Episode 05 - Tomas Gonzalez: Part 2

In part two of my conversation with Tomas Gonzalez in an echoey London hotel, we continued to discuss his dark, autobiographical debut novel In the Beginning was the Sea. ----more----

We began with the influence of Carson McCullers, William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marques, then moved onto:

• the beauty and horror of nature
• man's environmental transgressions
• Gonzalez on how we are turning the planet into a garbage dump
• the sea as a symbol in Colombia
• humankind's hubris
• the place of religion and mysticism in his work
• his anger with his brother
• how writing can help understand death and pain
• the importance of the quiet life for Gonzalez
• 'Human beings are too successful for their own good'
• writing about Colombia from abroad
• Gonzalez's pessimism for the future
• Gonzalez on Marquez and magical realism in Colombian fiction 
• 'It's all so fucking difficult and so fucking beautiful'
• horror and beauty in Gonzalez work
• on J' wife Elena as character and reality
• the future: past novels and future short stories