The enigma of Mr Ávila

[metoo]

Mr Ávila is an enigma. I would like to have some idea about who he might have been.

Novel Mr Ávila liked tour skating, especially on sea ice, and he did so every weekend in years when the sea was frozen. Alone, at night. I get the impression that he wasn’t married.

An interesting factoid: Mr Ávila used to start his skating at Gräddö, close to where JAL lives now, and where Oskar's father lived in the novel.

The novel says that Mr Ávila had been a fighter pilot "during the war". (Actually ”stridspilot”, which also includes bomber pilot.)

What war? And is it plausible?

I went to Wikipedia to learn some facts.

The Spanish civil war took place 1936 - 1939, 45 to 42 years before the time of the novel, 1981. If Mr Ávila was in his early sixties in the novel, he would have been around 20 during the civil war. That seems not entirely improbable for a fighter or a bomber pilot. Many of the American WW2 pilots were of such a young age.

Now, on what side did he fight? I have always assumed the republican side, and that would seem the most plausible. Why would he end up in Sweden if he had fought on Franco's side, the winning one?

Perhaps he was among the last republican pilots who flew their planes to France in an attempt to stop the Royalists from laying their hands on them. In France those airmen were interned in a concentration camp where refugees from the Spanish war were kept. The conditions in the camp was very bad, people died there because of that. Later, the prisoners were moved to other camps, such as the one in Gurs.

Some of the Spanish prisoners fled from these camps - was Mr Ávila one of them? Perhaps, and if so he might have enrolled in the allied forces during WW2. But the war ended in 1945, when Mr Ávila would have been in his mid twenties. It doesn't seem likely that he would have returned to Spain, given the Franco regime. Did he go to Sweden already at this time, or later? Impossible to tell. But somehow he ended up being a gym teacher in Sweden.

The novel, however, has one more tiny bit of information: Mr Ávila used to participate in the Vasaloppet ski run, and had been doing so for the last ten years. Thus, he had lived in Sweden for at least that long. However, he might have lived here much longer, been married but divorced or become a widower. Perhaps ten years ago, when he began participating in Vasaloppet...

What do you think?

[JToede]

For some reason I thought Mr. Avila was Argentine. I have nothing to prove it or his nationality, except he is a native spanish speaker. As far as his combat experience goes, I have no idea. It could be anything.

[metoo]

For some reason I thought Mr. Avila was Argentine. I have nothing to prove it or his nationality, except he is a native spanish speaker. As far as his combat experience goes, I have no idea. It could be anything.

A Latin American origin is certainly an alternative. People from several Latin American countries have emigrated to Sweden for political reasons. However, many of these (the majority?) arrived in the seventies - too late for Mr Ávila.

Still, it’s a possibility, so what Latin American country would fit?

Mexico, perhaps?
https://www.thoughtco.com/mexican-invol ... wo-2136644

[gattoparde59]

I vaguely recall Spanish troops fighting with the Germans on the Eastern Front in World War II. I googled them and this was the volunteer Spanish Blue Division. It turns out there was also a "Blue Squadron" of Fascist pilots who fought with the Luftwaffe on the Eastern Front. I'm not clear what became of them as the war came to a close.

I am curious how John Lindqvist came up with such an unusual character?

[ltroifanatic]

I've always thought he was involved in the Spanish Civil war and he was Spanish but I have absolutely no reason to think that.I think I've read somewhere that TA was trying to get more screen time for Avila but couldn't do it because of time constraints.He reckoned that of all the adults only Avila took the time to reach out to Oskar.I've often wondered how the story would have changed if Avila hadn't been distracted by that bottle of shampoo on the floor and had sat down with Oskar and asked..(in his Spanish accent).."Tell me truth Oskar..Is everything OK?"..

[Pissball]

Fernando Cristóbal de Reyes y Ávila is his full name according to LTORI wiki, I guess they took that from the book, I can't remerber much about him. Maybe he is just an immigrant figure, someone that JAL met sometimes in his life. Perhaps he traveled many times to Spain for vacations. I don't how common are spanish immigrants in sweden, more in those time, early 80s, and what stereotype they have about them, except the "swarthy" looking type, in fact, one of the bullies who beats him in the pool scene call him a "turkish" lol, that is indeed true, Ive read spanish ppl comment about the perception that scandinavians have, and many said in a funny way that they think about them as turkish. I guess Ávila looks like the classical hairy swarthy macho - looking, spanish conquistador, although in the movie it's an average white looking man with strange accent (it sounds like the "russian" accent type that american use in movies) since Im not familiar with swedish-

Ive never notice this while watching the movie, but it's true that he supposed to be argentine in the movie, apparently (I read that in a review) but in the novel Im pretty sure he is spaniard. I don't think there could be a latinamerica representation in sweden or the mind of a swedish writer, these are two worlds way too distant.



I still play the "remake/adaptation game in my head, if LMI never happened, and this guy is my perfect Ávila:


Luis Tosar, spanish actor.

PS: I "shipped" him with Marie Luise, for some reason.

[metoo]

Fernando Cristóbal de Reyes y Ávila is his full name according to LTORI wiki, I guess they took that from the book,

This is correct, as far as I can remember.
As I understand this, Mr Ávila has a double surname, de Reyes y Ávila. Does that say anything about Mr Ávila's origins? Do Latin Americans have this kind of surname, or is it pure Spanish?

Wikipedia, Ávila.

Wikipedia, Spanish naming customs.

[Pissball]

Fernando Cristóbal de Reyes y Ávila is his full name according to LTORI wiki, I guess they took that from the book,

This is correct, as far as I can remember.
As I understand this, Mr Ávila has a double surname, de Reyes y Ávila. Does that say anything about Mr Ávila's origins? Do Latin Americans have this kind of surname, or is it pure Spanish?

Wikipedia, Ávila.

Wikipedia, Spanish naming customs.

Double surnames are common in hispanic culture, this includes Latin America, it could be related to old elite-creole families but is not a rule at all, de Reyes y Ávila sounds more spanish to me, or old colonial heritage (wealthy or not) if latin american, because "y" is not common in average double- surname population, but that is pure subjective, since there's no rules for naming, a poor indian could got that surname from a conquistador/landowner, aswell a wealthy family of a priest/politican. I think if JAL wanted to write about a latinamerican, he would use some "hints" or cliches related to mexicans, cubans, etc those most famous worldwide latin american sterotypes/nationalities. Again, in Sweden, I guess, spaniards immigrants or spanish culture must be much more common.

[gattoparde59]

The other thing I remember about Avila is the way his character parallels Eli. They both have an odd way of speaking and are both "foreign" to modern day Sweden. Both take an interest in Oskar who values their perception of him. There is a scene in gymnastics class where Avila praises Oskar, just as Eli applauds Oskar's stunt on the tire swing.

John Lindqvist himself has commented on Avila as a possible fork in the road for Oskar, a path that finally closes near the end at the swimming pool When Avila seems to turn his back on Oskar.

[metoo]

[...] Again, in Sweden, I guess, spaniards immigrants or spanish culture must be much more common.

Actually, the opposite is true. In 1980, 4363 persons born in Spain lived in Sweden, while 17166 persons had been born in Spanish-speaking Latin America. About half of these were from Chile.

Numbers from this document, created by SCB, the Swedish central statistics bureau.