No News from Gurb, 30 Years Later

We are in the early nineties of the last century, an alien named Gurb who has adopted the appearance of the singer Marta Sánchez and feeds on churros disappears through the streets of a Barcelona under construction that is preparing, euphoric, for the Olympic Games. His alien companion and commander of the spaceship with which they have arrived on Earth, sets out to look for him and, to go unnoticed among the Barcelonans, also adopts human appearance. Unlike Gurb, he changes his appearance as the story progresses: Miguel de Unamuno, Paquirrín ---the son of La Pantoja, currently known as Kiko, indeed---, Isoroku Yamamoto, the Duke of Kent or Alfonso V of León, among others.

Sin noticias de Gurb (No News from Gurb) is a humorous novel by Eduardo Mendoza that El País published in installments in the summer of 1990 and that appeared, already as a book, a year later. Many editions of it have been made and it has been translated into a handful of languages. I had a very funny edition from Círculo de Lectores, with drawings that I would have sworn were by Mariscal ---perhaps due to the proximity to the Olympic Games and because they vaguely reminded me of Cobi and his troupe---, and it turns out they are not.

It has always seemed strange to me that Eduardo Mendoza ---with that serious demeanor and such British elegance--- is the author of such a hyperbolic and funny story. No matter how much I have read him later in novels equally full of black humor, there is no way to see Mendoza as the author of Sin noticias de Gurb.

Anyway, for those of you who haven't read it ---is there anyone who, really, hasn't read Sin noticias de Gurb?--- I will tell you that apart from laughing a lot you will find a lot of Barcelona. The Barcelona and the Barcelonans who were preparing for the Olympics. An extraterrestrial gaze that exposes some absurd attitudes, excessive consumerism and a society seduced by money and frivolity.

Sin noticias de Gurb is a humorous novel by Eduardo Mendoza that El País published in installments in the summer of 1990 and that appeared, already as a book, a year later

Perhaps now would also be a good time for Mendoza to bring back the adventures of that pair of extraterrestrials. The Barcelona of the pandemic or the Barcelona of the process or post-process would provide for some crazy scenes that would surely leave them perplexed. And Gurb? Would he again adopt the appearance of Marta Sánchez ---who, by the way, was not amused by Mendoza's idea--- or would he prefer to look like Rosalía? Would he still eat churros all the time or would he have adopted healthier lifestyle habits and, for example, become addicted to Flax & Kale detox juices?