It is not a novel about war, although the cruelty is palpable. This is not an intrigue, although the enemy lurks. It is not a romantic novel, although it breathes love from all sides. It is not a novel of manners, although everyday life struggles to continue. It has everything, but in the right doses. And above anything else, it is clear that the author, Luis Salvago, a Valencian living in Zaragoza, has a profession. I recognize that he had been thinking about it for a long time, since he already has the odd novel under his belt that I have glanced at but not leafed through, a fact that is going to change immediately. I guess it’s good to wait and enjoy the moment. It happens to me and, I want to believe, it happens to him, because today the awards are piling up and one of the most recent, the Ateneo-Ciudad de Valladolid Novel, in its 71st edition, has been awarded to him by this work, ‘El telegrafista’, recently published by Menoscuarto Ediciones and whose reading I have just finished right now.
Related
One of the most notable points, and I hasten to emphasize it, is how well written it is. Such abundant lexicon is missed in many other novels that often pass through my hand. Here I have found, because it is a true discovery, terms that represent a discovery and that deserve a search in the dictionary, which is still a wealth that one must know how to treasure. Sometimes these terms refer to actions or objects that seem to belong to another era, and ignorance is somewhat justified. But sometimes the secret is in precision, in understanding that there are words that fit what is said., both those that remain intact over time, and those that have evolved acquiring new meanings. The tendency to reduce vocabulary means that one or the other is rarely chosen. In this case, accuracy prevails. In this case, the rawness of the facts is allied with that of the words and therein lies the impact that this union has on the reader: it is the ability to call things by their name. The desolation put in images.
Thorough without preambles
The creator of this fiction has managed to be meticulous with every detail and enter into the matter without preambles. He has known how to provide each chapter with the required emotion, knowing that the structure of each of them is similar. A protagonist, Luis, mired in physical deterioration, makes another man a participant in the past that he carries behind him and that is full of war, loneliness, fear and an irresolvable reckoning with the other protagonist, Ezequiel. The context for that hatred to surface does not matter. The war is there, denunciations and torture that create horror, but it is only the backdrop, because fear and uncertainty float in the air every time they meet face to face even without being on the front. As if it were a duel. In reality, their relationship is more disturbing than the explosions that echo day and night and that force a multitude of characters to change scene and justify their actions.
There are secondary stories that taste like main ones, especially that of the Chinese brigadier, who knows how to earn page after page the place reserved for great characters. It happens with Nieves and Marta, it happens with Jacinto, who even in silence, far from conceding, defend his position. I know I’m rushing. I like that these names that already mean a lot to me begin to resonate, it doesn’t matter that they lack meaning for those who have not yet entered this world in which even signs contain their own language.The telegraph, a profession full of meaning, is a communication system that many today will see as anachronistic. And yet, the power to spread what we need to express is still a way of escaping. How distant and how close certain devices that were conceived as future and are firm witnesses of the past can seem.
Atrocious and ruthless situations
I have done well to pay attention to those who provided me with good references for this novel that is read with interest, forces us to be abstracted, and does not hide atrocious and ruthless situations. Precisely for this reason it may be advisable to go slowly, listening, observing and being careful not to step wrong. The emotional bonds that are created are so powerful, hates and loves seeking to impose themselves, that they allow you to find several novels in one. Careful dialogues, measured responses, malicious looks and deafening bombs. The world is shaking inside and out, a thousand open doors full of obstacles that must be overcome. It is known that from now on, when a new order has finally been reestablished, no one will be the same again. Maybe the readers don’t either.
‘THE TELEGRAPHIST’
Luis Salvago
Menoscuarto Editions
