The novel tells the story of a man in search of his real father, whom he had never met and from whom he learned only thanks to the last words spoken by his mother on her deathbed. The history of this search is to retrieve a restless odyssey to the protagonist struggled a lost childhood and youth, on the slow shadow of a cursed love, whose memory should pursue it to the end of his days from accursed books, the man who wrote it, someone who has escaped from the pages of a novel to burn betrayal and a lost friendship (Elteto 66–82). It is a story of love, hate, and the dreams that live in the Shadow of the Wind that sums up Carlos Ruiz Zafón in the name of its main character Daniel Sempere, the plot of his settled in Barcelona Romany together playing on different narrative levels and a temporal arc spanning 1936-1966 (Hanley 35–45). Her mother discovers the love between Julian and Penelope and the planned joint flight to Paris frustrated by the fact that her father was raging imprisons Penelope in her room and left to oblivion. Julián flees alone and learnt much later that they did not voluntarily remained and that they had a child together. In Paris begins Julián Carax to write novels that are published, though they turn out again and again as Ladenhüter: The printing costs paid Miquel Moliner secretly, a friend and rich heritage from the common school. The end of 1935 and the novel is published in The Shadow of the Wind (Hanley 35–45).
Daniel looks back as ten years old, his father, a passionate takes him booksellers, with a secret in Literature Archives: the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, where the boy must seek out a copy of the book. He chooses The Shadow of the Wind from the unknown writer Julián Carax. Daniel is intrigued and wants to know about the work and the author, who disappeared along with his novels more. The young hero embarks on his quest in life danger that involved him deeper and deeper into the story of Carax's novel. Until he can unravel, the mystery will take years. Finally, he learns terrible things that seem to recur in his life (Hanley 35–45).
The closer Daniel the resolution, the more the image dissolves into tiny pieces while the reader, however, keeps track of an idea. Daniel finds out that the young Julián Carax, the son of a hatter, and Penelope, daughter of a good and house, secret lovers were there. The track Carax 'lost in Paris, where the unsuccessful novelist flees after the love affair has been discovered to Penelope (Miles 195–203).
In 1936, after the outbreak of the Civil War, Carax returns to the gray Barcelona with its winding streets back. What is he doing in these weeks in Barcelona and where it is located, remains unknown until he was shot a month later found on the street. In addition, immediately appears a sinister fellow who claims to be a Laín Coubert, a name he borrows at a figure of Carax's last novel, to fully close the measure, no one - now on the other - protagonist Zafóns is happening again commented other than the Prince of Darkness. The alleged devil is determined to let the little that remains of Carax, disappear and destroy his books forever. To complete the melodrama, he appears as a man without a face, disfigured by fire. A villain, a Schauermär sprung (Hanley 35–45).
The novel is in the first-person perspective of born in 1934 protagonists written Daniel and plays against the backdrop of the fascist Franco regime. However, the narrative perspective is not consistently maintained, but blends imperceptibly with an authorial narrator - a stylistic device that is not among the worst. After initial difficulties tells Zafón - eerily beautiful - one of the most disastrous love stories since Romeo and Juliet. Bea & Daniel, this is the second love story of the novel, which constitute more than a frame story and the inferior Julián and Penélope to the power of suggestion in anything. When Bea and Daniel meet secretly in the years since abandoned manor house that once inhabited Penélope family, they are not alone in a haunted mansion (Miles 195–203).
Not only the two pairs of lovers, all characters, are lovingly conceived and drawn with depth. Even the man without a face, Laín Coubert, the observed Daniels development, has contours. And Clara - the blind daughter of a book collector who also is interested in too much for Carax - met the Atrocity and palpated her face with her hands, she feels a leather mask without a nose and lips. It inevitably begins to shiver (Zavales n.pag.). A completely irrelevant for the progress of the history of African voodoo priestess who has smeared the walls of the damned villa with blood is only mentioned to spread an eerie atmosphere that cannot speculate on a dark end. Finally, in the resolution of the case helps Fermin Romero de Torres, former beggars, ex-spy and expert on books are hard to find (Royo 19–34). This figure is so lifelike and astutely described that one takes her worldly wisdom, no matter how cranky or banal. Gradually unravel the entanglements of love, murder, politics, power and violence in the novel and - on the second level - in the novel within the novel (Hanley 35–45).
The Shadow of the Wind is not only a tribute to love, but also to the reading. There is a club of frequent readers; it appears in Zafóns work as a close-knit community of faith, which is provided with a mystique. When Daniel is initiated into the mysterious Cemetery of Forgotten Books, this represents a rite of passage. According to the ritual, he takes over as the chosen book a lifetime sponsorship and thus responsibility. He makes the acquaintance with the dark side of reading and life is confronted with his own shadow. Thus, the nocturnal encounter with Laín Coubert marks the end of Daniel's childhood and innocence. From the destruction by the possessed one copy of Julian Carax's novels can each be saved - hidden in the Cemetery of Forgotten Books; the labyrinth is only accessible from the passionate reader crowded bookshelves.
This design is often used in the literature: Why books are burned, and why they are sometimes dangerous, already told Umberto Eco's Name of the Rose. Because books can represent political dynamite, they are also in Fahrenheit 451, and the temperature burn in the books banned. The fire department is in Ray Bradbury's vision from 1953 only there to destroy the revolutionary literary ideas (Elteto 66–82).
All media, even the new ones, help you to a myth book. The best example is Dead Poets Society. The Oscar-winning film drama by Peter Weir from 1989 also plays with the subject. An exquisite secret circle of young book lovers in an elite boarding school, and transmits the content of poetry and prose on the canvas. The plot only works because reading was internalized as sublime process (Royo 19–34).
If on a winter's night a traveler (1979) by Italy Calvino is probably the best known and most consistent literary implementing this thread: A journey around the world from one book to another, from the first page to the imaginary and compacted illusion of real life breaks and thus the identification with the characters in the novel makes it almost impossible. Ten-Roman origins linked Calvino in this novel, with which he was known in Germany (Zavales n.pag.). The sign does not disturb you should also hang on the door if you Zafóns Roman wants to read, as best you can enjoy The Shadow of the Wind in long pieces (Elteto 66–82). Then it slowly inhales, exhales, suck, suck and are carried away by the maelstrom of events in the history of Barcelona - the suction effect can hardly escape. Quiet tones mix with hidden irony and tamed shock effects.
Once past the tough start behind him, expecting a linguistically sophisticated well as exciting midsection. In the last third, one finally definitely knows who has what skeletons in the closet. From friends became enemies. The cards of good and evil are shuffled in a stunning finale. Finally, one wonders how the protagonists who reflect on the fate if it had been the cards that are dealt their lives, or the manner in which they had played it.
Works Cited
Hanley, Jane. "The Walls Fall : Fantasy and Power in El Laberinto Del," 4.1 (2007): 35–45. Web.
Elteto, Andrea. “Immigrants In Spain Their Role In The Economy And The Effects Of The Crisis.” Romanian Journal of European Affairs 11.2 (2011): 66–82. Print.
Miles, Robert J. “Reclaiming Revelation: Pan’s Labyrinth and The Spirit of the Beehive.” Quarterly Review of Film and Video 28.3 (2011): 195–203. Web. 1 Dec. 2014.
Royo, Sebastián. “After the Fiesta: The Spanish Economy Meets the Global Financial Crisis.” South European Society and Politics 14.1 (2009): 19–34. Web. 27 Oct. 2014.
Zavales, Viki. "Authentic Monsters and Artificial Mothers : Maternal Frustration in Pedro Almodóvar ' s All About My " (2014): n. pag. Print.
