Today is the first day Valeria Luiselli has spoken about Beginning Middle End, so the Mexican writer, sitting a couple of Fridays ago in the bright living room of her Bronx home with its suburban feel, apologizes for not yet knowing “what her new novel is about.” “I’ll come to understand it as I talk to other people,” she says. “But I already know it’s a novel about a mother, a daughter, and a grandmother, whose relationships are explored in depth. I know that in it I question imagination and memory — the memory that is lost and the memory that is forming.”

Seguir leyendo

Principio, medio, fin

During the first year of his return to power, Donald Trump managed to change the image of the White House that people remembered from his first term, often portrayed as a turbulent time when the president, true to his past as a reality TV star who became famous for the cry of “You’re fired!”, could dismiss his staff at any time and in any way, often with a single tweet. He got rid of an attorney general, a secretary of state, a national security advisor, a communications director, and the head of the FBI—a list completed by numerous resignations: 14 members of his administration left between 2017 and 2021, as well as four chiefs of staff and several White House spokespeople.

Seguir leyendo

Among the most recurring themes in Donald Trump’s prolific output on his social network, Truth, his attacks on the press stand out. Rare is the day when the president of the United States doesn’t go after one outlet or another journalist. Not all of those barbs are as harsh, however, as the one he fired on Tuesday at Elliot Kaufman — a “MORON,” he wrote to attack the member of The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board. Trump also accused the newspaper — which is owned by his friend Rupert Murdoch — of “losing his way.”

Seguir leyendo

When Innocence premiered in 2021 at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, EL PAÍS critic Luis Gago wrote: “If there are still those who think that opera is an outdated or anachronistic genre, with no possible place in the current world, as soon as they see and hear Innocence they will immediately change their minds.”

Seguir leyendo

Just as he did 14 days ago when he announced the ceasefire with Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump waited until Tuesday, when tensions were at their peak, to announce its extension. A few hours before the ceasefire was set to expire and with the mediating country, Pakistan, still awaiting the arrival of the U.S. and Iranian negotiating delegations, Trump justified the decision by citing internal divisions within Iran. He extended the ceasefire until Tehran presents Washington with “a unified proposal” and until “discussions are concluded, one way or the other.” He made it clear, however, that he would maintain the naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in the meantime.

Seguir leyendo