Read your way through Madrid

Which books can take me behind closed doors or show me other facets of the city?

I have a soft spot for the play “Bohemian Lights,” by Ramón María del Valle-Inclán. In it we spend almost 24 hours with the poet Max Estrella, reflecting on the decadence of Spanish society in the 1920s (in general, reflecting on the decadence of Spanish society in any era is one of the obsessions of Madrid). The piece mentions many places that still exist: the chocolate store in San Ginés, the mirror-lined one Callejon del Gato (Kattensteeg). I would recommend it too “The Maravillas District,” an autobiographical novel by Rosa Chacel set in the streets of a Malasaña that is very different from the gentrified neighborhood loved by students (and tourists) Today. To continue getting to know a Madrid far removed from postcards, not only socially but also geographically, you must read ‘A working woman’ Through Elvira Navarro. It is a reflection on the precariousness of labor, especially in terms of culture: the main character works as a freelancer in the publishing world and barely survives near Aluche.

Which writer is everyone talking about? And what books do they read?

Almudena Grandes. Her work, which includes novels, short stories and articles, is a long love letter to Madrid, and her passed away in November 2021; the photos from her funeral is on the move, with Republican flags mixed with her books in the hands of thousands of readers. She wrote eloquently about Spain’s recent past: the Second Republic, the Civil War and the years of dictatorship that followed.

“The Eras of Lulu” may be her most popular book translated into English, but I prefer ‘The Frozen Heart’ also a Madrid novel, and the beginning of its most political phase.

As for the book that everyone reads – in Madrid, in Spain, in the world! – it is “Bad habit,” by Alana S. Portero, to be published in the United States in April 2024 by HarperCollins, in a translation by Mara Faye Lethem. It tells the story of a working-class transgender woman full of anger and beauty, pain and poetry, who walks through the neighborhoods of Chueca and Malasaña, in the city center, and San Blas, in the suburbs. (By the way, I just realized that she and Almudena Grandes are the only two authors I recommended who were born in Madrid, which confirms my theory.)

Who are the literary icons I might encounter on street signs, statues, or public monuments?

Although he wrote no books about Madrid, the city permeated Federico García Lorca’s entire life. He settled here in 1919 and always returned after a stay in America or visits to his family in Granada; it was in Madrid that he worked on many of his best books. It is easy to follow Lorca’s footsteps through the city: the Residencia de Estudiantes where he met Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí, the Café Gijón where his cohort gathered, the cultural institution Ateneo de Madrid, his last home at Calle de Alcalá 96 ( now home from one bookstore) and the stages where his plays premiered. If you follow this Lorca route, you can end by leaving flowers at his statue in the Plaza de Santa Ana, opposite the Teatro Español.