Spain from A to Z. Doppelgangers of Dalí, Cervantes' Vobla, and Other Stories of an Avid Hispanist

The new book by Tatiana Pigarëva – a well-known Hispanist, art historian, writer, philologist, journalist, traveler, and popular lecturer
The narrative is accompanied by over 265 illustrations, including drawings, materials from the author's personal archive, works of art by Spanish artists, and much more
In an expanded form, the dust jacket transforms into a map of old Madrid from the 17th century, sized 60*60 cm
The book by Tatiana Pigarëva – one of the most famous Hispanists in Russia, great-great-granddaughter of Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev – resembles a play about Spain with interludes in nine acts. It is a captivating presentation consisting of a variety of scenes from Spanish life and the author's life with Spain. 

The birth of the Prado Museum, the search for portraits of Cervantes, Velázquez's "Las Meninas", the hardships of the Civil War, avant-garde art during Franco's time, the worlds of Dalí and Almodóvar. And in the interludes – stories about Spain through the author's memories and various cultural curiosities. The personal narrative in Pigarëva's stories is inextricably linked to the professional one, as Spain has become her life, full of unexpected wonders, shifting time and space.

"Thanks to teachers and fate (oh, gracious Fortuna), Spain has become my second homeland. I showed Moscow to Queen Sofia of Spain and Carlos Saura, flew on the government airplane of José Rodríguez Zapatero and saw, under completely surreal circumstances, the living Salvador Dalí!"

The title of the first chapter begins with the word "History", the last – with the word "Language". But "A" is not limited to History, but only sets off a chain of associations: Art, Truth (the attempt to approach it), Sincerity, Investigations… and "I" – not only symbolizes Language in all its meanings but also Clarity or Manifestation (remembering that "life is a dream"). Each chapter can be read as a separate plot. Yet as we journey from the Reconquista to Almodóvar, from the mosaic of themes and epochs, through their dialogue, unexpected parallels, echoes, and reflections, the image of Spain is Revealed to us. One of the possible, yet another.

"An artist often does not realize the symbolic nature of his idea, but there exists the metaphysics of the city, the internal laws of art, that very everyday mysticism of intersections and convergences that dictates the rules of the game. The history of chapels and bridges is an example of that. Hispanic studies, like any humanitarian knowledge, involves the search for the unsaid, but said. The implicit, but existing. Memory absorbs numerous facts, images, plots – and sometimes gifts miracles, the opportunity to remember – or notice – something awaiting interpretation, reunification with the previously elusive meaning"

The book "Spain from A to Z" continues a new cultural-historical series by the publishing house SLOVO, dedicated to cities and countries. The authors of these books are people whose lives and destinies are inextricably linked to the genius loci. They are cultural historians, journalists, sociologists, art historians, and other well-known specialists in the humanitarian field who have the talent to easily and simply talk about complex things. In March 2022, the first book in this series, "Yerevan. Biography of a City" by Mark Grigoryan, was released, immediately becoming a bestseller not only in Russia but also in Armenia.

About the author:
Tatiana Ivanovna Pigarëva – philologist-hispanist, art historian, writer, journalist, and lecturer. She graduated from the philological faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University, taught at the Boris Shchukin Theatre Institute, defended her dissertation, was a correspondent for the Spanish magazine Tiempo in Russia, worked in other Spanish and Russian media, organized numerous landmark festivals and exhibitions dedicated to Spanish culture. Since 2002, she has headed the culture department of the Cervantes Institute in Moscow – the Spanish cultural center.