Poet, translator and reviewer in the pages of this supplement, Ángel Rupérez (Burgos, 1953) returns to the novel for the third time with Essential Chance (Cántico), a story about coincidences and destiny starring a Spanish film critic in Woody Allen’s New York.
In Essential Chance returns for the third time to the novel, what distance separates poetry from narrative? Poetry is more explosive, random, discontinuous and tends towards brevity (although not always). The novel has its emblem in its length, and its last in its plot. And it requires a lot of discipline and severe schedules (at least in my case). That said, at their core, both explore what is essential: the human experience in all its astonishing and enigmatic complexity.
The novel is about another form of art: cinema. What can a movie tell us that we can’t learn from a book? The visual fascination of cinema is what characterizes itself as an art and that is the ingredient that drives its stories, with a veracity and dynamism that literature cannot reach. But it has other mechanisms inaccessible to cinema, such as access to consciousness, crucial in the representation of the human experience.
What book made you a reader? Along Swann’s pathby Marcel Proust.
And as a writer? The entire poetry of Juan Ramón Jiménez, which I soaked up as a teenager (18) to do a work on it, and which I wanted to imitate.
Which poet would you have liked to meet? To Juan Ramón Jiménez, to Antonio Machado…and to John Keats.
What was the last book you liked? The life of reasonby George Santayana.
What book have you not been able to finish? I don’t remember or yes, but it’s uncomfortable to say…
What collection of poems have you recommended the most times? Spellsby Claudio Rodríguez.
Do you remember the best review you ever received? Yes, one by Pedro José de la Peña, in La Esfera, from El Mundo, 1994, about my book of poems What my eyes have seen.
The most extravagant? None of them seemed that way to me.
And what were the best and the most outlandish of the criticisms you have made? The best: The essential sparkabout Joan Brossa, Civil poems. Translation by José Batlló. Viewfinder. Madrid. 1990 (El País, Books19/VIII/1990); Poetry without timeabout Claudio Rodríguez, almost a legendTusquets, Barcelona, 1991 (El País, Libros…); total loveabout Saint John of the Cross. Poems. Edition by Paola Elia. Castalia. Madrid. 1991. 155 pages (El País, Books3/24/91). The essential painting, about Georg Trakl, Complete works. Translation by JLReina Palazón. Trotta. Madrid. 1994. 406 pages (El País, Babelia6/11/94); The endless workabout Stéphane Mallarmé. Igitur and other poems. Various translators. Edition by Ricardo Cano Gaviria. Igitur Publishing. Tarragona. 1998. 213 pages. (The Country, Babelia31/X/98); The land of the heartabout Paul Celan. Complete works. Translation by José Luis Reina Palazón. Prologue by Carlos Ortega. Trotta. Madrid. 1999. 253 pages (El País, Babelia, 24/XII/1999)
I don’t remember any particularly extravagant criticism, but I do remember some that were rather uncomfortable, given the circumstances.
What movie have you seen the most times? Blade Runner, by Ridley Scott.
One that reminds you of your childhood? How green was my valley, by John Ford.
The last series you watched in one sitting? I don’t watch series and I loved series back in the day. The truth is that I don’t know why I don’t watch series now, and I have asked myself more than once.
If you had to use a song as a self-portrait, what would it be? That’s Life, by Frank Sinatra.
A song that plays on loop in your head? The place of my recreation, by Antonio Vega.
In which museum would you stay to live? In the Prado.
What historical event do you admire the most? The way Gandhi promoted the independence of India.
What assignment would you never accept? Writing about someone I don’t admire for any reason.
What is socially overrated? The success.
Who would you give the Cervantes prize to? To Claudio Rodríguez and Javier Marías (in memoriam both), even if it is impossible.
If he were not a writer, he would have liked to be… Musician or filmmaker or painter.
For more updates, visit our homepage: NewsTimesWire
