''Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me'' ( Spanish: ''Mañana en la batalla piensa en mí'') is a novel by Javier Marías first published in 1994.

Margaret Jull Costa Margaret Elisabeth Jull Costa OBE, OIH (born 2 May 1949) is a British translator of Portuguese- and Spanish-language fiction and poetry, including the works of Nobel Prize winner José Saramago, Eça de Queiroz, Fernando Pessoa, Paulo Coelho, B ...

's English translation was published by

The Harvill Press Harvill Secker is a British publishing company formed in 2005 from the merger of Secker & Warburg and the Harvill Press. History Secker & Warburg Secker & Warburg was formed in 1935 from a takeover of Martin Secker, which was in receivership, ...

in 1996, winner of the Rómulo Gallegos award and the Femina Award. This novel has 368 pages. The title is taken from

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Richard III Richard III (2 October 145222 August 1485) was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battl ...

'', Act V, Scene 3. When his would-be lover, another man's wife, dies suddenly in his arms, the narrator Victor is faced with the dilemma of whether to contact help or her family, or to quit the scene without admitting his presence, and chooses the latter option. This brings about many unforeseen consequences for the narrator and for others. The protagonist's profession is that of ghostwriter.

Literary significance and reception

The novel garnered acclaim in Europe. Michael Wood, writing in the ''

London Review of Books The ''London Review of Books'' (''LRB'') is a British literary magazine published twice monthly that features articles and essays on fiction and non-fiction subjects, which are usually structured as book reviews. History The ''London Review of ...

'', wrote "''Tomorrow in the Battle Think on Me'', probably offers the deepest immersion in Marías's haunted universe." A reviewer in ''

Kirkus Reviews ''Kirkus Reviews'' (or ''Kirkus Media'') is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus (1893–1980). The magazine is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fic ...

'' criticized "Victor's exhaustively extended digressive monologues, which are filled with apposite but monotonous Shakespearean quotations". Though the reviewer still praised the character's complexity and described the novel as "intriguing psychodrama of sex, guilt, and social satire". In ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'',

Liam Callanan Liam Callanan is an American author and professor of English at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. His novels include ''The Cloud Atlas'' (2004) and ''All Saints'' (2007). Background Callanan earned his Bachelor of Arts at Yale and hi ...

wrote that the novel's construction "is occasionally breathtaking but more often overtaxed by Marías's penchant for allusive detail. Chasing associations across continents and centuries, aríasassembles layers of meaning that, at their best, are dazzling, but otherwise trail off into dizzy ponderousness." A reviewer in ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...

'' described the novel as "rather forced and drawn-out ..the main impression Marias's novel leaves is of an author trying to impose a philosophic pattern on material that resists it."

References

1994 novels 20th-century Spanish novels Novels by Javier Marías Editorial Anagrama books {{1990s-novel-stub