WENCESLAO FERNÁNDEZ FLÓREZ - 4 PESETAS AND A FEVER

Four Pesetas and a Fever

I must have been fourteen when a bad case of the flu kept me in bed for days. Whenever the fever subsided, I read to while away the time. My father would bring me novels, some of which I still have—among them Ha entrado un ladrón, by Wenceslao Fernández Flórez (1885–1964), a Spanish journalist and fiction writer much admired in his day. May I urge you to become acquainted with his work—El bosque animado, La casa de la lluvia, Una isla en el mar rojo, La novela número 13, or El secreto de Barba Azul?

Years later, I would write an article, “Fernández Flórez: humorismo y tragedia,” available online, in which I argue for his stature as a serious, tragic fiction writer. Somehow, excellent authors and good books fade from public interest and quietly disappear.

Today, among my books, I came upon Ha entrado un ladrón, from Revista literaria Novelas y Cuentos—the very copy my father once bought for four pesetas. If you wish to have a good command of your second language -of any language- read.