Spain's Premio Herralde de Novela Goes to Venezuelan

By María E. Cruz -- Críticas, 11/15/2006

Alberto Barrera Tyszka is the winner of the 24th Premio Herralde de Novela, organized by Spanish publisher Editorial Anagrama. The winning work, La enfermedad (“The Disease”), was selected among 172 manuscripts; the prize consists of 18, 000 euros. Cuba’s Teresa Dovalpage’s Muerte de un murciano en La Habana (“Death of a Murcian in Habana”) was the finalist. The jury included Salvador Clotas, Juan Cueto, Esther Tusquets, Enrique Vila-Matas, and editor Jorge Herralde.

La enfermedad tells the story of Ernesto Durán who, after having separated from his wife, thinks he is fatally ill despite multiple diagnoses proving otherwise. Durán is obsessed with the idea that only one doctor, Javier Miranda, is able to save him. Meanwhile, Miranda has just diagnosed his own father with a cancer that will kill him within weeks, but is unable to tell him. Both stories explore the concept of sickness and shed light on the way humans deal with death.

Barrera Tyszka is also the author of También el corazón es un descuido (“Even the Heart Is an Oversight”) and Edición de Lujo (“Luxury Edition”), a book of short stories, and co-wrote a biography of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez. He is the first Venezuelan author to win the Premio Herralde. La enfermedad will be published simultaneously in Spain and Venezuela.