VON STARHEMBERG, GUIDO RUDIGER: Austrian soldier sent to Spain by the emperor to help his son Charles, who was pretender to the Spanish throne. Starhemberg was a more than competent soldier, though unable to achieve any genuinely decisive victories for the Austrian forces. In 1713 he was Charles III’s viceroy in Catalonia. Following the Treaty of Evacuation, which forced the evacuation of all Allied troops still on Spanish soil, he attempted to bring about the handing over of Barcelona to the Bourbon forces but, faced with strong popular opposition, decided to set sail with his troops and leave the Barcelonans to their fate.
WALTRAUD: Fictional character.
DE ZÚÑIGA, DIEGO: Fictional character.
ZUVIRÍA, MARTÍ: Aide-de-camp to General de Villarroel. In his Narraciones históricas, Castellví refers to Zuviría as fulfilling roles as diverse as translator from the French, adjutant to General Villarroel, and taking part in missions outside Barcelona during the siege. It is known that he managed to escape to Vienna, where he shows up on the list of expatriate pro-Austrians.
About the Author
ALBERT SÁNCHEZ PIÑOL is a best-selling international author. His books have been translated into thirty-seven languages worldwide. An anthropologist by training and a writer by profession, his works are well-researched and historically illuminating. Victus is his third novel translated into English.
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The Translators
Daniel Hahn is a writer, editor, and translator with some forty books to his name. His translations include fiction from Europe, Africa, and the Americas, and nonfiction by writers ranging from Portuguese Nobel laureate José Saramago to Brazilian footballer Pelé.
Thomas Bunstead was a British Centre for Literary Translation mentee in 2011–12, working with Margaret Jull Costa, and has since translated and co-translated several novels from the Spanish, including work by Eduardo Halfon, Yuri Herrera, and Enrique Vila-Matas. His translation of Aixa de la Cruz’s “True Milk” was selected for Dalkey Archive’s Best of European Fiction 2015.