This week’s novel, Soldiers of Salamis written by Javier Cercas definitely felt like such a long read. Although, I was extremely thankful that I had a physical copy for this long novel because reading on a computer screen would definitely strain my eyes, and make the reading process longer. I found that it was interesting that this novel was divided into three parts instead of the usual chapters we often see. This novel, Soldiers of Salamis, also takes place during the Spanish Civil War, similar to some of the novels we had read. 

In part one of the novel named Forest Friends, Javier Cercas is the narrator who was struggling in making his dream of becoming a writer a reality, as he claims his career “never actually got started, so it would have been difficult to give it up” (13). Which was quite sad to read but also realistic, as people grow older, there eventually comes a time when they start to distinguish between their dreams, and what they are actually capable of. Javier returns to being a newspaper writer after five years where he had suffered “economic, physical, and metaphysical anguish… and a dreadful depression” (13). His father also passed away and then he was divorced by his wife. Even when he returns to his previous job, he’s treated as a traitor for leaving to write novels. However, he gets the opportunity to be able to interview Rafael Sanchez Ferlosio, the son of Rafael Sanchez Mazas, who told him “the story of his father facing the firing squad” (15-16). Mazas escaped the execution and was hiding in a forest when one of the soldiers spotted him, looked him right in the eye but yelled out, “There’s nobody over here!” (24) and essentially saved Mazas’s life with his lie. I found that act extremely interesting and also powerful, that the supposed enemy lied to spare his life. Eventually, Javier suspects that the soldier who spared Mazas’s life was Antonio Miralles. When Javier questioned him, “It was you, wasn’t it?” (240), there was a hesitation, and Miralles simply answered, “No” (240) with a wide smile, which feels like a lie. But if he was the soldier, I wonder why Miralles didn’t answer honestly. Was he hoping that lying would increase the chance that Javier would return to question him again? Or did he not want to be seen as a traitor, as he lied to his comrades to let Mazas escape. I find it interesting, and I wish we could’ve had a point of view from Miralles in that interaction to answer honestly, in his mind, if he was the soldier (which it seems like it): why he lied to Javier, and why he lied to save Mazas.

A question I have for my classmates is: in part one, do you agree with Javier’s colleagues that his choice of leaving a newspaper writing job to write novels is an act of betrayal?