Eduardo Mendoza (Barcelona, 1943), author The truth about the Savolta case After many novels in which he emerged as one of the most brilliant narrators of the Spanish language, he now wrote: A novel that neither he nor anyone else could stop laughing while reading.
About Three puzzles for organization (Seix Barral, like all his books), This film, which, like most of his works, takes place in the city where he was born and contains both laughter and anger in equal measure, starts from the Franco period, a dark period of the singular Organization that forms the center of society. The narrative arrives and deals with what the city of his birth still is.
He himself did not stop laughing, both in the book, which he claimed to have forgotten during our interview at the Alma Hotel in Barcelona, and in real life, in conversation, at the events that almost always gave life to a funny book: But he is also busy denouncing Catalonia’s cultural and political ups and downs.
From the very beginning to the end of the 407-page novel, the character that the book should have is already stated, so much so that laughing (also in the interview) is an extraordinary form of self-expression. Make fun of how majestic it is, it’s also made of tin. “Barcelona, spring 2022. Located on Valencia Street, a few meters from Paseo de Gracia, dazzling with magnificent hotels and luxury shops of major international brands, almost in front of the small but friendly museum of Egyptian antiquities. Mummies, sarcophagi and tablets, as well as an indefinite number of figurines, stand a narrow building in the nineteenth-century style, a gray stone facade with floral reliefs, long balconies with iron railings and a dark corridor… ”
This is the urban geography where the plot begins, which is a portrait of the entire city; It is the same portrait that occupies almost all of his novels and whose hand or writing he knows like the back of his hand. But when he sits down to talk to the journalist, armed with countless Nespresso cans from which the coffee lover has fed his next season, he declares that he does not know which book he has written. He even asks the journalist which book he wrote and says: “At least you wrote it. three books. One deals with Francoism, another deals with this time, and there’s another that deals with daily life in the city where you live and write.”.
– Yes, but look, I’m in a hurry to face all this now. I also struggle with interviews because I suddenly have nothing to say about the book. In fact, the book came out spontaneously. A book written by someone else. I had decided not to write anymore, because there comes a time when it has to stop… “Why hasn’t this guy stopped by yet?” There are people who think. “What a shame that he didn’t stop now after his last book, instead of starting this one, which was not only bad but also like the previous ones”… I thought about all this and said to myself: “No, I will not write any more.” And the next day, I thought about what I would devote the coming days to and began to write stupidly, stupidly. And when I realized that I was immersed in the novel. And I don’t know what I bought.
– I’m telling you, three books have been published.
– In any case, it’s as if it were a book written by someone else.
As soon as the author attributes the writing of his latest work to someone else, the coffee comes and the journalist turns off the recorder, and when he starts it again, he no longer records anything. When the editor was betrayed by technology, Mendoza was kind enough to answer the following questions. This particular episode may be part of the events in the novel that provoke laughter or tears. That’s when the speech is followed by a survey.
Throughout the novel, the writing combines satire and hilarity. And from the very beginning you never stop making people smile and laugh. As if accompanied by the inspiration of Azcona, Mihura, Berlanga or, for example, Mortadelo and Filemon.
All of these are very present. These were part of my emotional and literary education, and I never abandoned them. Mihura is an unjustly forgotten reference. Mortadelo caught me already grown. I am from the previous generation: Don Pío, reporter Tribulete, Doña Urraca. As tango says, you always come back to your first love.
“I can’t take everything so lightly. That’s why I relieve my stress by writing down what I want to say, do and think.”
It is full of ejaculations that never leave the ground it steps on and also the political ground it steps on. I’m talking about some of these ejaculations. For example, referring to one named person: “The political situation in Catalonia is at its peak.”
That’s what one of my characters does. I wish I could say the same. This is the attitude I recommend. I can’t take things so lightly. That’s why I relieve stress by writing down what I want to say, do and think.
Barcelona is completely in the book from beginning to end. The Barcelona he describes is the current Barcelona, but he starts from the already existing Barcelona. The Savolta Trial. What part of evolution left Barcelona faceless?
