Juan Bas, author and screenwriter: “Humor is a valuable weapon to relativize things” | Culture | EUROtoday

Three days earlier than his dying on February 5, 2022, the author and screenwriter Fernando Marías (Bilbao, 1958-2022) despatched a WhatsApp to his childhood buddy Juan Bas: “Thought returns to the blood.” It was a second of lucidity throughout his final moments alive. “I interpreted that message as a poetic idea, because her blood was more alive and thought was traveling through it,” says Bas, Bilbao, 65, author and creator of the International Festival of Literature and Art with Humor Ja! Thought returns to blood (Kingdom of Cordelia) It is the title of his newest e-book, which has conceived as an elegía to his nice fatigue associate: “When I decided that I was going to write this book I was clear that I was going to titled like this. It is a non -fiction novel where the more than 50 years of friendship between them are narrated.” Fernando and Juan shared hobbies, the style for literature and cinema, had been accomplices of “a thousand fun stories” and labored collectively on indelible tasks such because the documentary sequence Hidden pages of historical past.

Ask. Is this your most intimate e-book?

Answer. Definitely. He is essentially the most private and peculiar, as a result of he revolves across the intimate friendship with Fernando Marías and his dying. He was already very damaged within the hospital, pending a liver transplant for autoimmune hepatitis, one thing that had nothing to do with alcohol, as a result of he had not drink 25 years. But he contaminated with a pneumonia that weakened the organism quite a bit and killed him. A couple of days earlier than he died, his brother [el guionista y director de cine] Luis advised me that he had struck a little bit. I made a decision to jot down to him and advised me that he was extra alive. It was when that wrote to me: “Thought returns to blood.”

P. It is a tribute to your greatest buddy.

R. It is an elegy, a dialogue with him. It will not be a diary or an essay to make use of. It is an articulated narrative with a sequence of arguments that give a superb ending, all furred by humor. Humor was a vital foundation of our relationship and our work. The e-book comprises every little thing I couldn’t inform him and I’d have favored to inform him. It can also be a chronicle of our skilled life. At the identical time, it’s a reflection with out pedantry, with out affectation, on the nice themes of life equivalent to love and heartbreak, the commerce of telling tales, the enjoyment of dwelling, concern of sickness, the actual fact of ageing …

Love has extra fame, however friendship, whether it is peaceable and doesn’t undergo setbacks, is life and full

P. Is there area for humor, enjoyable and laughter within the instances?

R. Yes, in fact. Until lately I’ve co -directed the JA Festival! of literature and artwork with humor, which already has 15 editions. Humor is a method of seeing the world, a method of defending in opposition to many aggressions and stumbling. It is a helpful weapon to make satire and relativize issues. Authoritarianism and dictatorships have at all times feared a variety of humor, they concern extra a joke that expands among the many inhabitants than a small assault.

P. However, bookstores at the moment are stuffed with black novel, crimes literature.

R. Yes, what occurs is that humor will not be a literary style in itself. Any style can include humor. Let’s not overlook that The Quijote It is a e-book stuffed with humor. I agree that the black novel abounds, however this can be performed with humor. I personally have cultivated the black novel, however in a considerably spurious method, blended with satire and humor.

P. What function does friendship play within the 344 pages of the e-book?

R. Deep friendship is without doubt one of the most useful parts of life. Love has way more fame, however love typically occurs, fades. On the opposite hand, friendship, whether it is peaceable and doesn’t undergo any setback, is life and fills quite a bit.

P. Has it been a type of private therapeutic?

R. On the one hand, it has been a method of taking a sure distance to jot down rigorously on a really private subject. On the opposite, he has had a therapeutic high quality throughout the calm duel that I’ve maintained these three years after his dying. It has been a farewell, I do not know if calling her definitive.

Authoritarianism and dictatorships have at all times feared a variety of humor

P. 50 years of friendship give quite a bit.

R. We met being youngsters. With 12 or 13 years we had been conscious that we had been buddies. We had a typical cultural formation and commenced to share bills and tastes. We have fairly parallel lives and we have now had a good time collectively. Fernando and I had been superb buddies, we had nice information of one another. There are sufficient issues that absolutely solely he knew about me, and I, that may stay in silence. It can also be a method to preserve my buddy’s reminiscence.

P. Now, with out Fernando Marías, what do Juan Bas have enjoyable?

R. I preserve good buddies and preserve having enjoyable with the identical as at all times. I actually prefer to frequent bars, perhaps an excessive amount of, and I’m enjoyable writing. My leisure feeds him cinema and literature.

P. What tasks do you’ve got?

R. At 65 I’m more and more obscure, however after this novel I wish to write pure fiction with a tone of humor, though I must discover a plot that enters every little thing. And, in fact, I’ll proceed with the JA Festival! and with the weekly columns about tradition that I write in The mail For 25 years.