Sobre Las Cinco Almas de Francesco Pasquale

Francesco Pasquale was born in Sapri, in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a little further south than Giuseppe Verdi, during the same years as Richard Wagner and Robert Schumann. This book recounts his adventures and travels, just as it brings us closer to three crucial moments in the lives of those three composers. Francesco migrated, like Wagner; he raised stillborn children and longed for the unification of Italy, like Verdi; and he lived with ghosts, like Schumann. Francesco Pasquale was a unique individual, so much so that each reader sees themselves reflected in him. He was so special that he isn't always the protagonist of his own life; at every turn, he cedes the leading role in his own biography to renowned doctors, political activists, or women of indomitable character. Through his life, Francesco Pasquale traces a human map of the 19th century, a map that begins in southern Italy and reaches the shores of the Cantabrian Sea, a map that suffers and rejoices, a map that sings and sleeps, a map that dreams and awakens. Originally written in Basque and translated by the author himself, On the Five Souls of Francesco Pasquale is a novel constructed from independent narratives, stories that intertwine to form a whole. Thus, through scents and open doors, it becomes a peculiar narrative architecture, decorated, at certain points, with distinctive dreamlike imagery.

Unai Elorriaga (Algorta, 1973). Licenciado en Filosofía y Letras, ha trabajado como traductor, profesor y redactor de una editorial. Con su primera obra, Un tranvía en SP, ganó el Premio Nacional de Narrativa en 2002. A su vez, sus dos últimos libros han sido merecedores del Premio de la Crítica: Mapas y perros, 2024, finalista del Premio Nacional de Narrativa) e Iturria, 2019 (publicado en Galaxia Gutenberg en 2023 con el título de Nosotros no ahorcamos a nadie). Además de estos, cuenta con otros tres títulos: El pelo de Van't Hoff (ganador de la beca Igartza), Vredaman (galardonado con el NEA International Literary Award, concedido por el Gobierno de Estados Unidos) y Londres es de cartón. Ha publicado varios libros infantiles y una obra de teatro en Argentina (Y los peces estornudaron). Por otra parte, ha colaborado en prensa con numerosos artículos y ha sido conferenciante en varias universidades (Oxford, Georgetown, Dublín, Lyon...). Sus obras pueden leerse en varias lenguas europeas (inglés, alemán, italiano, serbio, ruso, estonio, etc.).