There is a revival in Spanish literature: several young writers point out another prism of this. It has been shown that there are other ways of speaking, that other voices are needed to talk about today’s problems. Literature, good literature, should be a reflection of who we are and the times we live in. There are several authors who reflect this very well, but they also show an analysis of society in which our actions guide us. A good book should make us think and leave a mark in the end. Kindness is an open window to people and their results.
La vena cava by Jesús Serna Quijada, published by Celesta, is a good storybook. I’m making this statement out of the blue, maybe because these stories impressed me, because the harshness stems from the situations in which the characters he plays. His summary is a good example of what we will find: «The stories that make up la vena cava run through the guts and memory, emotion and time, the marrow of existence. Mai and Cruz still remember their adolescence in Gavina. The death of her mother finished tearing apart Begoña. Elena and Adrian meet again in Butrinto. Angel feels like a pumice stone drifting in the ocean. And Father Illán confirms that he doesn’t know how to love. Vena cava before collapsing.
It is very important to specify the language that Jesus used. He knows how to adapt to spoken language and how to dive into word games. The rage of 90’s Kronen and the plays of the avant-garde are perceived by creating drawings with words, as in the story Los insolentes. There is real arrogance in these stories, because that’s what we had to live with. Who has not been in adolescence or youth? It is understood that he drank from the cinema and theater in Serna. Moves easily in extremely difficult dialogues. Vena cava arises from the need to say what Jesus has, because first of all he is a great storyteller. The pulse of the narrative is striking, the jeweler’s work that all great stories require.
Jesús Serna Quijada (Albatera, 1984) holds a Diploma in Film Direction and TV Production from the TAI College of Arts and Entertainment and a degree in Hispanic Philology from the University of Alicante. He is currently working as a Professor of Language and Literature and Professor of Theater and Cinema at MUDIC. Apart from the director and screenwriter in a few short films, he has published poetry book Carcoma este olivo (poetry book, 2012), story books Girasoles en Venecia (2013) and Velódromo (2017), and Hermana, el corazón no me cabe. on the chest (2020).
Divided into six parts (Summer in Gavina, La vena cava, Los insolentes, HAMBURGUESA, Padre Illán and Fuego y asphalt), La vena cava radiates power, anger and pain. This book isn’t really a vomit because everything is calculated in millimeters. It’s just a reflection of who we are and where we’re going. It’s always good to come across literature of this quality in these troubled times. Jesús Serna sharpens his pencils with an ax. This is probably one of the most unclassifiable books I’ve read in a long time. What I clearly understand is that we are dealing with literature, books whose histories have made them cult works and which need to be revised years later. A book that leaves no one indifferent.