{"id":9272,"date":"2011-04-08T13:34:53","date_gmt":"2011-04-08T12:34:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/?p=9272"},"modified":"2013-06-29T13:48:56","modified_gmt":"2013-06-29T12:48:56","slug":"virtual-interview-with-manuel-vicent-and-angel-harguindey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/virtual-interview-with-manuel-vicent-and-angel-harguindey\/","title":{"rendered":"Virtual interview with Manuel Vicent and \u00c1ngel Harguindey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Virtual Interview with Manuel Vicent and \u00c1ngel Harguindey, Instituto Cervantes Dublin Library, 7th April 2011<\/a>. Translated by Emer Cassidy<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Manuel<\/p>\n

Laura Mart\u00edn<\/strong>
\nGood afternoon Mr. Vicent. Which book or author turned you into a reader and why? Which book or author turned you into a writer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nFor me, comics where what first turned me on to reading. After that, adventure books by Salgari and Jules Verne.\u00a0 Later on, with Azor\u00edn and Baroja, I was hooked. But the authors who made me a writer, if I can say such a thing, were Albert Camus and Andr\u00e9 Gide.<\/p>\n

David Carri\u00f3n<\/strong>
\n Mr. Vicent, do you remember the first story you were ever told, and the first you yourself told?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe first story was one of the tales in Heart, by Edmundo de Amicis. Another book which had a big impact on me was one given to me by my school teacher on the day of my first holy communion: \u201cLo que puede m\u00e1s que el hombre\u201d. Those stories of an engineer, who regales a man from the country with the latest technological advances, had a big effect on me.<\/p>\n

The first story I made up\u2026 On a footpath, with a crowd of children around me, around 8 or 9 years old, I invented a story about a crime, and that\u2019s as much as I can remember. A gruesome, passionate crime.<\/p>\n

LMart\u00edn<\/strong>
\n Good afternoon, Mr. Harguindey. The same question as before: which book or author turned you into a reader and\/or a writer?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c1ngel Harguindey<\/span><\/strong>
\nI have only written one book of conversations with Azcona and Manuel Vicent, and there wasn\u2019t one single book which made me a reader, but rather, several, from the \u201cJust William\u201d series to Jules Verne, and Stevenson.<\/p>\n

DCarri\u00f3n<\/strong>
\n Mr. Harguindey, why would you recommend M. Vicent\u2019s books to readers who are not native Spanish-speakers? In particular, his most recent novel, \u201cAguirre, el magn\u00edfico\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c1ngel Harguindey<\/span><\/strong>
\nBecause it is a wonderful fusion between reality and imagination. In my opinion, the interest in Vicent\u2019s most recent novels lies in that they are excellent chronicles of our time and our country.<\/p>\n

Especially Aguirre, el magn\u00edfico, given its subject matter as a fictionalised biography of Javier Aguirre, it also stands alone as a wonderful and much-documented chronicle of the latter half of the 20th century in Spain<\/p>\n

DCarri\u00f3n<\/strong>
\n \u201cAguirre el magn\u00edfico\u201d is pure theatre of the grotesque, or esperpento, and its protagonist like a character straight out of Valle-Incl\u00e1n\u2019s court of miracles. How could we explain that to a foreigner?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nEsperpento is a literary genre created by Valle-Incl\u00e1n, which isn\u2019t so much a caricature as a literary distortion which aims to portray the essence of the character in that distortion. For a foreigner, that distortion\u2026 I\u2019m not sure if they could fully understand it.<\/p>\n

DCarri\u00f3n<\/strong>
\n We mentioned Valle-Incl\u00e1n, however, I was under the impression, Mr. Vicent, that you were more akin to the sobriety of Baroja. Is that right?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nAlthough I lean towards a baroque style, I find I am moving away from it. As the years go by, I tend to write in a more concise way, placing all the importance on the verb, and not the adjective, and that\u2019s Baroja.<\/p>\n

LMart\u00edn<\/strong>
\n Is it possible to understand the history of the 20th century in Spain just that little bit better after reading \u201cAguirre, el m\u00e1gn\u00edfico\u201d, or will the foreign reader end up more confused than before they had started?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s possible they could end up more confused, but that also means that they have understood it, because the history of the 20th century in Spain is an utter labyrinth.<\/p>\n

LMart\u00edn<\/strong>
\n Mr. Vicent, in \u201cAguirre, el magn\u00edfico\u201d you recount how the duke introduced you to the king as his biographer. Is that how the idea came to you to write this book? What sparked the idea?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nHe was just being witty. But as time passed, and the years went by, that notion became the stimulus to write this Iberian triptych. It isn\u2019t intended to be his biography so much as an Iberian portrait, a sort of triptych, where this character carries the central role.<\/p>\n

