Carlos Bassas del Rey: «I am quite a librophage»

Carlos Bassas of the King is finalizing the departure of his new novel in January 2021, Leaden skies. Today I publish this interview that he granted me a few days ago. He tells us a little about his trajectory, his fascination with Japanese culture or new projects. You I really appreciate your time and kindness.

CARLOS BASSAS DEL REY— Interview

• ACTUALIDAD LITERATURA: Do you remember the first book you read? And the first story you wrote?

CARLOS BASSAS DEL REY: I have been asked the same question several times. Every time I look back, I dive into the memory trying to remember it, I am not able to find it clearly, although one of the most remote memories I have in a matter of literature is an illustrated version of Michael Strogoff, Verne. It was from Bruguera, if I remember correctly. The cover reflected the moment when they were going to blind him with a red-hot saber.

I also remember The Neverending Story and momoby Ende. As for the first story, the truth is that no. But whatever it was, it was burned, that's for sure.

• AL: What was that book that impacted you and why?

CB: I would say that the first ones that impacted me (in an already conscious way) were those of Stevenson: The black arrow, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde and especially The island of the treasure. As well Dumas y Dickens.

With them I discovered that with simple words you could build a universe; also that I could immerse myself in it, evade it, and that what I was holding in my hands seemed to me as real or more than life itself, than History. After them, many others came. Even my two biggest literary slaps as a teenager: The Tree of Life, from Baroja, and Pascual Duarte's familyby Cela.

• AL: Who's your favorite writer? You can choose more than one and from all eras.

CB: I don't have one or one, but many and many, of many eras and of many genres. Also, if I made you a list with my top ten, I would change it when finished. I find it easier with movies, I don't know why. There I do have a top ten much clearer titles and a much clearer cast of directors. But, to say one that never disappoints, I will say that Steinbeck.

• AL: What character in a book would you have liked to meet and create?

CB: I have met many, some even intimately. When a character is good, it's like you know him personally, he stays with you forever. As for creating ... Once again, it's hard to stick with just one, but I'll tell you Alonso quijano. For a lot reasons: because they are universal as Ulises (another of my favorites) and by my half from La Mancha.

• AL: Any mania when it comes to writing or reading?

CB: None. Although, now that I think about it, there is something I do need, especially when I write (more than when I read): silence.

• AL: And your preferred place and time to do it?

CB: I write in it office for a long time, since before I started publishing, in fact. I don't have a favorite or magical moment of the day; I write many hours in a row, in the morning, in the afternoon, at night sometimes ... You could say that I write during office hours.

• AL: Where does this love for Japanese culture come from?

CB: Since I was little. From the first classes of martial arts with my father and brother and a series of movies from samurai that fascinated me. Then, over time, things got serious and the hobby became devotion, first, and in obsession later. Everything that had to do with Japanese culture: history, literature, cinema, gastronomy, painting, calligraphy, armory, clothing ...

• AL: More favorite genres?

CB: All genres if the novel is good. And, in addition to fiction, divulgation scientific. I love it, and then it ends up appearing in my novels. Also History. Of all times. Actually, I am quite a book eater. You never know where you will find the anecdote, the phrase, the little story, the character, the event that will captivate you and will end up being part of your own literature, of your life. And of course the Novelty.

• AL: What are you reading now? And writing?

CB: I'm in promotion phaseof my new novel, which will appear in January 2021so I've taken some time to relax. But it has been of no use, because I have already started writing another story. As for readings: the latest from alexis ravel, Monica Ojeda y Sarah Table and a little gem: A terrible greenery, from Benjamin Labutut (yes, all at once).

• AL: How do you think the publishing scene is for as many authors as there are or want to publish?

CB: Well, we are like travelers in a Tokyo wagon on a weekday: tight. I am going to say something that perhaps generates some enmity or another: they are published muchos (very many, on the order of eighty-odd thousand) new books per year in Spain. Too many.

And although I am aware that many of them have a lot of work behind them, half leave a lot to be desired (I am also aware that someone can place mine in this section) and many others are clones, traces.

They are what I usually call 1) MacLiterature (novels that taste exactly the same between them anywhere on the planet); or 2) Written Movies (All those novels written to be consumed as if they were a movie; they use the same resources, follow the same narrative and dramatic structures - the paradigm, the structure in acts, even the turning points typical of the most common North American cinema - and use a language very comfortable and easy to follow).

And I'm not saying that adventure novels, crime novels and thrillers should not be published whose sole intention is pure entertainment (I consume them myself, and when they are well written they are a joy), but that some publishers should take more care of the level of literary quality of some of those works.

• AL: Is the moment of crisis that we are experiencing being difficult for you or will you be able to keep something positive for future novels?

CB: In my case, the bug has not changed my habits so much -I'm still locked up en casa writing, reading, correcting-, only as far as physical presentations and visits to festivals are concerned. In that aspect, not being able to have a few beers (and all that that entails, exchanging so many things) with some colleagues weighs. But it is what it touches.

As for sticking with something positive ... Look, I just started a new novel and the first thing I have decided is that I will acclimate it at any time before the pandemic. Neither background news about the virus, nor characters with masks, nor alarm in the country. I think we're all pretty fed up by now.