Madrilenian live has been busy lately! I'm trying to throw myself into work (going to the library a lot, getting a lot done, but also realizing just how much there is to do...) and still take advantage of what the city has to offer: go to exhibitions, see some film, eat some tapas, drink some tinto de verano, sit on the terrazas before it gets too cold to eat outside. I've shared some great meals, and enjoyed the balconies and terraces of friends. This last week was particularly full, with lectures and a film club and an antique book fair, plus a few lovely long nights in the centro. A couple of highlights:
On Tuesday I made my first (unofficial, i.e., not work-related) trip up to the Residencia de Estudiantes, to check out a conversation with their current poet-in-residence there, Brasilian writer Ledo Ivo. The discussion was lead by a Spanish professor of Brasilian literature, Antonio Maura, and included two of the Spanish translators of Ivo’s work. The conversation (held in both Portuguese and Spanish) revolved around Brasilian-Iberian relations, poetry in translation, and the idea of the literary generation (Ivo is linked to the Brasilian “Generation of 1945”), and included a reading of one of his newest poems (which I loved—wish it had been published already so I could find it and copy it here.) It was wonderful. I picked up one of the books for sale and I’m hoping to head back to the Residencia next Wednesday to listen to a reading of Ivo’s work.
As we were leaving, a woman I met at the talk reminded me to go and check out the dormitory room that the people at the Residencia have recreated to resemble a room of one of the 1920’s residents (Lorca? Dalí?). Cool, huh? I’m so excited to be able to visit and do research at the very place where the writers I’m working on lived and worked themselves!
And then... how I became a star of Spanish documentary film.
The next day in the Biblioteca Nacional a man approached me and asked if he could interrupt me for a moment. It turns out that he wanted interview me for a documentary they’re making for the 300th anniversary of the library. (Hey, I’m there every day.) I am a sucker, so I said yes, little knowing what I was getting myself into. Not only did he interview me, but then the cameraman filmed me in the main reading room, both walking around it AND reading from Unamuno’s essays out loud (which you are NOT supposed to do in there!). I got lots of stares, and had quite a time of it trying to read with all of those people (grudgingly) listening. It was a challenge, between trying not to pronounce anything wrong and trying not to laugh!
Well, in any case, this documentary is going to air on Spanish television in December!