DCarri\u00f3n<\/strong>
\n Mr. Vicent, who would you like to be your biographer? Perhaps Mr. Harguindey would like to volunteer, or will you write your own autobiography? Or, perhaps it is already in print, with a little portion in each of your novels?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nI have written quite a lot in a genre which, these days, is known as autofiction, even though it has been around since literature first came into existence. The idea isn\u2019t to write a biography as such, it\u2019s more the retelling of personal experiences. And the reason to share them with the reader is that they are experiences which express worlds, feelings and dreams common to us all.<\/p>\n

LMart\u00edn<\/strong>
\n Mr. Vicent, how do you feel about the screen adaptations of your books: Tranv\u00eda a la Malvarrosa and Son de mar? Are there more to come?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nI have no idea whether there\u2019ll be any more, but I\u2019m happy with them in any case. I haven\u2019t been involved in the making of either film.<\/p>\n

LMart\u00edn<\/strong>
\n Do you think \u201cAguirre, el magn\u00edfico\u201d would be good subject matter for a film by Berlanga and Azcona?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/strong><\/span>
\nI think it\u2019s more Visconti territory.<\/p>\n

DCarri\u00f3n<\/strong><\/span>
\n Two Irish authors feature in your book \u201cP\u00f3quer de ases\u201d, I presume they are two of your favourites: Samuel Beckett and James Joyce.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/strong><\/span>
\nYes, one of them because he stretched the boundaries of literature. If I were to name three authors who stretched the limits of literature, nullifying the old style of bourgeois novel, one would be Joyce, who analysed the average man\u2019s sub-conscious, spilling his thoughts, dreams and desires through the streets of Dublin over the course of a day, and that, when you look at it, is translating the world of Freud over to fiction. The other two I\u2019d name are Kafka and Proust.<\/p>\n

Beckett, who in some respects was a scholar of Joyce, expressed the humour in chaos and the absurd, as our last defence against chaos itself and death.<\/p>\n

DCarri\u00f3n<\/strong>
\n Mr. Vicent, quoting Samuel Beckett you have said \u201cLife is a chaos between two silences\u201d. Do you think literature can bring order and sense to chaos?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nNo, I think literature adds more chaos to the general chaos. But high literature makes that chaos easier to dance to.<\/p>\n

LMart\u00edn<\/strong>
\n Mr. Vicent, in \u201cViajes, f\u00e1bulas y otras traves\u00edas\u201d you take us on a journey across Europe in 1985. Speaking about Ireland you say \u201cI began to love this country the following day [after my arrival] at 9 o\u2019clock in the morning\u201d. Why? What has become of that love 25 years on?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nWithout a doubt it was discovering the characters on Grafton Street.<\/p>\n

It felt like I had seen all those people before in films set in the west: those red-heads that\u00a0 take shots at outlaws\u2026 and Maureen O\u2019Hara making a turnip tart.<\/p>\n

DCarri\u00f3n<\/strong>
\n You mentioned recently in the Juan March Foundation that as we get older, the only thing we remember is our childhood. I have happy memories, but I wouldn\u2019t go back \u201cto that place\u201d if you paid me. Would you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s not necessarily about going back, but as we lose our memory, the brain\u2019s hard-drive takes over, the cogs still clogged up with the slime that is our childhood.<\/p>\n

LMart\u00edn<\/strong>
\n Mr. Vicent: tell me if I am quoting this correctly: Literature is memory rotted down with imagination over time.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nI think that\u2019s exactly right.<\/p>\n

LMart\u00edn<\/strong>
\n Beauty masks destruction. Beauty and corruption go hand in hand. Which one wins in the end?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nWell, I think it\u2019s a question of dialectics. The synthesis will always win. A moment of beauty is worth a lifetime and we should make the most of it.<\/p>\n

DCarri\u00f3n<\/strong>
\n Mr. Vicent, where is your abode at the moment? Closer to Villa Alegr\u00eda (Happy Town) or Ecce Homo on the corner of Virgen de los Dolores (Our Lady of Sorrows)?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/strong><\/span>
\nI\u2019ve made a mammoth effort to leave behind Ecce Homo on the corner of Virgen de los Dolores and return to Villa Alegr\u00eda. I\u2019d say it\u2019s closer to Villa Alegr\u00eda.<\/p>\n

DCarri\u00f3n<\/strong>
\n Mr. Vicent, your most recent book has come out in print and in digital format at the same time. How are you finding the experience? I imagine the majority of sales are still from print. Do you buy electronic books? Thank you very much.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nNo, not ever. And I\u2019m not sure how the digital sales are going.<\/p>\n

