David Uckles: I appeared to Nadal ten times and threw in the towel, but here I am" | Mail

Lafort, Rossalía, Gaudí and Freddie Mercury visited the "City of Dead Lights".

David Uckles: "I came to Nadal ten times and threw in the towel, but I got it."

Laforet, Rosalía, Gaudí and Freddie Mercury Join "City of Dead Lights"

The coldest night of revelation in the last 40 years was the warmest for David Ucles.At 35 years old and with more than a dozen experiences, the writer from Jaén (Úbeda, 1990) finally had the prize he longed for in the hands of Nadal.Characters and times.

With this, Uclés recounts the key to the magical truth that he played in "The Peninsula of Empty Houses", the only fiction that he sold 300,000 copies.It is on its way for thirty editions with Siruela, a label that it "temporarily" separate to join hands with Destino, Planet Universe.

"The first time I applied for this award was in 2010, and I've done it every year since. Sometimes it's the same story, just with a different name. It's a religion. I was a finalist, but in 2020 I threw in the towel. I tried again this summer because I think such stories exist in this city, and we are here," Ukeles said happily with his unique sense of humour.

"Whoever follows it gets it."Maybe.I don't like the message of Pablo Coelho, but it works for me," admitted Uclas, previously in the hands of Nadal. His eternal beret pulled his big black hair - two sizes too small - and wearing a bright green jacket - two sizes too big - he mixed a hard-working Catalan with his Andalusian accent in his emotional tank.

"This novel is not a continuation of the previous novel, although there are overlaps in tone, title forms and structure are different," he said, explaining his new phantasmagoria, which seamlessly connects time, period and characters.Congratulated himself.

In post-war Barcelona, the young Carmen Laforet accidentally causes a blackout that leaves the city in total darkness. In the middle of the darkness, Uclés brings together characters who would never have met: Ana María Matute in a lively conversation with Antoni Gaudí; Freddie Mercury with a Roberto Bolaño who will anticipate his death; Picasso will make Simone Weil cry; Julio Cortázar will play Carmen Laforet; Miró will paint the pedestrians of Barcelona; García Márquez will fleeon a boat, and George Orwell will protect Montserrat Caballé, Núria Espert and Jordi Savall from the deadly dangers of war. There are also Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Silvia Pérez Cruz, Rosalía in a fleeting appearance, or Queen Elisenda.

"Carmen Laforet was also affected by darkness. I think her life, her biography can be parallel to what happens in the novel. Let's say she is the main character, although it is a choral novel," says the author of a magical story in which a hundred characters march.

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Everyone will use their artistic skills to understand what happened and find a way to bring the lost light back to the Catalan capital of the Andalusian story they love so much.In the chaos, a photographer named Julio Cortázar is able to use his camera to show what has not yet happened.

"The city's intellectuals come back to life in a Kafkaesque way to guess why the power went out and restore it," the author explains, bringing together "all the architectural Barcelonas that ever existed," from the Roman walls to the now-completed Sagrada Familia.

Uclés says he was not motivated by the fact that the story was deleted on April 28, but he knows this accident will interest his prospective students."It was just happening, but it'll be good for me, because now we're all thinking about the night," he quips."They'll ask me all the time..." he laughs.

He admits that he owes the novel to three great Catalan storytellers: Mercè, Rodoreda, Monserrat, Roig and Carmen Laforet, the first winner of Nadal in 1944 and the unexpected protagonist of Uclés' fourth novel.“Without her, this novel would not exist,” admitted the narrator, who wrote it thanks to the support of the Monserrat Roig scholarship.

In addition to the obvious praise for Laforet Uclés, praised Rodoreda, author of 'The Diamond Square', who has already appeared in 'The Peninsula of Empty Houses'.He was the most important writer of the 20th century in the Iberian Peninsula, along with Saramago "an Andalusian writer who confessed his love for 'Spring'. The editor of put it for the first time," he said.

An extraordinary kaleidoscope of different characters and eras, the author presents a successful novel as "a love song in the city of Barcelona"

Ockles says his novel has "many closed endings.""Each reader will choose a parable or an allegory that suits him. Or all at once, which is possible. "The light-dark dichotomy is clear, which can be applied to our troubled times, because you finally observe the power of the word in the book," adds the narrator, convincing that "one word can change the world".

Uckles was the record holder of his victory over Nadal.Locked in the bathroom, sitting with a computer on the toilet lid, he explained to his readers "La Vanguardia" how he lived in the evening of history, which he dreamed of many times.

Before locking him up and not being seen until the decision was announced, he asked him to play "changing times" on the grand piano of the famous Palace Hotel in Barcelona.At the back of the main room, sitting on a bench, I see them: five award winners with their eyes closed and their eyes calm.They hear music and cry.They know that when the music ends, they disappear again: Carmen Laforet, Elena Quiroga, Carmen Martin Gait, Ana Maria Matute and Rosa Regas, "singer, illustrator, actress and sometimes pianist writes.