Review: When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà, Winner of the Nota Bene Prize 2023
The winner of the 2023 Nota Bene Prize, When I Sing, Mountains Dance by Irene Solà, (translated by Mara Faye Lethem) is an intoxicating blend of folklore, nature and interwar history.
When Domenec - mountain-dweller, father, poet, dreamer - dies suddenly, struck by lightning, he leaves behind two small children, Mia and Hilari, to grow up wild among the looming summits of the Pyrenees and the ghosts of the Spanish civil war.
But then Hilari dies too, and his sister is forced to face life's struggles and joys alone. As the years tumble by, the inhabitants of the mountain - human, animal and other - come together in a chorus of voices to bear witness to the sorrows of one family, and to the savage beauty of the landscape. This remarkable English-language debut is lyrical, mythical, elemental, and ferociously imaginative.
REVIEWED BY RUBY CONWAY
When I Sing, Mountains Dance is a polyphonic tale of the Pyrenees mountains; a startlingly idiosyncratic and poetic narrative that captures the multiplicitous voice and character of the landscape. People, animals, ghosts, mythic figures and geography share the narrative, with time dissipating and colliding, interweaving the cast of characters that all make up the heartbeat of the land. Dancing between the perspectives of witches, mushrooms and the roedeer, amongst others, When I Sing, Mountains Dance deconstructs the anthropocentric with lingering beauty. Exploring collective history, memory, and voice, Irene Solà’s striking and lyrical prose will sweep you into its rhythmic torrents and the stories of this rich place.
One family’s narrative, that of Domènec, Sió, Hilari and Mia, threads the varying narratives together. Their tragic tale is part of the larger landscape, both inconsequential and richly meaningful set amongst so many other stories. Their story is moving in both unexpected and striking ways. Awarded the 2023 Nota Bene Prize for its originality and experimentalism, this year’s winner marks a win for women in translation.