Just twenty years ago, coinciding with the Tokyo Motor Show, Volkswagen presented the expensive concept or EcoRacer prototype, a type vehicle roadster –a convertible, rear-wheel drive, and with compact dimensions and weight—which the brand came very close to putting into production. In fact, it's not surprising that at that time mainstream brands were introducing small, sporty, convertible models. Opel manufactured a similar vehicle called the Speedster, Mazda the famous MX-5, and Seat dreamed of models like the Bolero or TangoBut what truly set the Volkswagen prototype apart was its engine, a rarity that would have made it a unicorn in the automotive world.

Even with classic authors, it happens that one day they stop being read. What non-German reader will dedicate days of effort to reading the SplendorGoethe's work, even if it's been artfully translated into a familiar language? Few. Who delves into the Comedy, from Dante, later "divine", although the translation is very fluid, like that of Josep Maria de SagarraAnd, moreover, include the explanatory notes that such a wise and complex book requires? Few. Who will dedicate time to Sartor Resartus (The Patched Tailor), by Carlyle, even though it is one of the great books of the 19th century? Almost nobody.

The first "to desire and burn" in his verses was Sappho, from the Greek island of Lesbosbetween the 7th and 6th centuries BC. "Eros stirs my heart / like the wind that lashes the oaks in the mountains," says one of the fragments that have come down to us according to the latest Catalan translation, signed by Eloi Creus (Proa, 2022). Two centuries later, in Song of SongsIn this love poem, a foundational piece of mystical literature, two lovers converse about the pleasure of loving each other, sparing no detail of remarkable sensuality: "How delicious are your caresses, / my sister, my wife! / Your caresses are sweeter than wine."

Do not trust, dear readers, the lists of books for the summer proposed by the newspapers, with the exception of this one: they are at the service of the publishers and the bookstores, places where - this can perfectly happen - one might not find any edition of the Treat, by Plato - a reading that teenagers would really enjoy - or by The Princess of Cleves —ideal for any lady who wants and endures adulterous summer love. Bookstores are full of classics; many publishers in the country publish magnificent translations of books written in foreign languages, more or less ancient, that could delight readers any time of year. But these books are rarely recommended.