-grabbing artist was Salvador Dalí. In Salvador Dalí: A Biography (Dutton), author Meryle Secrest asks: Was he a mad genius or a cunning manipulator?

Fiction -- The most famous Spanish novel is Don Quixote, by Miguel de Cervantes. Readily available everywhere, it deals with the conflict between the ideal and the real in human nature. Although the work of Cervantes has attained an almost mystical significance in the minds of many Spaniards, in the words of Somerset Maugham, "It would be hard to find a work so great that has so many defects." Nicholas Wollaston's Tilting at Don Quixote (André Deutsch Publishers) punctures any illusions that the story of the half-crazed Don is only a matter of good and rollicking fun.

Ernest Hemingway completed many works on Spain, none more notable than his novels of 1926 and 1940, respectively: The Sun Also Rises (Macmillan) and For Whom the Bell Tolls (Macmillan), the latter based on his experiences in the Spanish Civil War.

Don Ernesto (the name Hemingway was known by in Spain) also wrote the English-language classic on bullfighting, Death in the Afternoon (various editions).

Biography -- Despite the unparalleled fame of Miguel de Cervantes in Spanish literature, very little is known about his life. One of the most searching biographies of the literary master is Jean Canavaggio's Cervantes, translated from the Spanish by J. R. Jones (Norton).

The latest biography on one of the 20th century's most durable dictators is Franco: A Concise Biography (Thomas Dunne Books), which was released in the spring of 2002. Gabrielle Ashford Hodges documents with great flair the Orwellian repression and widespread corruption that marked the notorious regime of this "deeply flawed" politician.

Andrés Segovia: An Autobiography of the Years 1893-1920 (Macmillan), with a translation by W. F. O'Brien, is worth seeking out.

Travelogue/History -- Denounced by some as superficial, James A. Michener's Iberia (Random House) remains the classic travelogue on Spain. The Houston Post claimed that this book "will make you fall in love with Spain."

For a very different, but dated, view of Spain, read W. Somerset Maugham's Don Fernando (Ayer), with the famed English author's comments on everything from the Spanish diet to Don Quixote.

For an interesting selection of anecdotes and pieces written over the years on the capital, read Madrid: A Travellers Companion (Constable) by Hugh Thomas, author of the classic in-depth Spanish Civil War.

A more personal view of the city is provided in Elizabeth Nash's highly individual Madrid: A Cultural and Literary Companion in Signal Books' "Cities of the Imagination" series.

If you want the full lowdown on the monuments and historical background of Castile, check out Hispanophile Alistair Boyd's Companion Guide to Madrid and Central Spain (Collins).

Finally, a succinct and offbeat introduction to the capital's surrounding towns and villages is provided in Peter Stone's Madrid Escapes (Santana Books).

Films Set in Madrid

One of the city's most enthusiastic chroniclers on celluloid has been Pedro Almodóvar (Oscar winner in 1999 for the best foreign language movie All About My Mother). Though his unique comic vision has not been altogether appreciated by many Madrileños -- many of whom regard his stylish films as perverse kitsch sagas of marginals and neurotics -- atmospheric sub-classics such as Women on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown and What Have I Done to Deserve This? create their own hilarious Madrileño sub-world in which the female plays a surprisingly dominant role.

More soberingly straight and dramatic are the social-commentary works of Carlos Saura, ranging from his early Los Golfos and De Prisa, De Prisa (both about young Madrileño criminals in the Franco era) to the '90s Taxi (on urban racism in the city). His trilogy of realistic musicals, Carmen, Tango, and Flamenco, shows another facet of this leading director's talents.

The highly unprolific Victor Erice (three films in 30 years) created an indelible image of an artist's struggle in The Quince Tree Sun, shot entirely on location in the garden of real-life artist Antonio Lopez' own rambling Chamartín house. Strictly for cineastes, this one.

Music

Three major composers of Spanish classical music stand out: Isaac Albeñiz, a child prodigy who played in piano concerts at the age of 4, for his Iberia suite; Manuel de Falla, an ascetic Andaluz from Cádiz, for his Three Cornered Hat ballet; and Enrique Granados with his lively Goyescas.

The most talented musician of modern times was cellist Pablo (Pau) Casals, while today's leading opera singer is Placido Domingo.