Ray Loriga

Ray Loriga was born in Madrid in 1967. He made his debut in 1992 with the novel »Lo peor de todo« [tr: The Worst Thing of All], whose protagonist takes stock of his life in his mid-twenties. Translated into several languages, the book made the author internationally known as a Spanish representative of Generation X. Other novels followed, some of which were also translated into German as well as English, including »Tokio ya no nos quiere« [1999; Eng. »Tokyo Doesn’t Love Us Anymore«, 2003], a novel set at the beginning of the 21st century about a modern traveling salesman who distributes a substance capable of erasing memories, and »Trífero« [2000], about a charming con man who tries to prove himself in the world of quantum physics without any expert knowledge.

Ray Loriga’s novel »Rendición« [2017; Eng. »Surrender«, 2020] was awarded the prestigious Premio Alfaguara de Novela in 2017. The dystopian novel, which is neither geographically nor temporally specified, features an anonymous narrator who, along with his wife and a child the two have taken in, are relocated from their country estate to the so-called Transparent City. War has been raging in the country for ten years; the narrator’s two sons fought as soldiers and have since disappeared. In the Transparent City, transparency is the top priority. All walls are transparent and it never gets dark; privacy does not exist. The citizens seem to live in peace, all their basic needs are met. But after a while, the narrator himself no longer understands why he is always so satisfied with everything, why he has almost stopped thinking about his sons or why he misses them. A distrust towards his beautiful new life begins to grow inside him. In an environment that demands conformity, he tries to preserve his individuality. The Alfaguara Prize jury concluded that »›Surrender‹ is a Kafkaesque and Orwellian novel about authority and collective manipulation. A parable of our society, where everyone watches and judges everyone else. With his unpretentious and thoughtful voice, interspersed with humor, the author constructs a luminous fable about exile and loss, about the meaning of parenthood and affection.«

In addition to writing, Ray Loriga has also appeared as a director and screenwriter. He co-wrote the screenplay for Pedro Almodóvar’s film »Carne trémula« and has directed two feature films of his own. He lives in Madrid.

Date: 2022

Vom Himmel gefallen

Rowohlt
Reinbek, 1996
[Ü: Alexander Dobler]

Schlimmer geht’s nicht

Rowohlt
Reinbek, 1999
[Ü: Alexander Dobler]

Tokio liebt uns nicht mehr

A 1
München, 2000
[Ü: Alexander Dobler]

Trífero

A 1
München, 2002
[Ü: Alexander Dobler]

Der Mann, der Manhattan erfand

A 1
München, 2005
[Ü: Alexander Dobler]

Kapitulation

CulturBooks
Hamburg, 2022
[Ü: Alexander Dobler]