Helen Cunningham<\/strong>
\n Good afternoon Mr. Vicent,<\/strong>
\n It\u2019s not possible to visit Spain without coming across the Duchess of Alba in the gossip magazines and on various TV shows. Now you have written a book in which Jesus Aguirre, the duchess\u2019s second husband, is the protagonist. Is the duchess happy with the book?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nIt appears not, but what I can say is that from my point of view as the author of the book, the part with Jes\u00fas Aguirre as the Duke of Alba is the book\u2019s least interesting and most insipid side.<\/p>\n

Jo<\/strong>
\n Manuel Vicent, welcome to Ireland.<\/strong> Which Irish writers do you like? Thank you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nThe answer is very nearly topical: Joyce and Beckett essentially. There are more writers here per square metre than anywhere else in the world. Obviously beer is a highly literary product.<\/p>\n

Joe<\/strong>
\n Manuel, in your short story \u201cEl caballo amante\u201d, the protagonist writes verses of poetry whilst listening to the cries of passion of his wife and her lover in the downstairs bedroom. What do you do to stimulate your imagination whilst writing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/strong><\/span>
\nIt depends on what I want to write and on my mood, but what really gets me writing is having a storyline which prompts me to waste time.<\/p>\n

Eduardo Jos\u00e9<\/strong>
\n Dear Mr. Vicent, I have just seen your film \u201cSon de mar\u201d. I really like the actress. Do you think I could have a role in your next film, obviously, alongside that actress? Thank you. Thank you very much.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nI\u2019ll suggest it to Leonor, as long as you are tall, slim and have green eyes.<\/p>\n

Patricia<\/strong>
\n Hello. I like cookery books. Why have you written about food? Thank you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/strong><\/span>
\nBecause in a way eating is like a mystical deed, from a literary perspective. And because there has always been great literary tradition around what we eat.<\/p>\n

Pawel<\/strong>
\n Hello Vicent, what is the life of a writer like? Is it very lonely? Thank you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nLoneliness is the writer\u2019s landscape from within which the writer observes the outside world.<\/p>\n

Colm<\/strong>
\n \u00c1ngel, what are your criteria for deciding what to publish? Do you like Dublin? Thank you.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00c1ngel Harguindey<\/span><\/strong>
\nFrom all the possible topics, I usually choose the ones that interest me the most, personally. If I have just one criterion, it\u2019s to always write in favour of the subject or the person. At this stage of the game, if something doesn\u2019t interest me I have the privilege of not having to write about it.<\/p>\n

I find Dublin a very welcoming city, with very friendly people, and civilised dimensions. For those of us coming from a city of speculators such as Madrid, it\u2019s very attractive.<\/p>\n

Colm<\/strong>
\n Manuel, why have your books not been translated into English?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/span><\/strong>
\nAsk the editors. I don\u2019t know, honestly.<\/p>\n

Anna Bajor-Ciciliati<\/strong>
\n Good afternoon!<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have five questions for Mr. Manuel Vicent:<\/strong>
\n 1. Where does journalism end and literature begin? Which of the pairs of opposing ideas: objectivity-subjectivity, fact-fiction, or transience-universality do you see as the most important in marking the dividing line?<\/strong><\/p>\n

2.. Is there room for fiction in journalism? Or is being faithful to the facts an absolute obligation for a journalist?<\/strong><\/p>\n

3. Do you identify yourself with the idea of \u201cliterary journalism\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

4. Are there higher authorities in the world of journalism to whom you look up to? If so, who? As for your literary inspirations \u2013 who do you consider the most important?<\/strong><\/p>\n

5. Are we currently experiencing a \u201ccrisis\u201d in journalism?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you very much,<\/strong><\/p>\n

Manuel Vicent<\/strong>
\n1- Literature begins when a writer, or a journalist, takes three seconds to choose between one adjective or another.<\/p>\n

2- There is a faithfulness to the facts which, with time, and as memory fades, becomes\u00a0 fiction.<\/p>\n

3- I think journalism is the literary genre of the latter half of the 20th century, and including up to the present moment.<\/p>\n

4- In journalism, the only higher authority I have are the facts, the stance of reflecting reality with little in the way of adjectives and lots of verbs. My literary maestros would be Camus, Stevenson, Scott Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Tomas Mann. In article writing, the genre in which I work the most, Josep Pl\u00e1 and Julio Camba.<\/p>\n

5- As regards analogue, or print, journalism, probably. But as regards journalism as an attitude, in reflecting the facts as they come about and reflecting them to the reader as a chronicle, that will never go out of fashion because it\u2019s embedded in our dreams.<\/p>\n

Thank you all for participating in this interview<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Related links:<\/strong><\/p>\n