The Anarchist Who Shared My Name
Page 57
Now perhaps you will better understand my unease. And what if this message is true, as crazy as it seems? Shouldn’t I consider postponing the publication of the book, following up on the new lead, and if it turns out to be correct, rewriting the truthful end of this story? Of course, that would be a bit ridiculous if it turns out to be the fantasy of a lunatic, the delirium of a madman, the ramblings of a would-be prophet. But then, why did Pío Baroja repeat the rumors that Pablo did not commit suicide? Why did he include, in the last few pages of La Familia de Errotacho, the statements of a certain Manish claiming that the one who committed suicide was not Pablo Martín Sánchez, but another man who “went to the grave with a name not his own”? Also, if that weren’t enough, today I googled my name again after not doing so for a long time, and I stumbled on a new anarchist dictionary, published by the Asociación Isaac Puente, in which the entry dedicated to Pablo Martín Sánchez says: “Detained for his participation in the events of Vera de Bidasoa, was condemned to death, and committed suicide on the way to the garrote. Some claim that he died many years later in Lavelanet.”
But no, I tell myself, I can’t get carried away by unfounded hearsay, nor by the personal wish that my namesake had had better luck: who knows if, deep down, I’m not feeding these rumors because they let me fantasize about a different fate for the anarchist who shared my name? No, definitely not, I tell myself, and I feel better for having been able to write a final addendum to make peace with my conscience, confessing these vague last-minute worries and covering my back just in case someone comes along to tell me that they heard someplace, that people somewhere are saying, that there’s a rumor over yonder that it wasn’t Pablo who jumped out that window …
Now, as I hurriedly finish writing this note, I can’t avoid the temptation to look again and again at the old photograph that Teresa gave me in parting, where Pablo appears with his arms around a woman and a teenage girl next to a delivery truck advertising the French cheese La vache qui rit. And then I think that the woman could actually be Angela, and the girl her daughter Paula, and then I think again about the letter I received last week, and suddenly I am struck by more doubt, and I go back to consult a few forgotten archives, and I ask myself with my body all racked by nerves how is it possible that Pablo appears in the photo next to a poster for La vache qui rit, if this advertising logo, designed by the artist Benjamin Rabier, wasn’t used until 1925? And then the malaise starts to overwhelm me, and I finish this note in a great hurry so I can send it as soon as possible to my editor—at this final moment I’m not going to repent for having written this story and for doing what I’m already doing inevitably without wanting to.
Barcelona, October 6, 2012
Pablo Martín Sánchez was born in Reus, Spain in 1977. He graduated from the Institut del Teatre de Barcelona with a degree in dramatic art and from the University of Barcelona with a degree in literary theory and comparative literature. He received a master’s degree in humanities from the Carlos III University of Madrid and a Ph.D. in French language and literature from the University of Lille-3 as well as a Ph.D. in literary theory and art and comparative literature from the University of Granada. He is the author a collection of short stories, Fricciones (E.D.A. Libros, 2011), and two novels, The Anarchist Who Shared My Name (El anarquista que se llamaba como yo) and Tuyo es el mañana (Acantilado, 2016). In addition, he has translated the works of authors such as Alfred Jarry, Raymond Queneau, and Wajdi Mouawad and teaches writing at the Ateneu School of Writing of Barcelona. In 2014 he was invited to join the Oulipo and is currently the only Spanish member of the group.
Jeff Diteman is a writer, painter, and translator from the French, Spanish, and Italian. Following a BA in literature from the College of Idaho and studies in linguistics at the Sorbonne-Paris IV and Portland State University, he is now completing a Ph.D. in comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he teaches international fiction and digital culture. He has translated and adapted works by Raymond Queneau, Eduardo Berti, Georg Büchner, and Sappho; these and other writings have been featured in Drunken Boat, The Missing Slate, Nailed Magazine, Jacobin, and Inventory.
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