This week we interviewed Manuel Sánchez García. Born in Linares, Jaén, and currently resides in Granada. Law Degree, two of his short stories were selected to be part of the anthologies The Dovey Love with humor is paid. We asked him about his first novel, Plumb (studio), awarded the José María Pereda Short Novel Award 2017 convened by the Government of Cantabria. GINÉS J. VERA
On the cover of the book we see an enigmatic figure in the rain, It is a snapshot of the plot of the novel, at the end of one of the chapters (about halfway through the story). Did you personally choose her for the book?, What does it evoke in you when you see it as an advertisement for your novel before the first glance of readers on the tables of bookstores??
Yeah, It's my choice, which was created by designer Marta Vázquez. The moment in which this character arrives at the station in the middle of a stormy night constitutes a kind of hinge in the narrative., which is thus separated into two clearly defined times. Our intention is that this cover suggests an atmosphere in which readers want to immerse themselves..
The nod to social criticism inherent in a novel as cosmopolitan as this one is inevitable.. I found this dialogue between Commissioner Peirón and Vidal curious in which reference is made to food that no longer comes from close to home., but from afar; that reflection about what will happen when the next orchard is razed, what will they eat then. “We will resist as long as we have the factories, but someday they will go somewhere else. And then, that?” Another wink, this to the disappearance of jobs due to relocation. Do you tell us?
Commissioner Peirón is a regenerationist and a quite particular visionary. Intuit, with very few tools for analysis, what could await us, and it's here. The transfer of economic activity to locations with cheaper labor is not new.. This movement can be reversed over the years when these workers improve their salary and social conditions and become “expensive” workers., but I think any long-term forecast is distorted by more than just labor costs, due to the disappearance of labor itself, due to the advance of automation.
Tell us briefly about the position of the Franco regime towards the Odessa network., since it appears subtly in his novel, We will not reveal anything for the most daring readers..
How he dealt with other issues, the dictatorship practiced blatant cynicism by allowing former German war criminals to walk around, they will be installed, do business or flee through Spain while promising the allies to collaborate in their pursuit. Franco's regime turned, when it was necessary, towards pragmatism and cultivated friendship with the United States, but it did not entail an ideological turn; I knew which side his heart was on.
One of the themes of this novel is to reflect on the limits of cruelty and kindness.. We can see it in another of the phrases that I rescue: “Often the persecuted end up being the persecuted and vice versa.”. The evil is in the persecution – Marco Klein comments to Matthias – and the good is in ending it., not in investing it”. This is widely applicable today., Isn't that so?
While we have this interview, The Israeli army responded to a Palestinian demonstration in Gaza, causing more than sixty deaths from firearms and two thousand injuries.. The news has answered us.
