Rodrigo Hasbún

GRANTA 113: THE BEST OF YOUNG SPANISH-LANGUAGE NOVELISTS

Why is it that when someone asks me what I’ve read recently I can almost never remember? By definition, the books must not be memorable. And yet, they were good. I remember that much. They were well written, well paced, well structured around well-drawn characters. Oh well, no wonder I forgot them all.

‘The Place of Losses’ is a story whose details are difficult to discern much less hold on to – I finished reading it for the second time only five minutes ago, and can’t recall any of the characters names, or even what happened – and whose evoked atmosphere and feelings I can’t imagine forgetting. Good writing is almost always description, but great writing is the thing itself: the kick in the gut, the kiss on the lips, the vomit, the cum. This is the most exhilarating story I’ve read in a long time, and a reminder of what can be gained when some of the expectations of the form are dispensed with. We’ve become so used to the idea that a story should tell a story that we’ve forgotten what a story can actually do, which is not merely to inspire us to remember the writing, but to remember ourselves. This story touched the ends of some of my long-forgotten nerves.

Somewhere in the middle of ‘The Place of Losses’ one of the narrators exclaims: ‘I’m not a good writer.’ This statement could just as well have come from Hasbún’s mouth, because he is not a good writer, thank goodness. He is a great one. – Jonathan Safran Foer, Best Young American Novelist 2007

Each of the Best of Young Spanish-Language Novelists answered a questionnaire on their influences and the role of the writer in public life. Here are Hasbún’s answers:

Name the five writers you most admire at the moment (any period, language or genre).

There are more than five authors whom I admire unconditionally and whose work I read and reread constantly. But I’ll follow the rules of the game and, from that much larger group, choose five almost at random. They are: J.M. Coetzee, Juan Carlos Onetti, Gonçalo M. Tavares, Juan José Saer and Ricardo Piglia.

Have you published literary criticism?

No

Which languages do you read in?

English and Spanish

Do you have your own web page?

No.

Is your fiction your sole source of income? If not, what else do you live off?

I’m studying for a doctorate, and teaching is part of that. This provides me with financial support for five or six years, so during that time I don’t have to worry about finding other sources of income (I neither live off my books nor want to).

Should writers play a role in public life beyond the publication of their work? If so, in what way?

Some time ago my answer to that would have been very blunt. Now that I’m a few years older and more confused, I lack the necessary conviction to claim what ‘the writer’ ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’ do. Personally, I prefer to keep my distance.