The Land of the Silent

Name: The Land of the Silent
ISBN: 9787532784189

费尔南多·阿兰布鲁 / Li JingShanghai Translation Publishing House · ChinaJul 2020

Rating 4.3

Word count: 301K words
Chapters: 126
ISBN: 9787532784189

Summary

The day after the Basque terrorist group ETA announced a permanent ceasefire, Bittori insisted on moving back to the small Basque town where her husband was killed by ETA, against her children's objections. She needs to settle something with herself before she dies: to find the killers and obtain an apology. Bittori's return tears away the town's calm facade and stirs up long-buried painful memories. Two generations in two families are mired in an abyss of suffering from which they cannot free themselves; their fates differ yet are equally tortuous, reflecting a heart-wrenching national memory. The piercing pain is like unextinguished embers—impossible to forget; some apologies may be hard to give, but they must never be absent.

Editor's review

The Silence of the White City? No—this is Fernando Aramburu's major work set against four decades of conflict in the Basque Country. It is not a simple political novel; rather, it embeds historical trauma deep in the fates of two ordinary families. Through delicate depictions of daily life, it shows how hatred is passed between generations and how silence becomes the vehicle of collective grief. Aramburu's narrative is restrained and precise; he avoids cheap sentimentality and uses a calm touch to dissect the permanent damage violence inflicts on the human psyche. The book's exploration of memory, forgiveness, and the possibility of reconciliation transcends the specific context of regional conflict, touching on humanity's universal predicament when facing historical trauma. Winner of Spain's 2016 Premio Planeta, this work—with its literary depth and sense of historical responsibility—offers a quiet yet powerful mirror for understanding existence under unjust violence. Reading it requires the courage to face the darkness in human nature and the patience to listen to whispered voices drowned out by the clamor of history.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in modern Spanish history and the Basque question who wish to go beyond news coverage to a deeper understanding of the human dimension of conflict
Literary readers who prefer family sagas and personal fates reflecting the sweep of great historical change
Those concerned with universal humanistic themes such as traumatic memory, historical reconciliation, and forgiveness
Readers who appreciate realist fiction in a calm, restrained narrative style with deep, understated emotion

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking light entertainment or fast-paced plot-driven reading
Readers with little basic knowledge of the history of this particular European region who are unwilling to fill in background as they read

Reading tips

Before reading, a brief acquaintance with the history of Franco-era Spain and the background of the Basque organization ETA will help in grasping the novel's context
Pay attention to the many passages of everyday detail; these fragments of 'silence' are often the key to understanding the characters' inner lives and the weight of history
It may be read alongside novels about historical trauma in other regions (such as The Kite Runner) to consider the different ways literature handles historical memory

About the publisher

Shanghai Translation Publishing House China · Founded in 1978

Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.

