Argentine writer wins Spanish book prize

Barcelona, Feb 8 (EFE).- Argentine writer Guillermo Saccomanno won Spanish publisher Seix Barral's Biblioteca Breve Prize for his novel "El oficinista," which he had submitted under the pen name Calemo.

The panel of judges - comprised of Jose Manuel Caballero Bonald, Pere Gimferrer, Ricardo Menendez Salmon, Rosa Montero and Elena Ramirez - came to its decision unanimously to award him the prize.

The award is accompanied by 30,000 euros ($40,990)

Saccomanno was born in Buenos Aires in 1948 and is the author of novels and books of short stories such as "Situacion de peligro," "Roberto y Eva" and "El buen dolor."

Saccomanno, publisher Elena Ramirez said, was not able to come to Barcelona to receive the award "because for health reasons two days ago the doctors advised him not to travel outside Argentina."

"El oficinista" tells the story of a gray man, an official ready to put up with any kind of humiliation to keep his job, until he falls in love with a secretary and on that day begins to feel that he is another person.

The context in which the story is set is "a city militarily besieged by helicopters, which confers upon the novel an element of science fiction, although it does not take place in the future, but rather it could happen in any city these days in any part of the world."

Rosa Montero said that "El oficinista" can be considered an "anti-utopian science fiction novel, although it is also a political, moralistic, ethical novel."