Inca, Mallorca, 1963
Joan Buades is a literature professor, writer and researcher specialized in tourism, the phenomenon of globalization and climate change. He has written several essays, such as On brilla el sol. Turisme a Balears abans del boom (2004), Exportando paraísos. La colonización turística del planeta (2006) or Do not Disturb Barceló. Viaje a las entrañas de un imperio turístico. Between 1999 and 2003 he was deputy in the Parliament of the Balearic Islands representing the Ecologist Party, where he became one of the main promoters of the implementation of environmental taxation on tourism (eco-tasa). His first novel Crui. Els portadors de la torxa (2017) received the XLVI Crexells Prize, awarded by the Ateneu Barcelonès.
- "Joan Buades has been able to use the legacy of European literature and transform it into an absolutely original, ambitious novel of ideas with a remarkable stylistic quality. It is a discovery." Jordi Llovet
Bibliography
An exploration of the limits of Evil and our individual and collective capacity to build perfect stories where life is made of darning and cracks.
Albert Lovain, 95, millionaire and Belgian philanthropist established in Mallorca, is preparing to say goodbye to life with a great family encounter. A news arrival from London, however, opens a crack (that means the 'crui' of the title) and ends up revealing its Nazi past. The tourist boom, the Francoist elites, the black holes of international finance, the mysteries of the human soul and the darkest shadows of European history are some of the main themes of the work.
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An exploration of the limits of Evil and our individual and collective capacity to build perfect stories where life is made of darning and cracks.
Albert Lovain, 95, millionaire and Belgian philanthropist established in Mallorca, is preparing to say goodbye to life with a great family encounter. A news arrival from London, however, opens a crack (that means the 'crui' of the title) and ends up revealing its Nazi past. The tourist boom, the Francoist elites, the black holes of international finance, the mysteries of the human soul and the darkest shadows of European history are some of the main themes of the work.
Joan Buades reveals several "events that do not appear in the official version of the facts", such as "the inheritance of Nazism", "the roots of tourist totalitarianism" and "the black holes of capitalism.” The author summons to Crui some real historical figures, such as the banker Joan March, "the Rockefeller of Europe" and Obersturmbannfürer Otto Skorzeny, who rescued Mussolini during World War II.
"Joan Buades has been able to use the legacy of European literature and transform it into an absolutely original, ambitious novel of ideas with a remarkable stylistic quality; it is a discovery." Jordi Llovet
"Joan Buades has managed to embroider the other side of the tapestry of hypocrisy and the falsehood of the official story with memorable characters and themes." Biel Mesquida
Prizes
- 2017 - XLVI Premi Crexells de novela catalana por Crui