Xavier Barroso photography: © May Zircus. Courtesy of the Grijalbo Communication Department.
Xavier Barroso, born in Granollers, graduated in Audiovisual Communication and is a screenwriter and writer. His new novel just came out, titled you will never be innocent, after The avenue of illusions. Thank you very much for your time and kindness for this interview where he tells us about her and about much more.
Xavier Barroso—Interview
- ACTUALIDAD LITERATURA: Your new novel is titled you will never be innocent. What do you tell us about it and where did the idea come from?
XAVIER BARROSO: you will never be innocent is a novel of ideals, crimes, passion and revenge which tells the story of two brothers who find themselves submerged in a spiral of violence to defend what they believe in and to survive in a context of class struggle. It is also the story Barcelona divided into two factions that are not heard and they turn their backs and they are on the warpath. Certainly, the years in which the phenomenon of gunmen (1917-1923) were very hard for a worker from Barcelona, but, at the same time, it is an exciting period to immerse oneself in the present.
The idea came up while writing The avenue of illusions. I began to discover and delve into gunmen and began realizing that a novel would be born from this new obsession.
- TO THE: You can go back to that first book you read? And the first story you wrote?
XB: I remember a little children's novel Tuixi, the tuixó that feia theater, which I read several times when I was 8 or 9 years old. I devoured a lot and very soon. Luckily in my house there are quite a few readers and they passed on the hobby to me. And I do remember several novels I read when I was 14 or 15 years old, like The city of prodigies, The House of the Spirits, The pillars of the earth, One Hundred Years of Solitude o 1984.
- AL: A head writer? You can choose more than one and from all eras.
XB: I'm a bit control whenever they ask me these questions for a simple reason: as far as literature is concerned, I find it hard to be faithful. Besides, I read many different literary genres, so the range is very wide. From Edward Mendoza, Almudena Grandes, Gabriel García Márquez, Martha Orriols or Eve Balthazar, up to Oscar Savage, stephen King, donna tart, Isaac Asimov or Ursula K.Leguin. As you can see, it is an eclectic group and it is possible that if you ask me next week, I will tell you others and others.
- AL: What character in a book would you have liked to meet and create?
XB: I would very much like to meet Dorian Gray and create? How difficult! I recently read The hummingbird, of Sandro Veronesi, and I think I would very much like to build a character like the protagonist of that novel.
- AL: Any special habits or habits when it comes to writing or reading?
XB: I think my main hobby is think a lot and know the characters very well before I start writing. I walk around my city, take a shower or cook thinking of them. To read, I confess that I love to do it lying down.
- AL: And your preferred place and time to do it?
XB: My writing routine is very clear: I am from get up early to write and to do it in bars or libraries. At home the walls are falling on me.
- AL: Are there other genres that you like?
XB: Do you mean part of the history? Well yes, I read a lot of novels from that catch-all called contemporary literatureAlso science fiction, Novelty and everything that falls into my hands and seems interesting to me.
- What are you reading now? And writing?
XB: Right now i'm reading Mrs. March, by Virginia Feita, that debut film that is so much talked about. They have given it to me and, from what little I have read, it promises her. About what I am writing… I can only tell you that I have just signed a contract with Grijalbo for me third novel.
- AL: How do you think the publishing scene is and what decided you to try to publish?
XB: I believe that we live in a placid and rich age of literature because a lot is written and published (although perhaps more should be read) and, at the same time, I think that it is a dangerous trend because so much quantity is not synonymous with quality. Perhaps publishers should edit less and take more care of each book and, at the same time, it seems wonderful to me that they can publish many more people than before. I know that everything I have said on the subject is contradictory, in general I am in many aspects, so I end by stating that the ideal would be to reach a middle ground.
- 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 stories?
XB: These are difficult times, and I'm not saying this just because of the pandemic or the war in Ukraine, I think the society is immersed in a deep philosophical and values crisis. Even if we lived in more stable times, there would still be a lot to do to make the world a fairer and more equitable place and, for this reason, I choose to stay with what is to come, because I think that human beings are capable of finding the positive side of things. For that, in part, we writers are here, to force reality and fictionalize possible worlds that help readers evolve and think.