版权信息
1．地板上的高跟鞋声
2．宜人的十月
3．跟“老伙计”在波略埃
4．那些人的家里
5．摸黑搬家
6．“老伙计”，听着
7．背包里的石头
8．遥远的那一幕
9．红色
10．打电话
11．发大水
12．围墙
13．斜坡，浴室，看护
14．最后的下午茶
15．遇见
16．星期天弥撒
17．散步
18．岛上度假
19．分歧
20．提前送葬
21．他们中最好的那个
22．蜘蛛网里的回忆
23．看不见的绳索
24．玩具手链
25．你别回来了
26．向着他们，还是向着我们
27．家庭聚餐
28．兄妹之间
29．两种颜色的树叶
30．倒空回忆
31．黑暗中的交谈
32．文件和物品
33．刷在墙上的标语
34．脑海中的一帧帧画面
35．熊熊燃烧的大盒子
36．从A点到B点
37．一只蛋糕引发的不愉快
38．书
39．我是斧头，你是蛇
40．两年没照镜子
41．镜子里的生活
42．伦敦之行
43．正式拍拖
44．防范措施
45．罢工日
46．雨天
47．他们怎么样了？
48．下午班
49．总是要面对的
50．印度雇佣兵的腿
51．在采石场
52．最大的愿望
53．内鬼
54．谎称发烧
55．跟她们的妈妈一样
56．李子
57．预备役
58．小菜一碟
59．玻璃线
60．医生和医生结婚
61．温馨小事
62．入室搜查
63．政治材料
64．我儿子在哪儿？
65．祝福
66．克劳斯－迪特
67．恋爱三周
68．大学毕业
69．绝交
70．祖国和假话
71．孽障
72．神圣的使命
73．人在这儿，就要参加
74．个人解放运动
75．大瓷瓶
76．好好哭一场吧
77．轻生的念头
78．集训
79．水母的触碰
80．奥里亚小分队
81．只有忧伤的医生来送她
82．他是我男朋友
83．冥冥之中的祸事
84．巴斯克杀人犯
85．新居
86．他有别的打算
87．蘑菇和荨麻
88．沾血的面包
89．餐厅气氛
90．虚惊一场
91．名单
92．最心爱的儿子
93．沉默者的国度
94．阿玛娅
95．大罐葡萄酒
96．内蕾娅和孤独
97．杀人犯游行
98．白色的婚礼
99．第四名成员
100．落网
101．鸟就是鸟
102．第一封信
103．第二封信
104．第三封信和第四封信
105．和好
106．闭锁综合征
107．广场会面
108．医疗报告
109．如果炭火见了风
110．傍晚闲聊
111．卡拉莫查一夜
112．和外孙在一起
113．坡顶
114．隔着玻璃
115．按摩
116．阿拉伯厅
117．看不见的孩子
118．不速之客
119．耐住性子
120．翁达罗阿姑娘
121．探视室里的谈话
122．你的监狱，我的监狱
123．圆满
124．淋雨
125．星期天上午

FAQ

Is the story in this book true?

The novel is based on the real historical background of the Basque conflict, but the characters and specific plot are fictional. Through literary creation, the author transforms macro-history into the micro-fate of families and individuals, and its truth lies in the profound revelation of emotional and moral dilemmas.

Will reading this book feel oppressive?

The novel deals with violence, loss, and silence, and its narrative tone is quiet and grave, inevitably carrying a sense of heaviness. But the author does not render despair; rather, he seeks the weight of memory and the glimmer of reconciliation within silence, requiring readers to enter with a calm mindset.

What are the main aspects of this book's literary value?

Its value lies in handling a heavy historical subject with superb literary craft, successfully internalizing political conflict into characters' psychology and family-relationship drama; the narrative technique is mature, and the emotional expression is restrained yet full of tension. It is an important work of contemporary Spanish literature that combines intellectual depth with artistic quality.

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About the author

费尔南多·阿兰布鲁 Author

Fernando Aramburu is a foreign-literature author about whom public information is currently limited: his nationality, dates of birth and death, and full biography are not clearly recorded in the available sources, and the only confirmed work is the single title The Country of the Silent. This work is classified as foreign literature, and its subject matter and narrative focus revolve around the central image of silence, showing sustained attention to the tension between individual memory, historical shadows, and collective muffling. The author's writing style tends toward restraint and understatement, skillfully accumulating emotion and moral questioning beneath a calm narrative surface, so that the situation of those who do not speak and those forced into silence becomes the inner force driving the story. Because the available material is limited, a complete assessment of his oeuvre is difficult, but judging from the existing work alone, Aramburu shows an ability to deal with heavy social experience through literature; his text prompts readers to reflect on silence, witnessing, and responsibility, and leaves a noteworthy thread for possible future translation and introduction.

Li Jing Author · China · 1971

Li Jing, born in 1971, is a Chinese writer, playwright and literary critic. She graduated from the Department of Chinese Language and Literature at Beijing Normal University with a master's degree in literature, formerly worked as an editor at Beijing Literature, and now lives in Beijing. Her writing spans drama, criticism and essays; she is the author of the plays Mr. Big and The Robe of Rong Yi, the criticism collections Catching the Wind and Must Offend the Audience, and the essay collection The Injured, and has received the Chinese Literature Media Award for Critic of the Year. Forty-two of her works are held in the collection, covering essays, foreign literature, medicine and popular science. Her Book Secret History won the 18th Wenjin Book Award, and she edited the Ren Hongyuan memorial volume One Man's Genesis and contributed to practical guides on medical checkups and alcohol use disorders.