On the crest of a wave

In the cross-blame of what was objected (on the one hand, because he was eliminated in the last hour of the cycle on the civil war hosted by Arturo Pérez-Revert, and on the other hand, because he was – no doubt certain to win it – presented at the Nadal prize, in addition to a story that some have made quite idiotically), David Ucles He never stopped making all his heartfelt declarations, always with the kind and peaceful nature that seems to characterize him.

As is usual with writers who achieve more or less sensational results with some of their books, Uclés says he doesn’t understand the criticism a menudo muy groseras y ad hominem who dedicated them to you, as well as criticism in general, it is worth saying about literary criticism, represented mainly by reviews that appear in supplements and magazines, such as the present one.

Given the mantra unhesitatingly repeated by those who have achieved great commercial success, Uclés invokes “readers” as the only example of validation of his books and his literature. Again, it’s rude if he doesn’t pollute and do bad things. What else should you expect when you have someone on the crest of a wave?

Among the unanimous applause I received in the novel A peninsula of empty houses (Siruela, 2024), the objections and reservations he raised City of dead lightsNadal’s novel, can no less be interpreted as Uclés as a predictable consequence of the unexpected luck that struck with the first. Snobbery and resentment cause the triumphs usually attributed to bold critics and commentators to be disabled by a desire for these objections and reservations.

And yet the expectations of readers who enjoyed it Peninsula…The sum total of all those who win the Nadal award still represents a prestigious claim that assures in advance that, for better or worse, City… will repeat, if less, the result of the previous one.

David Uclés invokes “readers” as the only requirement for the validation of his books and his literature. Again, it’s rude if he doesn’t pollute and do bad things

You respond to bad critics in your comments, Uclés says that in addition to the fact that few people celebrated him in the past, today they dedicate unfavorable juicios to him. In saying this, you must make clear your belief that these judgments do not so much determine them in a new story as a change of criterion or reason. The fact that he was well in the budding writer, who was surprised to find him here, was marked as the last great phenomenon of Spanish fiction.

Uclés is not the first to feign this extrañez. It can be shown to the most well-known or least well-known writers who immediately shout out – let’s call it that – and who from now on attract special attention. Why are they treating me like this?, they wonder, enduring when there is silence between the winners and the applause. But The answer follows that one thing attracts another and that only those silhouettes can motivate envywhen people’s elitism does not like to be confused with abundance.

And I’m not saying it can’t be. But it does It is also likely that the result will be expressed in needsupervision over what you write. This result can lead to an irresistible desire to repeat it, to flatter the same readers who appreciated it, and to repeat patterns or exaggerate them painfullyin his strong determination not to cheat and to do what he presumes to hope for.

On the other hand, not only critics but also some readers may feel that of course it changes the result entirely, and that the good writer’s duty is not to avoid it, but to resist its more corrosive effects, among which it is important—and not a trivial matter—to indulge and play down.