"I have dedicated myself to explaining History to high school students and making it digestible for them. As I lived abroad for a while and learned languages, I also teach English and German. For me, studying the language and knowing its history is the best way to understand our neighbor. And then there's my passion for History, which has led me to collaborate with cultural entities to disseminate it through talks and colloquiums". Over an uncharacteristically nocturnal bloody mary, for someone who ---by his own admission--- has transmuted from an owl to a swallow, writer and professor Joaquim Molina summarizes the common thread of a life based on seeing, traveling, dialoguing, learning, rectifying, and, above all, sharing all of it with others.
In addition to being a History professor, the parishioner teaches summer courses for teachers at the Col·legi de Llicenciats de Catalunya and maintains tireless activity as a lecturer in several libraries. There, he talks about books and historical episodes that he experiences with a passion that, one day, he realized he had the desire and talent to put into print.
"For a long time, I read a lot and never felt the need to write," he continues. Until a moment came "when I thought I had something to share that could spark interest. Then I started writing."
--- Was it something like a revelation?
--- No, there was no epiphany. I suppose it was a process--- he replies with a half-smile.
That's how La rosa entre els llops came out, his debut, which won the Néstor Luján historical novel prize. "I thought it was beginner's luck, but then there has been continuity with other books," he argues regarding his subsequent titles, Els ulls d'Al·là, Tast d'estrelles, and the young adult novel El projecte.
The past as a mirror of the present
"I believe that writing has made me more honest with myself by forcing me to find my own, sincere, and authentic literary voice. When you manage to reflect it in the text, then you reach the reader. Because you can't pull the wool over the reader's eyes," explains Joaquim, for whom narrative is an infinite journey. "I strive to keep searching for that voice. This is an endless journey, but it is exciting."
And the new stage of this journey is his new novel, Angelicus (Harper Collins), a medieval thriller inspired by a specific episode: that of the rejection of the marriage of the infante Jaime de Aragón with the Castilian princess Leonor. As it was a marriage that had been arranged years before, this rejection by the infante caused a diplomatic crisis between Castile and Aragon.
The action takes place in the context of a 14th century marked by a secular crisis that marks the transition from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age. A transition towards an increasingly secular notion of life, far from rigid medieval religious precepts, which affects the way of understanding love, the role of women, or sexuality. "In the book, I wanted to combine intrigue and a series of issues linked to gender relations and sexuality, themes that will appeal to the 21st-century reader, even though the story takes place in 1319."
The patron sips his bloody mary, after which he concludes: "My students always ask me what history is for. And I tell them it serves to understand the present."
Where History surprises at every corner
The writer's relationship with Barcelona is "very intimate and happy, as it is part of my sentimental education." He is especially enamored with its character as a port city and military center, with a rogue spirit and intense nightlife.
"From the 17th century onwards, brothels began to be marked with somewhat grotesque faces sculpted in stone on the facades, called carasses. They are still there and, although they don't advertise anything now, they tell us that the past coexists with the present. They can be seen in some alleyways between El Born and Pla de Palau. That timeless spirit in which History surprises us at every corner is what fascinates me most about Barcelona," explains Joaquim Molina, for whom, obviously, not everything here is shining gold.
"I am not naive and I know that, as in any big city, there are pockets of exploitation, violence, and misery. I believe that the authorities should take more effective measures and not hide behind the excuse of legality," he argues, taking the last sip of his drink.
--- What should be mandatory is that this conversation not end. Do you wish to drink anything else? The house invites.
Joaquim Molina smiles. The notes of Moonlight in Vermont by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong accompany the nocturnal atmosphere of the Bar.
--- Well, another bloody mary and, if possible, with some potato chips, which would go great with it.
--- Coming right up!