Andrés Trapiello
becomes aware of things by writing. By the letter it is clarified, it is explained, it is found, it is confused. He is the writer of a single book divided into novels, essays, poetry, articles and other texts. That unique book where existence has been pegged is still going on and contains his biography on the go. It is a written life cycle.
It is a
himalaya
of small events, ambitions, joys, spurs
too, observation and a minute of disappointments. It is the
Hall of Lost Steps
, a monumental literary adventure with manners and diary form, but with so many caves and trails, paths and secret entrances that it could be a whole world. These days he publishes the 23rd volume of this expedition,
Quiasi a fantasy
, which corresponds to the diaristic notes that fix the year 2009 in the Trapiello era.
And he does it the same as always, but in a different way.
For the first time since the first volume appeared, in 1990, it will not be under the mantle of the publisher Pre-Textos.
The writer, together with Miriam Moreno (his wife) and their children (Rafael and Guillermo), have launched a publishing house with a different seed: Ediciones del Arrabal.
With a clear purpose and with a specific will: to publish from now on that incessant work of Trapiello Sr.: the newspapers.
Do it alone, almost like in the stern printing presses of that time, in that spirit.
"For many years, the project of the 'Hall of lost steps' has been possible because
I have financed it with a thousand things
. I have done it with my skin in strips, accepting a lot of commissioned texts, giving lectures, writing in a thousand places. Time to do it with fewer tolls around. I am 68 years old, and although I maintain my strength, they are not the same, "he says. To find the necessary peace of his journalistic purpose, Ediciones del Arrabal was born.
In full confinement, the Trapiellos thought about how to give a new impetus to this delayed and resounding work. Make them more from home. "It seemed sensible to us to take care of everything: editing, distribution, logistics", explains Rafael, engineer and photographer. "We thought that the project should be profitable on its own. Of course, the gratitude to Pre-Textos for supporting this work for three decades is immense. The newspapers have very loyal readers and it was worth trying to get my father to dedicate himself to that work. more than other circumstantial matters. "
They have made numbers and they assure that with 5,000 readers they would achieve the purpose. "
I am not anxious to sell 15,000 or 20,000
. If you come, welcome, but the purpose is modest, but firm." The design of the first book of Ediciones del Arrabal preserves the spirit of the already consolidated covers of the 'Hall of Lost Steps' in Pre-Texts. During the first month on sale, this new delivery (and so on successive ones) can only be purchased
online
on the publisher's website (www.edicionesdelarrabal.com). And after those first 30 days, they will be distributed by bookstores. "The distribution will also depend on us," warns Guillermo, architect and contributor to
National Geographic
magazine.
. The purpose is that the newspapers are the axis of the publishing house. A sustainable publisher. Rafael explains: "Spain is a country with a wild book production. That is why we bet on sticking to reality. Edit with respect. Print with respect. Distribute with respect."
Some Spanish writers also set up their own publishing houses -or participate financially in them- to turn their work: Benito Pérez Galdós with La Garlandda and later with the Hernando, Perlado, Páez y Cía. Also Pío Baroja published in the publishing house of his brother-in-law, Caro Raggio. Agustín García Calvo founded Lucerna. Javier Marías began filming Reino de Redonda a little more than 20 years ago (where he does not publish his work, but he does publish translations and a selection of stories). A way of working literature from start to finish with your own materials (and wishes).
Andrés Trapiello's diaries have added a loyal tribe of readers. But they took a long time to take flight. At first, those Xs with which the writer masks as many real 'walkers' as they cross these pages puzzled. A decade after the first volume,
El gato encerrado
'the books began to sound and there were already those who were offended by the possibility of being one of those X. Or who claimed to be one with some pirouette. "The crossing of the desert was long," the author says. "And it counted on the hostility of the editorial elites - five of the most prominent in Spain rejected it -, the elites of booksellers and the elites of literary criticism. It cost a lot to make it understood."
The runs of each delivery usually range between 1,500 and 3,000 copies.
Rafael jokes with the idea of having set up the
anti-company
in the country of the
pitch
.
Also, the readers of the 'Hall of lost steps' will have the 23 volumes available in digital.
Just over 12,000 pages.
And two anthologies of published newspapers.
One in charge of Juan Marqués and another in the care of Nieves García, Manuel Romero and Ana Pérez Cid.
Also an essay by Miriam Moreno -M.
in the
Hall ...
- about someone who knows himself to be real and, at the same time, part of a literature.
- Do you have an end in mind for this project?
- I have it very clear: when I can't take it anymore, when I die.
As long as there is life to live I will continue with the effort.
Now I think that the term granted to me from now on for these newspapers seems little to me.
Trapiello (Andrés) spreads the enthusiasm for the premiere of Ediciones del Arrabal.
This is his fourth expedition as editor after La Ventura, Trieste or La Veleta.
- Will the rest of your work also go to the Arrabal?
- No, for now I will keep the other aspects of my work in other publishers.
Although I could say like Juan Ramón Jiménez, "I gave half of my work for not having written the other half."
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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