JOSEF VINASHEIV

Josef Vinasheiv was born in Prague (Bohemia). He has British, Iberian and Slavic blood in his veins, all of which makes him feel fully Austro-Hungarian. He is the grandson of the Spanish socialist delegate and leader, Ginés G. After the Civil War, as part of the republican diaspora, Ginés passed through concentration camps in North Africa and into exile in Mexico with his Czechoslovakian lover Manka. Professor of Spanish language in Toulouse, Paris and Prague. He is the author of Ociosedades (Idlenesses; Espasa Calpe, 1926). He later lived in the house of his uncle Dr G, in Alcalá de Henares, where he met his neighbour Manuel Azaña. Josef takes notes on everything he sees and experiences. The result is The Temptation of Words.