The Review of Contemporary Fiction

Dark Back of Time by Javier Marias
Alan Tinkler

Javier Marías. Dark Back of Time. New Directions, 2001. 336 pp. $26.95.

When explaining "dark back" near the end of the novel, the narrator-a character named Javier Marías-explains that it is "the kind of time that has not existed, the time that awaits us and also the time that does not await us and therefore does not happen, or happens only in a sphere that isn’t precisely temporal, a sphere in which writing, or perhaps only fiction, may-who knows-be found." While this exposition informs the strategy of Javier Marías’s superb novel, its success stems from the effective interweaving of compelling narrative threads. The novel begins with the circumstances surrounding the reception of Marías’s earlier novel, All Souls. The narrator finds it impossible to convince former colleagues, acquaintances, and students that the novel is fictional; they believe the work to be a roman à clef. In order to establish control, the narrator proceeds by digression, first exploring the death of Wilfred Ewart, an English novelist who was shot through the eye by an errant New Year’s Eve celebratory bullet in Mexico City. The seed for the Ewart digression comes from another Marías novel, Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me, where he examines the circumstances surrounding a peculiar death. The final substantive digression deals with the small Caribbean island nation Redodna, where the minor poet John Gawsworth is the island’s second leader. Javier Marías, it turns out, is the island’s fourth and current leader, as the regime is passed by way of appointment rather than heredity. Within this digression, there is also an inquiry after Oloff de Wet. Oloff is not only the man who made Gawsworth’s death mask; he is also an intriguing figure in Spanish folklore, as he made an appeal to Franco on behalf of a rogue group hoping to gain support for a guerrilla campaign against the Russians in the Carpathians. The strength of Dark Back of Time rests with the successful integration of the digressions. Javier Marías, a prolific writer whose works have been widely translated, rightly deserves the acclaim he is receiving. [Alan Tinkler]


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The Review of Contemporary Fiction Dark Back of Time by Javier Marias Alan Tinkler Javier Marías. Dark Back of Time. New Directions, 2001. 336 pp. $26.95. When explaining "dark back" near the end of the novel, the narrator-a character named Javier Marías-explains that it is "the kind of time that has not existed, the time that awaits us and also the time that does not await us and therefore does not happen, or happens only in a sphere that isn’t precisely temporal, a sphere in which writing, or perhaps only fiction, may-who knows-be found." While this exposition informs the strategy of Javier Marías’s superb novel, its success stems from the effective interweaving of compelling narrative threads. The novel begins with the circumstances surrounding the reception of Marías’s earlier novel, All Souls. The narrator finds it impossible to convince former colleagues, acquaintances, and students that the novel is fictional; they believe the work to be a roman à clef. In order to establish control, the narrator proceeds by digression, first exploring the death of Wilfred Ewart, an English novelist who was shot through the eye by an errant New Year’s Eve celebratory bullet in Mexico City. The seed for the Ewart digression comes from another Marías novel, Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me, where he examines the circumstances surrounding a peculiar death. The final substantive digression deals with the small Caribbean island nation Redodna, where the minor poet John Gawsworth is the island’s second leader. Javier Marías, it turns out, is the island’s fourth and current leader, as the regime is passed by way of appointment rather than heredity. Within this digression, there is also an inquiry after Oloff de Wet. Oloff is not only the man who made Gawsworth’s death mask; he is also an intriguing figure in Spanish folklore, as he made an appeal to Franco on behalf of a rogue group hoping to gain support for a guerrilla campaign against the Russians in the Carpathians. The strength of Dark Back of Time rests with the successful integration of the digressions. Javier Marías, a prolific writer whose works have been widely translated, rightly deserves the acclaim he is receiving. [Alan Tinkler]

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