In the same way that, one day, humans realized that the Earth was not the center of the universe, the people of Barcelona perceive that, in a global world, they are no longer the great world reference of Latin American literature in the way in which it is they had been or, at least, the place you have to pass through, the undisputed Mecca of literature in Spanish. However, the great weight of the publishing industry, its attractive academic offer, its bookish atmosphere and the remains of a mythology that goes from the boom to Bolaño continue to be strong points of attraction.
Barcelona is, for example, populated with workshops and literary schools. Among them, the master’s degree in Creative Writing from the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), directed by José María Micó and Jorge Carrión; and the Escola d’Escriptura del Ateneu Barcelonès, directed by Pau Pérez and Jordi Muñoz, the second in the world in number of students.
Pilar Reyes, editorial director of the literary and essay area of the Penguin Random House group, believes that “today literature in Spanish has many centers and that is good. The great milestone of the FIL in Guadalajara, Mexico, is a very clear center that opened so many transatlantic contacts but also produced an exchange between Latin America itself. The book fairs in Colombia or Argentina, such as the Hay Festival, have generated international attention and the entire calendar of the year becomes rich in moments of encounter ”. But, along with this, “the largest market is still Spain, the parent publishers continue to have their center here”, with major labels of reference throughout the Hispanic world such as Seix Barral, Anagrama, Planeta, Random House, Salamandra, Acantilado. .. in Barcelona and also in Madrid, with Alfaguara or independents on the rise like Pages de Espuma. But now “there is a huge number of quality small publishers in every country.”
Jorge Carrión, director of the UPF master’s degree, with Ternicier, Flores and Brown
Another change from the past is, according to Reyes, that leading writers no longer tend to focus on a single city. For her, “Spain continues to play an important role, since important prizes are awarded there, and its media have an international visibility much higher than those of Latin America, where they are more local. In that sense, it costs more to go from the north to the south of Latin America than to cross the Atlantic ”. His group advances, with initiatives such as the Map of Languages, “in simultaneous launching of titles in all countries” and in holding “global press conferences”, such as Anagrama.
25% of foreign undergraduate students at the University of Barcelona (UB) come from Latin America, especially Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela. The percentage reaches 72% in postgraduate courses and 51% in the case of doctorates and masters (in the latter cases, with Chile and Colombia in the first places). At UPF, Latin Americans account for 50% of the Master’s degrees in Law and between 5 and 10% in the rest of the subjects.
Statistics
25% of foreign undergraduate students at the UB come from Latin America, but the percentage reaches 72% in postgraduate courses
One morning in February, we met three Chilean writers with published work, Paulina Flores, Constanza Ternicier and Carolina Brown in a UPF master’s degree classroom, on Balmes Street. They are students of the master’s degree, to which they have registered, they say, seduced mainly by the “spectacular list of teachers”, all of them active writers.
“The work of the writer is very lonely – explains Brown -, I felt that I wanted to leave a small market like Chile, and learn in a practical way from great writers.” “The novel that I have finished now – says Flores – has been a very long process, I need to know other experiences, be more practical and it won’t take four more years for the next one.” “I have a stuck novel that I started three years ago – Ternicier reveals – and here very technical, very fine questions are worked on”.
The three attend the face-to-face classes – only two of the 37 students follow them remotely from other countries – and they are waiting for the moment when they all read each other and make “cross criticisms”. Given the great tradition of literary workshops in Chile (in fact, their compatriot José Donoso introduced them in Barcelona), they feel comfortable with the dynamics.
Did the literary mythology of Barcelona play a role in making them come? “The image of this city in Chile is strongly injected by Roberto Bolaño”, admits Ternicier. “I came more for trap and Bad Gyal than for literature,” adds Brown. Does having publishers nearby have a bearing? All three agree, although they regret that the pandemic has cut off the usual circuit of presentations and meetings, and also highlight the bookstores and the library system, “among the best in the world.”
Overview of the Water Deposit-UPF Library of Barcelona.
One of her teachers, the Mexican Juan Pablo Villalobos, is in his office directing the project for a book in Portuguese for another Brazilian student. On the influence of Barcelona, he affirms: “Sometimes two things are mixed. On the one hand, we have that the authors settle in the city for creative reasons, that has to do with a cliché of the writer who moves to certain mythical cities: Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, more recently New York or Berlin, as if you needed a stimulating environment to feed your creative capacity. Along with that, there are paraliterary issues, such as the strong publishing sector, creative writing schools, doctorates or masters, which is why I came. There are two questions: Has Barcelona lost some of its appeal as a stimulating city for creators? And has it lost some of its influence as a publishing and cultural capital, as a place to get your writing career off the ground? I would say that it is a global phenomenon, before all Mexican authors had to go to live in Mexico City, today I see them in Guadalajara, Monterrey, Oaxaca … I believe that, throughout the world, power has been dissolving that the big capitals had. I do not buy the discourse of the decline of Barcelona due to the rise of independence, it is a global change. We writers will go wherever we find a means of subsistence. I am a professor at ESCAC, UPF, UAB, I teach my own literary workshops … This is what sustains my residency here. And that, when I sent my first novel to Jorge Herralde by mail, he called me and said: ‘Come see me.’ It was ten minutes by metro ”.
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