Episode 04 - Tomas Gonzalez: Part 1

The Colombian novelist Tomas Gonzalez has been writing for three decades, but has only been read this year by an English-speaking audience after his debut, In the Beginning Was the Sea, was published by the wonderful Pushkin Press. 
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Terse but lyrical, the novel was inspired by the murder of his brother Juan, who had swapped fast-living in Bogota for a dream of rural self-sufficiency on the Colombian coast. Juan, or J in the novel, was killed by a man he hired to manage the farm he shared with his girlfriend, Elena. The novel was Gonzalez's attempt to understand what happened and ponder its meaning against a larger universe at once beautiful, terrifying and indifferent to the human drama. 

We met in the slightly downbeat bar of Gonzalez's Kings Cross hotel. It was a peculiar venue to  discuss matters at once melancholy and inspirational. We were interrupted, variously, by a loud fan, a woman filling a metal dog bowl full of food, the ensuing dog skittering on its claws towards its lunch, several workmen and a chatty receptionist. Enjoy the atmosphere.

In part one we covered: 

• how to discuss debut novels that are 30 years old
• the true story behind the novel
• dreams of escape and escaping the rat race
• the murder of Gonzalez's brother Juan
• Gonzalez's encounter with his brother's murderer
• revenge, violence and art
• why he wrote the novel
• the challenge of turning real-life tragedy into art
• the lure of escape and escapism
• ideas of success
• how Gonzalez wrote the novel
• Gonzalez the barman and making writing pay
• drinking and literature
• moving to Miami

My review of In the Beginning was the Sea in the Independent is: here.