Fausto Puerto: "I am not sure that I will write a book again"

ManacorFausto Puerto Quetglas (Manacor, 1975), owner of the Món de Llibres bookstore in Manacor, has just published Abans que vingui la fosca (Angle Editorial, 2026), his first novel. A narrative in three chapters that revolve around the little-known figure of the German philosopher Philipp Mainländer, father of nihilism and defender of the theory of the suicide of God and the consequent helplessness of man in the universe. His life and death move some characters, separated in time, who try to find some answer and meaning before the darkness. This Friday, September 18, at 7:30 p.m. he presents it at the church of the Sant Vicenç cloister.

How does it occur to you to write a book?

— It occurred to me very late, between the ages of 47 and 48. The idea didn't come until about three years ago. It has been a very long process, because I wanted to go slowly without any kind of pressure, without anyone waiting for me, and that is why I have been able to dedicate all the time that I found necessary.

Must a bookseller write a book just to be in contact with so many books? Do you feel that you are, in a certain way, obliged to do so?

— No, not necessarily... nor anyone else. I believe it is a personal process that, above all, for me has been about reading. It is something I am very clear about, even more than writing. Having read a lot for many years, at least for me, has given me literary references, writing models, and many tools that you can later apply to your own writing process.

Does one write as one reads?

— I think that reading many different things holds you back a little when it comes to writing. It has happened to me, reading classics or great authors, it takes away your desire to write a little, because you think: "what am I going to do or why should I write, if in any case I will never be able to do it as well as this?". Therefore, it is better to let the years pass, because good readings condition your writing. Later, on the other hand, when you decide, it is true that they can boost you. Because they make you literarily ambitious; you know that you have a lot of respect for writing and, therefore, also for the reader who will read you; this for me is extremely important.

Is writing having to go through suffering?

— Writing has moments of suffering, it is true. But in my case it has been a lot of fun and I have had a great time… It is true that there have been months when you get a little obsessed, especially when you see that it is progressing, but it is not exactly what you want to write and you review it, correct it and go back… You end up obsessing over a scene or a passage of the book that you want to turn out very well, and here there is indeed a point that is more obsessive. Inevitably, it is like that.

How did you arrive at the figure of Philipp Mainländer?

— It is a series of coincidences that led me there. First of all, I had an idea that for certain reasons resembled a bit the philosophical idea of Philipp Mainländer. Then, one day, reading a book, the author mentioned him and explained a bit of his philosophical idea… and I recognized myself in it. It is an idea that I had already thought of, something that happens to everyone many times. I kept the name, I investigated a little bit, I saw that there was a complete work, published in Spanish, I bought it, I read it, and from there I saw that there was the possibility of a book, even if I wasn't clear about what kind… until one day an idea occurred to me that could be the motivation to write it.

And then?

— From that point on, I structured it. When I was clear about where I wanted to start and where I wanted to reach, I began writing. But I needed to have everything more or less sorted out first. Which does not mean that while you are writing, things do not come up or you cannot incorporate characters you had not thought of; but the underlying idea, I had it. I knew very well where I wanted to reach and what I wanted to say. You see that some character takes on more value, such as, for example, a very beautiful one who appears in the third part and is called Angela: at first, I needed her to exist, but I did not think that in the end she would have the importance that she has. It is a very beautiful thing, because you feel that the character has an entity of its own.

There is a bookseller, an editor, who goes out for a run... What is there of Fausto Puerto in the novel?

— The bookseller, in principle, was meant to be an anecdotal character, but I needed him to provide a different point of view. I introduced him in the first part of the book, but since I don't like leaving things just like that, I found a way to give him continuity in the second part, even in the third, and, of course, when you reach the end, this secondary plot line of the novel is also closed. The narrator has things from me, I cannot deny it, but he also has many that are not like me at all, and I have led him down paths and ideas with which I do not even agree.

What is expected of a first book? A beginning of something more?

— When you write a book, it is expected that there will be more. But for me, personally, it is something I am not clear about. I cannot assure you that there will be more. And, above all, that there will be another one like this. What I was clear about is that I could not write an initiation novel, or one about a young person who is 20 years old and has a career ahead of them. I wanted to bring out a book that was already adult and that was very respectful of the reader and with an ambitious literary level. I have tried to put all of this into the book. I did not want it to be a work from which the reader would think, okay, the next one will be better. I do not think so, I have given it my all. Inside my head I do have another book, but it is something much easier to handle, friendly and with more humor…. it has nothing to do with this one. Like this one, I do not know if I will ever write another.

In which genre do we classify it?

— It is a good question… I think what would now be called a novel of ideas. Because there are many philosophical concepts and ideas. And it is three things at once: a tribute to the forms of philosophy that I most like to read, which is why it is structured in this way. The first part is the biography of an author; the second, a dialogue, and it draws from the classical tradition of dialogues of all time, from Plato to Boethius and up to the present day. And the third part, a diary, a more intimate way of writing, which is not intended to be shown to the reader, but which in this case I decide to incorporate. They are three completely different narrative forms from one another. What worried me was that the three together would not give body to a single novel, but I think they do. They act as a beginning, middle, and end and, at the same time, within each part they also function that way. It is a bit special, the book [smiles].

Could the second part well serve as the body of a film?

— It is a very cinematic part, it is true… Perhaps to bring it to the theater. I do not know, perhaps as a dialogue between two people on a stage it would be a bit harsh…

Will there be translations?

— It does not depend on me. It depends on whether the publisher receives proposals. They will forward them to me and we will decide, if the case arises. We are completely open to everything. Maybe German would be good, given that Mainländer was from there.