Spanish novelist Jose Maria Guelbensu was born in 1944, studied at a Jesuit college, then studied management and law at the university. In 1964 he left the university in protest against the educational system that reigned there. He worked for newspapers and literary magazines, and was co-director of an influential film club. In 1968, his first book, the novel Quicksilver, reached the finals of a popular literary competition. He held high positions in the Taurus and Alfaguara publishing houses, and since 1988 he has been exclusively engaged in literature. He runs two sections in the newspaper “El Pais”, with which he has been collaborating since its founding. The philosophical novel by Jose Maria Gelbensu “Weight in this World” is for the first time in Russian.