Juan Goytisolo, the outsider

A whole life devoted to the Spanish language, mostly outside our borders, Juan Goytisolo has received the National Prize (Premio Nacional de las Letras) from the Spanish Ministry of Culture with a cold attitude. His work has been at last recognized with 40,000 €.

Apart from novels, Juan Goytisolo has written essays and travel books, and is also well known for his opinion articles in El País newspaper, where he expresses his anger against injustice, for he is seriously compromised with improving our world and uncovering hypocrisy. Above all, he fights against crimes committed against immigrants in Europe, for, as he says, «una cultura es la mezcla de las influencias externas que ha ido recibiendo con los años. Y yo, personalemente, de la mezcla cultural he aprendido tanto como de Cervantes».

Finally, Juan Goytisolo maintains that «más que nunca, en estos tiempos difíciles y de crisis, la cultura es un asidero para la gente. Hay muchas causas dignas de ser defendidas, podría estar toda la noche enumerándolas».

Burn after reading by the Coen Brothers at UGC

I saw it today with my PALE students and I laughed a few times. The characters are fantastic: John Malkovich, as ex-CIA agent Osborne Cox, Brad Pitt, as personal trainer Chad Feldheimer,Frances McDormand, as personal trainer Linda Litzke and George Clooney, as Federal Marshal Harry Pfarrer. The situations are very comic although the plot lacks the talent of previous work by the Coen brothers, like Fargo or last year’s No Country For Old Men.
The story is absurd but shows memorable scenes like the one where the two personal trainers are trying to blackmail the CIA agent or the scene at the park where Linda Litzke meets her previous date.
To conclude, a comedy of characters, a good team, some humour but not the Coen talent at its best.

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Writing tips

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The wisdom of keeping quiet

Have a look at this audio and tell me what you think.
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