"I am a published writer, with a confusing past that I don't know whether to reclaim or not, who has managed to convert some parts of that past into almost definitive versions of how it should have been. To all intents and purposes, I have a lot of mythomania and only my memory separates me from mythomania, which prevents me from confusing what is desired, what is invented, and what is lived... Come on, I'm something like a novelist." Juan Carlos Castillón squints his eyes behind his glasses, as he downs a Bourbon at the bar late in the afternoon, after asking for some enveloping jazz to play in the background.
"2019 and the following years were tough for me, as I suppose, rather I know, they were for everyone. Now, after too long without writing or publishing, I am regaining the desire to do the former, to sit down calmly to work on a manuscript, without haste, on a topic that interests me: the next armed conflict within the United States," explains the writer to the rhythm of Jack McDuff's Live at Parnell's.
--- Next armed conflict? Are you so sure there will be a war in the United States?
--- I have already gathered extensive documentation about how fiction authors see that possible conflict, but also statistics, sociological analyses, and figures on gun consumption in a country that I lived as my own and that go beyond fiction.
Indeed, Juan Carlos Castillón lived for several years in Miami, from where he gained a deep knowledge of American culture, history, and idiosyncrasies, which he would capture in his essay Extremo occidente, which he confesses is the work he most enjoyed writing, and the highly acclaimed novel Nieve sobre Miami, a brutal fresco on drug trafficking in the capital of Florida.
Now he returns to the subject. "Is it possible to sit down and write without haste about something that can explode at any moment?" he asks, looking at his drink.
--- Is it?
--- In this case, yes. If a new civil war breaks out in the United States, a possibility that many believe in, we will only realize that it broke out a posteriori, and we will locate the first symptoms, the first deaths, at some point that even today may already be part of our immediate past.
Writing is not always a solo endeavor
As a teenager, Juan Carlos Castillón fell in love with a set of political ideas "and I let them lead my life. I was on the verge of doing foolish things, but in the end the only people truly harmed by them were my family and myself. My family forgave me everything. I still have regrets." Later he understood that he liked to write "and that is something I have not stopped doing. I suppose it is normal, having been born in a house full of books." An activity to which he has added a conspicuous production as a translator from French and English and editor of texts.
Juan Carlos understood that he liked to write "and that is something I have not stopped doing. I suppose it is normal, having been born in a house full of books"Novels like the resounding The Death of the Hero and Other Fascist DreamsandThe Offensivereflect in a raw and honest way that personal drift, although his greatest success would come with Amos del mundo, a brilliant story of conspiracies, which has translations in Turkey, Russia, Poland, Romania, and Portugal.
"I like, and I know there's a lot of vanity in it, my essay books, where I let demonstrated or demonstrable reality guide the thread of the narrative and where, when objective data contradicts my previous ideas, I stick with the data," explains the parishioner before clarifying that there aren't many things he's proud of either. "Possibly, I am proud of the fact that I am able to work with my editors, proofreaders, and translators. Having edited, translated, and proofread other people's works, I am aware of the need for these filters between an author who is sometimes overwhelmed and a public that doesn't have to understand everything the author wants to say."
Dreamed City
As a child, the writer Juan Carlos Castillón accompanied his father when he showed the city to his French friends. "I saw his civic pride, I enjoyed his jokes and his humor. The Barcelona he showed is still there, just as it is, some houses older and others cleaner and renovated, and yet it is completely different from my memory," he explains before confessing that the relationship that binds him to the city is "one of curiosity and surprise."
A surprise that persists despite the time elapsed since he set foot in his city again, after twenty-one years living abroad. "In my memory, Paseo de Gràcia had become longer and more majestic than the Champs-Élysées. The curious thing is that I still dream of Barcelona and that the Barcelona of my dreams is not the real one I get to see every day, but the one of my absence: I dream of the Barcelona reinvented by me when I lived in Miami."
"In my memory, Paseo de Gràcia had become longer and more majestic than the Champs-Élysées. The curious thing is that I still dream of Barcelona and that the Barcelona of my dreams is not the real one"Now he is the one who acts as a Cicerone through these streets for his American friends. "And I am amazed thinking that at some point I was able to live in a city that did not have a medieval quarter, a Gothic cathedral, Roman ruins, and a barat practically every corner," he takes a breath in the form of a long drink, and adds: "That last part surprises almost as much as the Columns of the Temple of Augustus or the Cathedral to some of my friends from outside."
--- What is equally surprising is our incredible gastronomic offer. We have everything, sandwiches, tapas, pinchos, à la carte, menu… all delicious!
Without losing his serious demeanor, Juan Carlos Castillón doesn't need to think much.
--- Menu ---he declares--- and let it be with its dessert and coffee.
--- Let no misery be breathed!