Pilar Romera: In search of literarily lost time

"The first very clear turning point in my life was when I passed the exams to work at Caixa de Catalunya, right after finishing my degree. Imagine, a three-year contract that would end up being permanent, well-paid, buuut fraternizing with the capitalist enemy. Back then I was very very progressive, you know... So I rejected it for a rather shoddy three-month contract at the university. I remember my father's face when I appealed to the romanticism of contributing with my work to the progress of society through culture, education, equal opportunities, developing free thought against the capitalist state, etcetera. The poor man wanted to die. I haven't regretted that decision for a single second," she explains, smiling, having "a little beer, of course" at the bar.

The writer Pilar Romera has arrived at the Bar in mid-morning, carrying a euphoric joy that is embedded in her DNA, eager for local flavor and for the radio to play "something by Chet Baker, Coltrane or Miles Davis," a very probable soundtrack for the novel she is currently preparing, in which, she warns, "bars and music and musicians appear. And jazz, lots of jazz. And, paraphrasing the great Mayra Gómez Kemp, that's all I can say."

Pilar defines herself as "a small-town girl from Riba-roja d'Ebre who came to Barcelona at 18 and lives in the wonderful neighborhood of Sant Antoni." She came here to study and graduated in Contemporary History "just when the post-Olympics economic crisis began. I lived the eighties studying and the nineties in precariousness. God tightens, but does not choke, and in the end I got a job at the University of Barcelona, which, against all odds, I still keep." Meanwhile, she has published four books, with eighteen years between the second and third.

Starting over from scratch

"The second turning point in my life was when I decided that I would no longer write only for myself and would try to publish. It was very hard for me to make the decision, I didn't see my opportunities clearly, I had an absurd shyness. Until one day, I had an impulse and submitted L'Esperit del vidre to a prize. I won and they published it."

That book enjoyed continuity with a subsequent literary installment, Dins la boira, but then came what the writer considers her third major turning point: "I decided to have my daughter and temporarily leave the world of letters during her childhood. At that moment I didn't think it would last so long or that it would take such a toll. There were thirteen blank years that, added to the three it took me to write Li deien Lola, plus the year the publisher had it fallow, meant that almost twenty years passed outside the circuit. A long time. It meant starting over from scratch."

Li deien Lola was published in 2016 and this has been followed by the successful Els impostors (Columna) in 2019, the most recent title in the writer's work, who is proud of "having been able to write again after so long. I have experienced starting to publish when you are young and attractive, you are a novelty and everything flows. Maturity is arid in many ways and in the literary one too. Likewise, I am very proud to have translated Los impostores into Spanish and to have it published by a publishing house like Destino. It cost me a lot and it was a stubbornness of mine that finally worked. As the English say: a dream come true."

With her fifth title in her quiver, it seems that the search for that literarily lost time is bearing fruit.

A place in the world

Pilar Romera assures that what she likes most about Barcelona is that it is a city of extremes: "I love how radical it is when it needs to be. There has always been a wonderful rauxa that has manifested itself at many moments: from the War of Succession to the Tragic Week. It is a very unprovincial city. And I love that, despite how deeply classist it sometimes is. With a not very aggressive classism, in the Catalan way, and that really annoys me."

--- Are Barcelonans very much our own?

--- Yes, I don't like how difficult it is to mix. For years living in Barcelona I barely had intimate relationships with Barcelonans. All my friends were people from other places, like me. It's a very tough city if you come from outside. Then, when you break the mold, you've won them over forever. But it's hard, it's hard.

Now, the writer asserts that the city is "without a doubt" her place in the world. "It amuses me greatly how city people view life in a village with a romanticism that I assure you would pass if they spent a winter in one. And beware! I adore my village. But I could no longer live there."

--- By the way, would you like to snack on something? We have a menu, tapas, combo plates…

Without losing her smile, accustomed to bar life in what she defines as "neighborhood temples," Pilar Romera quickly responds:

--- Almost always a portion, sometimes a menu. Almost never a combo plate.

And, while she thinks about what she will eat, she orders another beer.