ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The idea of Poland as nowhere is taken from Alfred Jarry, who wrote in his prologue to Ubu Roi: ‘Quant à l’action qui va commencer, elle se passe en Pologne, c’est-à-dire nulle part.’ Or: ‘As to the action which is about to begin, it takes place in Poland – that is to say, nowhere’ (trans. Beverly Keith and Gershon Legman, Dover Publications, 2003).

Orestes recites fragments from the speech ‘A los pueblos engañados’ (‘To the deceived peoples’) by Emiliano Zapata and from ‘La suave patria’ (‘Sweet Motherland’) by Ramón López Velarde (in Song of the Heart: Selected Poems by Ramón López Velarde, trans. Margaret Sayers Peden, University of Texas Press, 1995).

The poor man’s quesadillas, and consequently all the categories of quesadilla, are inspired by my grandmother María Elena’s poor man’s enchiladas. How are you doing, Granny?

Rolando Pérez and his father, of the same name, are not Polish and bear no resemblance to the characters in this novel, but they are inseminators of cows and taught me all I know about this fascinating topic.

Andréia Moroni, Teresa García Díaz, Cristina Bartolomé and Iván Díaz Sancho read the first versions of the novel rigorously.

This book is also dedicated to my parents, María Elena and Ángel, and to my brothers and sisters, Luz Elena, Ángel, Luis Alfonso and Uriel.