Juliana Canet and Marina Porras, the miracle of making high school readings sexy

PalmThis Thursday, July 10th, a good handful of young people were queuing at six in the evening at the Drac Màgic bookstore in Palma. It wasn't to buy the latest new release or to meet a trendy author. It was to listen to a conversation about a classic of Mallorcan literature in Catalan. Béarn or the doll room, by Lorenzo Villalonga. Many, surely, wouldn't have believed it if they'd been told in high school that it would be there, and not at the beach, on a summer day. But that's the effect. Tandem Club. Juliana Canet (Cardedeu, 1999) and Marina Porras (Rubí, 1991) are the hosts of this multi-format 3Cat program about literature that has sought to break the barrier between television and podcasts to also create a reading club from different bookstores throughout Catalonia. After broadcasting the eighth and final episode, focusing on the figure of Villalonga, Canet and Porras closed this first season in Palma, where they announced that they will return to talk about Blai Bonet in the second season of the program, which they are already preparing.

With this last event, the presenters conclude their particular rereading of eight of the most representative authors of Catalan literature: Mercè Rodoreda, Víctor Catalán, Gabriel Ferrater, Montserrat Roig, Josep Maria de Sagarra, Joaquim Ruyra and Llorenç Villalonga. With them, the dozens of people who have accompanied them to each reading club, as well as those who have done so through social media, where the posts garner hundreds of interactions, have also done so. "We don't dare say it's been a success, but because it's a cultural program, it has had a very positive impact," Canet acknowledged in statements to the newspaper ARA, when asked about this phenomenon. As for the keys to making these readings—known above all for being required readings for the Catalan language subject—attractive, both the collaborator of Don't get out of here. Both Porras and I recognize that "the secret is to make something authentic: they are conversations between two friends who already existed in reality and who simply had to be transferred to the screen." And seeing them in action confirms it: they bounce from one reflection to another with the lightness of conversations between equals, where the references range from Charles Baudelaire to the series White Lotus, without losing sight of the thread of the episode, which in the case of the latter was Lost Paradises.

However, it's undeniable that the influence both have on social media has also been crucial. "If you're dedicated to communicating, social media is a filter that's hard to bypass. And you want to share what you've done: that happens to me with Tandem Club because it's my program and it excites me," emphasizes Canet, who has more than 132,000 followers on Instagram. Both recognize the challenge posed by the old formats, but they have a clear difference: "The television model is outdated, much more so than literature, which never expires." X and, above all, Z, which has made the figure of the bookstore owners, a kind ofinfluencer of books.

However, they prefer not to take a position on the debate about whether today's young people read more or less, instead opting to "relativize" and tone down the "alarmism." "If people read, fantastic. If not, they'll be spending their time doing something else they consider more important. Reading for the sake of reading is absurd," comments Canet, while Porras insists that the important thing is that "you have a good time and that you like it." What they do recognize is that in literature, as with clothing, "the internet has greatly helped generate phenomena and trends," as has happened with Sally Rooney. "We're interested in these communities that are created. We want to know what's happening so that everyone is consuming the same thing," they acknowledge.

Rethinking the classics in a 'queer' key, for example

Choosing literary classics is another pillar of the format. "One thing that's clear, from everyone we talk to in the book clubs, is that required reading in school serves to provide people with a common reference point, which is necessary," they point out. "Our vision isn't that we should have read these books at another time and that we enjoy them now because we're the age we are. Maybe you didn't like them in high school because you're not at the age, with the experiences, the circumstances, or the teacher who makes you love them. But you have to read, no matter who." And this is what allows you to enjoy the best part of Tandem Club, which is the second part of each event.

Then, the audience shares their experiences of rereading these common references and, with their contributions, transforms each author's work into an organic, malleable material, capable of taking on new forms. And the case of Llorenç Villalonga was no exception this Thursday at the Drac Màgic event. An attendee, from among the audience, wanted to clarify what Canet and Porras had said about the Mallorcan author and argue that yes, "like Víctor Català, Villalonga could be reread as an icon." queer". "There are many homoerotic elements in his work. In fact, Béarn "It's a novel that Juan sends in the form of a letter to his friend Miguel. You have to really love someone to do that…" the young man said, leading the two hosts to a final conclusion: "Rereading classics is so important for that very reason, because otherwise, we only scratch the surface and miss out on very interesting parts of each work."