When Almudena Grandes sat down to jot down | Culture | EUROtoday

For years a cat referred to as Negrin. Our daughters had discovered him as a new child within the parking a lot of the Rota urbanization the place we spent the summers. They had introduced him to our home, and I gave in to the temptation of placing a plate of milk for him. When Almudena noticed the scene, he started to scold us with the frequent sense that we lacked. The reality is that it was loopy to take accountability for a cat as a result of we lived between two cities and lots of journeys, topic to round-trip customs that made it inadvisable to welcome a pet into the household with dignity. Understanding that Almudena didn’t need us to maintain the cat, our daughters had the concept of ​​baptizing it. Mom, her title is Negrinand every part modified all of a sudden, not with a coup d’état, however with a coup with a reputation, as a result of many issues match into phrases, and in that animal that they’d discovered on the road all of a sudden lived the historical past of Spain, the reminiscence that they had been used to listening to over and over on the kitchen desk, on the couch the place we watched tv or within the automobile that crossed the cities and the reminiscence of the landscapes. Negrín’s title made a brand new exile not possible, the cat stayed with us, he stayed perpetually, past the years and dying, as a result of I nonetheless very steadily keep in mind the picture of Almudena sitting in entrance of the pc, in the midst of the plot of a novel or an article for the newspaper, with Negrin on his legs. The historic reminiscence of that cat named after the protagonist of the Spanish Republic is a part of my most intimate reminiscence. In entrance of a turned off pc or a lonely couch, I reside with my recollections and inform them that no, they won’t go.

Sitting down to jot down is just a part of the writing course of, as a result of phrases maintain many issues that should do with life, recollections, conversations, cities, eyes, ears, lips and sneakers. The path is made by strolling and it’s written with every part that has remained in us with every step inside us. You have to sit down down, after all, and it’s advisable to respect a piece self-discipline with its schedules and days. But it’s important that work really mixes with life and that the job is a vocation. When he wrote his novels, Almudena tried to get into the intimacy of his characters to reside the story inside, to go from dates and nice occasions to the intimacy of a person or lady who fell in love, felt hopes or fears, shared concepts, failures or hopes, of their hearts and of their eyes. The writing ranged from collective occasions to the intimacy of human beings. When he wrote his articles for EL PAÍS, he virtually at all times dominated the other way, ranging from a private episode, a specific scene, an intimate occasion, to transcend and attain conditions that outlined collective life, the air of a society and a time.

Literature and historical past are inseparable as a result of they come up from the life that makes and unmakes human beings. Almudena was skilled at a time when learning or collaborating within the Madrid scene meant affirming freedom from the customs of the Franco dictatorship that had subjected Spain for a few years. And freedom did not simply imply voting each 4 years. It was about affirming a unique, freer means of being a girl, a unique way of life sexuality or writing about it, a want to learn forbidden books, to know the silenced tales, to share ideas or to search for newspapers on the newsstand. The air of freedom that the looks of EL PAÍS caused made potential a brand new means of telling the information, a want come true for journalism to be a decisive a part of democracy, each with regards to reporting and with regards to expressing opinions. Years later, the author who had investigated Lulu’s ages on the paths of a brand new sentimental training or that had inhabited the reminiscence of clandestinity and the combat for democracy in The frozen coronary heartshe felt proud to inherit Manuel Vázquez Montalbán’s column within the newspaper to inform, from her personal eyes, from her privateness, every part that aroused her opinions within the day-to-day lifetime of Spanish actuality. The self-discipline of placing phrases to present occasions and pondering issues twice was a part of his literature and his life.

A wise lady, prepared to suppose twice about what bringing a cat dwelling means, however loyal to her emotions and beliefs, turned a columnist. Writing newspaper articles is a strategy to take on a regular basis life significantly. We go to the market, we take our daughter to highschool, we now have espresso with some pals, we exit to the flicks, we put together a visit, we learn the newspapers and we really feel that it’s value stopping to suppose, interpret issues, give an opinion. Writing resides collectively, discovering that means in the necessity to love or criticize, to recollect or think about, to disclaim or suggest. The relationship between writers and the press may be very previous and really fertile; it has nuanced the that means of literature and the press in every historic context. Almudena’s reminiscence is linked to books resembling Malena is a tango title o Inés and pleasurebut in addition to his weekly contributions to the newspaper. The values ​​I had realized to inherit from the chosen historical past turned an lively a part of our dialog in regards to the current.

It is now 4 years since his dying. I really feel a particular emotion when strangers greet me on the road and inform me that they miss Almudena, his novels and his newspaper articles. A collaboration is a date that’s all of a sudden interrupted. But the poet Luis Rosales wrote that dying doesn’t interrupt something. So I give thanks, I really feel the love alive, I inform myself that reminiscence is a part of life and I keep in mind Almudena sitting in entrance of the pc, with Negrin on his legs.

*This textual content is the prologue written by Luis García Montero completely for ‘Four years with out Almudena Grandes: memorable columns that return from the EL PAÍS archive‘, a number of columns that cowl greater than 20 years of collaboration between the author and the newspaper.