Defensive zone

A committed book about the world we live in and the one we must leave as a legacy.

Manuel Rivas's literature once again intervenes in the world.

In a world focused on economic and industrial performance, this book offers a hopeful and literary perspective on the need to drive a change in the meaning of words such as "society," "nature," "power," "individual," "culture," or "creation," and to find a space for reflection on what we are missing. On every page, the author's social and ecological commitment, his sensitivity, his irony, and the beauty of his prose shine through.

In the world, the areas to be defended should multiply. What should be most defended is the most vulnerable. The most insecure. Mayday!

I defend an international of indocile consciences that will no longer let complacent consciences sleep.

I defend possibility. The first step is to say: "It is possible."

I defend the possibility of being human.

I defend a republic of equals, a break with corruption.

I defend a new social contract with nature.

I defend a fertile austerity, a creative abundance.

I defend a solitary solidarity.

I defend a new imaginative language against the politics of harm.

I defend a bruised humor, sabotaging dogmatism with irony.

I defend a feminism that emancipates women and frees men from "masculine hysteria."

I defend decolonizing the imagination, telling stories to hold up the sky.

I defend a new struggle for freedom.

I defend the prohibition of gun ownership, with one exception: laughter.

I defend agreement between generations.

I defend the art of listening, I defend seeing what is not "well seen."

I defend affective democracy.

I defend overly long books, overly slow movies.

I defend the art of falling. I defend thinking the unthinkable.

I shadowbox. I walk through the ailing horizon. Rebellious pessimism goes hand in hand with indocile hope.

MANUEL RIVAS

Critics have said:
«Manuel Rivas has written a forceful book: Against All This. Sounding the bugle, for rebellion. Are we heading towards utopia or dystopia? What can be changed in this shoddy world? To be read in (civil) campaign attire.»
Luisgé Martín

«A declaration of intentions of existential maturity. A committed book about the world we live in that proposes a change of perspective, from hope and literature.»
Joana Bonet, Uppers

«Written with a lyricism that makes every page sweetly savored [and] in tune with an indignation increasingly represented by thinkers, Manuel Rivas transports the reader to a better world, a possible world. A necessary essay, especially in these times when the pandemic has distanced us even further from our elders, but which at the same time has served to show that the system we live in is neither fair nor effective.»
Ahora Qué Leo, La Sexta

«A distress signal in the form of a book where he exposes himself without reserve and his only defensive weapon is words. [...] Manuel Rivas looks good in the park and is a witness to the great oral narrator he is. He hypnotizes you.»
Marta de la Calzada, Telva

«An incursion into committed and revolutionary writing.»
Elena Sierra, Pergola - Periódico BILBAO Aldizkaria

«Rivas is an undisputed classic.»
The Scotsman

«Manuel Rivas is an important narrator because he is sensitive and has an incredible ear that, in his fiction, is allied with great integrity.»
John Berger

«Rivas reveals the soul of spaces, what they guard or contain as an emblem of the character of a people.»
Ana Rodríguez Fischer, Babelia

«An author who knows how to introduce poetry not only into his sentences, but also into his way of seeing the world.»
Raphaëlle Rérolle, Le Monde

«Rivas never loses faith in the human capacity to overcome the darkest of situations.»
The Irish Times