The Imposter
Enric Marco is an elderly man in his nineties, living in Barcelona, who portrays himself as a survivor of the Nazi concentration camps.
Cercas Mena, Javier. The Imposter. Knopf, 2018 (English edition).
Who is Enric Marco? An elderly man in his nineties, living in Barcelona, a Holocaust survivor who gave hundreds of speeches, granted dozens of interviews, received important national honors, and even moved government officials to tears. But in May 2005, Marco was exposed as a fraud: he was never in a Nazi concentration camp. The story was reported around the world, transforming him from hero to villain in the blink of an eye. Now, more than a decade later--in a hypnotic narrative that combines fiction and nonfiction, detective story and war story, biography and autobiography--Javier Cercas sets out to unravel Marco's enigma. With both profound compassion and lacerating honesty, Cercas takes the reader on a journey not only into one man's gigantic lie, but also--through its exploration of our infinite capacity for self-deception, our opposing needs for fantasy and reality, our appetite for affection--into the deepest, most flawed parts of our humanity.
- from the back cover.
About the author
”Javier Cercas was born in Ibahernando (Caceres) in 1962. At the age of four he moved with his family to Girona, which became his adopted city. He has a PhD in Hispanic Philology, and was professor at the University of Girona between 1989 and 2005. His first work of literature was the book of short stories “The Motive”, published in 1987. His third novel, “Soldiers of Salamis” established him with the critics and public. The novel has received numerous Spanish and international awards and was made into a film by David Trueba. He is a regular contributor to the newspaper "El País" and has compiled his articles into a book "Una buena temporada". In 2009 he published “Anatomy of a Moment”. The novel is a chronicle of the coup attempt on 23 February 1981, and won the National Narrative Literature Award."
- from Spain is culture
Critiques – Presentations
Γιώργος Περαντωνάκης, Κατασκευάζοντας το παρελθόν, www.bookpress.gr, 9.11.2018
Γιώργος-Ίκαρος Μπαμπασάκης, Σάκος Εκστρατείας του Επίμονου Αναγνώστη: Χαβιέρ Θέρκας, www.bookpress.gr, 21.9.2018
Νίκος Κουρμουλής, «Η ενωμένη Ευρώπη είναι η μόνη λογική ουτοπία», "Τα Νέα"/ "Βιβλιοδρόμιο", 25.8.2018
Φίλιππος Φιλίππου, Ο απατεώνας, diastixo.gr, 24.8.2018
Έμυ Ντούρου, Χαβιέρ Θέρκας: Τα μίντια δεν αντανακλούν την πραγματικότητα, τη δημιουργούν, "Documento", 5.8.2018
Νίκος Δαββέτας, Ένας διεθνής εμφύλιος πόλεμος, "Η Καθημερινή"/ "Τέχνες και Γράμματα", 22.7.2018
Τέσυ Μπάιλα, «Ο απατεώνας»: Το χρονικό μιας εξαπάτησης, http://www.culturenow.gr, 21.6.2018
Γρηγόρης Μπέκος, Χαβιέρ Θέρκας: «Εχουμε ιεροποιήσει τη μνήμη και τον μάρτυρα», "Το Βήμα"/ "Βιβλία", 10.6.2018
Λένα Ματσιώρη, Χαβιέρ Θέρκας: Ζούμε στη δικτατορία του παρόντος, "Η Καθημερινή"/ "Τέχνες και Γράμματα", 10.6.2018
Μικέλα Χαρτουλάρη, «Μαθαίνεις ποιος είσαι, τη μέρα που λες το μεγάλο “Όχι”», "Εφημερίδα των Συντακτών", 2.6.2018
Ron Rosenbaum, «Unmasking the Spanish ‘Impostor’ Who Lied About Surviving the Nazis», The New York Times, 3.10.2018 www.nytimes.com/2018/10/03/books/review/impostor-javier-cercas.html
Claire, Hopley, «A meditation on lies and fiction and the Spanish Civil War», The Washington Times, 3.10.2018 www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/oct/3/book-review-the-impostor-by-javier-cercas/
Matthew Fishbane, «The Impostor», Tablet, 6.9.2018 www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/269256/the-impostor
Other books by the author available in the Library
Cercas, Javier. Η ταχύτητα του φωτός: μυθιστόρημα. Εκδόσεις Πατάκη, 2007. (Μ CER)
Cercas, Javier. Στρατιώτες της Σαλαμίνας: μυθιστόρημα. Εκδόσεις Πατάκη, 2002. (Μ CER)
Books circulating in Greek
Cercas, Javier. Οι νόμοι των συνόρων. Εκδόσεις Πατάκη, 2015.
Cercas, Javier. Ο ένοικος. Εκδόσεις Πατάκη, 2011.