This is a diagnosis I dare not make. The Barcelona where I discovered and grew up is now a thing of the past. There is a different Barcelona today. Better or worse is not a value judgment one can make. It all depends on what you are looking for and what you can contribute. I know that there are new, different people in new neighborhoods. I prefer to stay at home.
The organization you mentioned was born from the Franco regime and, as we mentioned at the beginning, it will remain there until 2022. What is left of Barcelona, what is broken?
I hope there will be little left of Francoism. But undoubtedly one thing remains. Corruption, I suppose, but I don’t think it’s the legacy of Francoism. On the contrary, Francoism is the legacy of corruption. And the old interests and old impulses that brought Franco to power and governed him for forty years are still present, of course.
“[Lo que pasó en Cataluña en 2017] It caused a serious social rupture, a lot of suffering, and a lot of waste of energy. “I want to believe that time softens the boundaries.”
Among the events that left their mark on the city are those that took place around 2016. Has this phenomenon disappeared? What sign is left?
Another question that I don’t dare answer. I know everyone knows. I am not in touch with the political world. What happened in 2017 is a bad response to a problem that has existed for centuries. It is misunderstood and mismanaged by all stakeholders. It caused a serious social rupture, a lot of pain and a waste of energy at the time. I want to believe that time softens the boundaries.
There are 407 turbulent pages. Now that it is obvious that your book, which includes Francoism, the city and time, is your own, do you also understand that it was written with your own humor?
The humor is mine, yes. Or I’m yours. It is the natural channel of my literary expression. Sometimes I decide to write in a different tone and after a while I find myself in this atmosphere of humor. I guess that’s just my perspective on things.
Juan Marsé is the companion and pioneer of this focus on characters..
Juan Marsé taught me many things. It was a style of expression that was not fashionable in those years, but I liked it. Marsé had the same references as me and many people of my generation: comic books, movies from the neighborhood cinema. I remember him and I discussing our boundless love for Fu Manchu. He also had a very good ear for people’s language. I could tell people’s sincere stories through the way they talked on the street. I’ve always tried to do this.
“There are a lot of comedians in my literature education. Those who do monologues with microphones in their hands. Gila, Eugenio, Cassen. And the great American comedians I saw when I was living in New York.”
This journalist highlighted some funny statements. I hope you’ll confirm this, or in any case, let me know to what extent you’re laughing at yourself as you write this. “Can’t a self-respecting wedding in Sudan be missing a box of Fernández mussels?” “Since I come from a rich family, the life of the poor amuses me a lot. “How long has the yacht been there?” “Who do you identify with, Socrates or James Bond?”
I like pithy and absurd expressions. Comedians feature a lot in my literary education. Monologuers, microphones in their hands. Gila, Eugenio, Cassen. And the great American comedians I was lucky enough to see in New York when I lived there.
The laughter you gave us is also born with today’s ceremonies such as football, Eurovision, Barça… Golden pasts are breaking down and everything is starting to be made of tin?
I don’t know. I just know that tin is very present. It’s so easy to consume junk food that you have to make a huge effort to uncover the gold that no one values. I do not want to fall into a pessimistic discourse, but I am afraid that education today (I am not just talking about schools and universities) does not make a difference and is guided by the law of minimum effort.
There are areas in the book that replace laughter with more serious or worrying events. There are implications of racism, supremacism, but also reintroduced by the far right from which the Organization emerges: Spain needs to be cleansed, or it will fall apart… The current national debate is part of the book. How do you see this time or time?
I did not like. Yelling, insulting and discrediting as a political argument gives me urticaria. It’s not that politicians use it, they use it because it’s what makes them profit. Because that’s what people want to hear. If this attitude were broken in all of us, politicians would have a different attitude.
““Barcelona,” says the head of the Organization’s characters, “for a moment regains its old image: the provincial, unhealthy, dirty and grumpy city of my youth,” and concludes: “Let’s not get lost in nostalgia. “The best is the enemy of the good, and it is for the old and the foolish to complain about what is incurable.” Where is Mendoza, the city where it is better not to be nostalgic?
Anything but nostalgia. The head of the organization is a man of clichés and mediocrities. Me too, but less so. Cities change. Not the way we want. A shell is a shell. But I gained a lot from this city. I’m more retired now. Others will come to tell us what this moment is like.