The Defeated

In Europe, the War of the Spanish Succession is underway — a bloody tragic farce that will strip Catalonia of all independence and redraw the map of Europe for centuries to come. Barcelonian Marti Suviria is a conscientious rogue, an unwitting traitor, and a cowardly hero, the last student of the great French fortification theorist Sébastien de Vauban, a member of a unique brotherhood of military engineers — on the battlefield, in the trenches, in captivity, in besieged Barcelona, in his dying home, he tirelessly seeks that one Word that will explain and justify his labors and his whole life. Albert Sanchez Pinol is one of the biggest stars of Catalan literature; in originality and popularity, he rivals Jaume Cabré. His "The Defeated," an adventurous novel, a military epic, and a high tragedy, partly refers us to Grimmelshausen's "Simplicissimus" and Jaroslav Hasek's "The Good Soldier Švejk," Joseph Conrad's "The Duel," and George MacDonald Fraser's "Flashman Papers," which particularly inspired the author. In Spain, the novel has sold over 250,000 copies, has been translated into 16 languages, has provoked unrestrained admiration, sparked fierce debates, received the El Periódico award for the best novel of 2012, became the basis for a comic, and in addition, inspired a series of Baroque music concerts (which is rare for modern novels). In "The Defeated," there will be heroism and cowardice, resilience and destruction, futile searches and dazzling revelations, a caustic smile and silent tenderness. Any war is capable of only killing and maiming, and as a belated and decidedly disproportionate consolation, perhaps only gifting us "War and Peace," and "The Defeated" is Barcelona's "War and Peace."