The cycle in which he participates is called “The honor of the word.” Do you have the honor of your word? Does it honor the human race?
I believe words can be used for many different things. It is honorable when it is used to do honorable things, to name things as they are, to tell the truth, to show human compassion, or the like. And when they become corrupt, accustomed to lies and such, they degrade. The word is for good, beautiful and terrible. They can be used equally for everything. Just as you can lie or seek the truth.
He looks back in his latest published work. Is the past necessary to understand the present?
Man, of course, is the extension of the present into the past. So there is no separation. If we want to understand our present position, if we want to value what we have, if we want to form value judgments about the present reality, we must take the past into account, right? Especially in countries like ours where rapid changes have taken place in a few decades, and in a country where we have a very turbulent past? So, to measure, for example, progress in the welfare state, or the status of women, or justice, and all that, we need to have a benchmark of where we come from.
Referring to public education, he says in a passage from “Where To Return” that it is “the best, almost the only hope for social progress.” More of her staunch defense today than ever before?
I think so too. One of the lessons we have learned in the recent pandemic is the radical value of the public is what makes a society just or unjust. These are two pretty simple things. One is public education, the other is public health, right? And of course there is good public administration. I have lived in the United States for a long time and have seen a country where health and education are run by money. We live in the Community of Madrid, in a community where there is very strong pressure to privatize healthcare and privatize education. In fact, public education is already a minority in the Community of Madrid, less than 50%. A question that I think is fundamental. If not, there is nothing. If there is no good public education, who will be able to move forward? Who will be able to discover your profession? Not being a writer or a doctor, whatever.
Do you think we are experiencing a social regression or, on the contrary, are we moving forward despite obstacles?
That’s where you’re moving forward or going backwards. Earlier we were talking about the value of the present and the past, and that’s when you realize the enormous progress we’ve made. There is also a lot going back because, for example, young people now have fewer opportunities than when I was younger, and they have a much harder time finding housing. So, as you progress, you can go backwards.
You have created a personal memory literature. What is the difference between this concept and autofiction?
I just don’t understand this concept. I think I like to write two very different things, and I love them equally. I love writing fiction that I’m free to invent, and I love writing non-fiction because I write for newspapers and I’ve written books like the “Ardor Guerrero” you mentioned. I think one chooses one thing or the other; Also, there is an agreement with the reader. This is very important to me, and I think it matters when the reader approaches the book. I don’t know what fiction by itself means: when reality is mixed with fiction, fiction is made.
You are a linguist. With new times, technology has led to a somewhat disturbing simplification of language. What do you think about the abuse of this language?
I think it’s more about ignorance than technology. Using technology doesn’t mean you have to write in some way or express yourself in a ruder or simpler way. It just has to do with the level of education and the complexity of the emotions or things the person wants to express. I don’t think it’s the responsibility of technology.
How do you evaluate the evolution of the literary world since you published El Robinson urbano?
Well, I can assess the social revolution I’ve seen, that is, great progress since I started publishing. From the mid-80s, when a very large readership began to form; Then there was the 2008 crisis and the coinciding crisis with piracy, and with all that, there was a very clear quantitative regression. Fortunately, it seems to have rebounded somewhat since the pandemic. I think the main change that happened was that when I started publishing, you went to a literary convention or something and the guests were only men. Now that has been fixed a lot, there are many more women. I think this is a big change. The main social change was that when I started there were no women at a panel or round table. This now seems unheard of to you. I think this change is very important. Then, what is the quality and poor quality of what we write, it’s up to everyone. But not by gender, but by quality, by person.
You said in an interview that you never had a writer’s pose, but rather a quiet trade. What is your concept of literary action?
It’s a job. It is a job, a profession that people do because they love, partly because they are devoted to them, because they earn their living from this job. Then there’s an integral part that everyone has to measure how far they’ve come: it’s the public’s presence to know about your work. I believe this needs to be managed very carefully because you can’t be a character yourself or a door-to-door salesman of your writing. I think you have to strike a balance, among other things, because you need a very quiet private life to write and work, to experience the world mindfully and deeply. When I publish a book, I promise to give a certain promotion beyond a certain limit. I am very clear that the literary life for me is to work at home or be with my family or friends. Otherwise, you run the risk of becoming a center of attraction.
He headed the Cervantes Institute in New York, so he knows all the details of cultural management. How do you see the future of culture in general and books in particular?
No, cultural public administration is something very special. Also, in the case of the Instituto Cervantes, I was alone for several years. I had worked on this before, I was a civil servant in Granada. I think the future of the book is linked to the future of education and the future of justice. If there is a good education today and if that education insists on humanitarian and creative values, then it will have readers of literature. Obviously, there must be a certain degree of social justice for people to have enough peace of mind and enough tools to devote time and money to culture. To the extent that education abandons these humanistic values and all that, then there will be a decline. It depends neither on the authors nor the technology, it depends on the level of education.
Which book would you recommend to the readers of this interview?
I highly recommend the book that will be published in Elvira Lindo’s latest novel, The Wolf’s Den. It’s out in a week.