We are reminded that God can do whatever He wishes but that mere mortals cannot. Boxwood is a record of near-saints and lively sinners, of those who eke out a living as whale hunters or as fishermen who settle for small prey… The effect is at once hypnotic and unforgettable.

Sanford Pinsker, New York Times Book Review

The extraordinary experimental final novel by the winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature

Boxwood

Fiction by Camilo José Cela

Translated from Spanish by Patricia Haugaard

Boxwood might perhaps be best described as a kind of whirlwind: a vortex of marvelous writing about folklore, traditions, superstitions, cooking, nautical disasters on the Coast of Death (ships from afar spilling cargoes of oranges, typewriters, iron ore, oil, spices), elements of nature both cruel and beautiful, whales, priests, witches, ghosts—sprinkled with various autobiographies—everything exquisite and crass in Cela’s native home, Galicia, Spain. “If the Holy Ghost were a bat instead of a dove our religion would not be the one true faith and there would be fewer Catholics, and if he were a magpie or a jackdaw there would be none at all, the devil appears in the guise of a billy goat whose rump you kiss as a mark of homage and respect, the Holy Ghost could have been a swallow, but not a cormorant, the form taken by the Holy Ghost is well thought out, you immediately see the hand of God in it, Father Xerardino, the priest of San Xurxo, supposes the form might also have been a butterfly in all the colors of the spectrum…” (from Boxwood)

Paperback(published Jun, 01 2008)

ISBN
9780811217514
Price US
14.95
Price CN
17
Trim Size
6x9
Page Count
224

Clothbound(published Jun, 01 2008)

ISBN
9780811214971
Price US
25.95
Trim Size
6x9
Page Count
224
Portrait of Camilo José Cela

Camilo José Cela

Camilo José Cela was a significant contributor to 20th century Spanish Literature.

We are reminded that God can do whatever He wishes but that mere mortals cannot. Boxwood is a record of near-saints and lively sinners, of those who eke out a living as whale hunters or as fishermen who settle for small prey… The effect is at once hypnotic and unforgettable.

Sanford Pinsker, New York Times Book Review