Mazurka for Two Dead Men

by Camilo Jose Cela

Set in rural Galicia during the Spanish Civil War, MAZURKA FOR TWO DEAD MEN, in terms of concrete plot, tethers its non-linear narrative to a murder and its revenge. Like in his earlier work HIVE, Nobel Laureate Camilo José Cela introduces an array of characters--a vomiting musician; a lascivious, priest-lusting woman; a brothel accordionist to whose funereal music the title alludes; and many others. And his realistic (at times even vulgar) prose depicts an unabashed portrait of their boorish inclinations amidst a virtually ignored war. MAZURKA FOR TWO DEAD MEN won the Spanish National Literature Prize in 1984.

Editions of Mazurka for Two Dead Men

	ISBN 9780811212779	Binding/Format Paperback	Publisher New Directions	Date 1994	Price $1.71	Good
	ISBN 9780811212229	Binding/Format Hardcover	Publisher New Directions	Date 1992	Price $1.26	Used, Good

Publisher Notes

Mazurka for Two Dead Men represents a culmination of the 1989 Nobel Prize winner Camilo Jose Cela's literary art. The novel was originally published in Spain in 1983 and is now presented in a fine translation by Patricia Haugaard. In 1936, at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, "Lionheart" Gamuzo is abducted and killed, an event recalled repeatedly by the widowed Adega, one of the several narrative voices. In 1939, when the war ends, Tanis Gamuzo avenges his brother. For both events, and for them only, the blind accordion player Gaudencio plays the same mazurka. Set in a backward rural community in Galicia (the author's home territory), Cela's creation is in many ways like a contrapuntal musical composition built with varying themes and moods. In alternately melancholy, humorous, lyrical, or coarse tones he portrays a reign of fools.

Media Reviews

"[The novel's grandeur] lies precisely in its blurring of the line between the written language of novels, which recalls the law, and the aural, poetic speech of tragedy."

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