02
The setting: Edenic countryside
Antonio Gala said that he found his true place, the one he believes to be true, through a dream. He dreamt, under that Edenic field, a name: Alhaurín… As he himself explained:
“Here I retreat, here I work, reflect, digest the sounds, although the silence is rarely interrupted. I see the lights fall, the lights rise, brush the treetops with golden fingers, I hear the wind ruffle them…” He followed in the footsteps of another writer, Gerald Brenan, whom he considered immortal: ‘However, the day I came, he died,’ he explained, with his characteristic humour.
La Baltasara crossed the writer’s path (known until then mainly for his plays and newspaper articles, but about to take the plunge into novels) in 1987. It was his summer and winter retreat, although once he sold his house in Madrid, it became his usual residence. During the early years, his relationship with the village of Alhaurín would be closer: he could be seen there during the processions, or in central bars such as the Costales. Later, he chose to spend more time at the estate, although without missing the annual poetry prize that bears his name. It is not surprising that, in 2010, the village in the Guadalhorce Valley inaugurated the Antonio Gala Municipal Theatre in his honour. Or that it adopted him as a son in 2012. Translated with DeepL.com (free version)