I don’t read books to see my ideas reflected back at me. I read to experience the sublime enjoyment of art. The political beliefs of the author are of no consequence.
It is an interesting feeling, however, when a work of literature combines a great literary talent with all of my favorite ideas about the importance of the nation-state, the falsity of choice feminism, the hypocrisy of woke beliefs on mass migration, the evils of fluidity, and the trap of neoliberalism. Ana Iris Simón, a 28-year-old writer from “some place in La Mancha whose name I don’t care to remember,” wrote precisely such a novel. I share so many sensibilities with Simón, it’s not even funny. When she writes, for instance, what it feels like to be a person from the plains, I totally get it. For me, the endless expanse of the sky over a field is the only landscape I perceive as the right one.
A colleague said that Feria was the first book he read this year, and it made him sad because he knew he wasn’t going to read anything better all year. Because it’s not possible to read anything better. The colleague is right. This is a beautiful book. Big ideas, big feelings, great writing.
The novel has already sold out. People are hunting after remaining copies. Of course, the wokesters are off their nut over the novel. “Fascist! LePenist! Falangist!” they scream. This, of course, drives more readers to the novel because everybody is tired of the wokester idiocy.
I have a lot of optimism about the generation of today’s 20-30-year-olds who are growing immune to the leftist screeching about fascists. I’m telling you, folks, the woke madness ends the moment we great all of their “systemic inequities and white privileges” not with reverential silence but with a scoff.
No, the novel hasn’t been translated yet but if there continues to be enough hype (as there should be), I believe it will.
Clarissa's Blog 
“Ana Iris Simón – Feria”
Maybe a bit of a plot summary (in general, no spoilers). She doesn’t even have a Spanish wikipedia page yet!
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A 28-year-old woman realizes that the Millennial lifestyle of living in a rented apartment, drinking wine, going to meaningless events, swapping boyfriends, and posting on Instagram is empty and unfulfilling. The dream of endless freedom from attachments and responsibilities turned out to be a lie. She starts thinking about the life her parents led that was very different. She realizes the importance of family, rootedness, permanence, and attachment. She begins to question many of the typical liberal beliefs. Is mass migration really an unalloyed good? Are women really happy after substituting family and children with a string of meaningless liaisons? Is the word “patria” really a dirty word?
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Now you’re making me wish I’d paid closer attention in Spanish class…
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