Twenty years after the death of Roberto Bolaño, his wife, Carolina López, continues to live in Blanes, watching over their children and her husband’s work. Despite the fact that she prefers to stay out of the public eye and safeguard her anonymous life, the widow of the author of The Savage Detectives has wanted to grant La Vanguardia an interview in which she remembers the writer.
What was Roberto Bolaño like?
Friendly, affectionate and with a great sense of humor. Tenacious and very constant.
How did they meet?
It was in 1981 in Girona. He was walking with friends and he approached me to invite me to dinner. I was surprised at how direct he was and also found him a very attractive man.
Is there any anecdote that you remember with special fondness?
All those that caused us fits of laughter. The trips, the nights watching movies, the games with the children… I would highlight the trip to San Sebastián to collect the 1997 Kutxa award. At that time we had very little money and we found a beautiful hotel with views of La Concha that we thought a marvel.
Was the writer Bolaño very far from his father and husband?
Although surprising there was no difference. He was a playful and very loving father. As a writer he had a rigorous routine.
How present is it still in their lives?
The management of his work makes Roberto the writer very present in our lives. But his absence as his father makes him even more present.
Would you say that your work is more current than ever?
His work continues to sell, there are several audiovisual proposals and it continues to be translated into many languages.
What is your favorite work and why?
Distant Star seems perfect to me in every way
Where did you keep all your archival material before you passed away and where is it now?
I had a lot of material in boxes in the attic of our house that corresponds to the stages in Mexico, Barcelona and Girona. In his study, in stacks of folders, he kept the latest. Currently, everything is scanned and can be consulted on a computer.
How many unpublished remain to be published?
His life diaries, stories and narrations from the time of Barcelona and a lot of poetry.
Is everything unpublished publishable?
I think not, but it is a decision that I have never made unilaterally. There are always more figures involved: the literary agency has specialists and of course the publisher.
Do you think you were able to destroy material before you died?
I don’t think his thoughts went that far. But when he moved to another studio, months before he died, he cleaned up and threw out a lot of things.
Do you think that in the future the file could be in the public domain? What would it depend on?
Yes, of course it will be in the public domain. This was a decision that was always clear to me that my children had to make and not me, it was necessary to let them grow. They are clear. But before transferring the file it is essential to have it in digital format and also to have all the texts transcribed. We are currently transcribing all material from the archive.
Did Bolaño rule on the matter in his last wills?
I never accepted that his death could be close and I shunned that type of conversation, but what he repeated insistently despite my refusal to speak was “don’t forget that everything I own belongs to the children and yours.”
Who helps you sort the manuscripts?
It has not always been the same person, in some cases the professional has been provided by the agency and in recent cases by the publisher.
On more than one occasion they have compared her to María Kodama…
It is done in a pejorative tone, in my opinion, with a macho attitude and basically by people who did not admit that they could not exercise control over the work. For my part, I consider it an honor that I can be compared to María Kodama, not only because she is the widow of whom she was, but also because of how she carried out the work of promoting and caring for Borges’s work.
One of the writer’s concerns was the future of his family.
The fact that he was very careful in his last years, basically with 2666, does have to do with guaranteeing the future of his children. He came to explain to me how and at what price I should sell the novel.
Was it your main obsession?
On a material level, it was a great concern, he left behind a 13-year-old son and a 2-year-old daughter.
When did you lose your trust in Herralde and why?
When I found out that he signed a contract with my previous agency, for which they both charged commissions for the translation contracts, in such a way that if the usual thing is to pay 20% of the value of the contract, we would pay 40% and in some cases 50%. For the same contract and without paying any amount, it renewed for ten years the validity of all contracts in the Spanish language.
Ironically, the way he treated the family and as he says, he was a great friend of Roberto’s. For that same reason I changed literary agency. I have a copy of that contract with their respective signatures. My current agent Andrew Wylie has agreed to stop taking commission from him until the whole thing is resolved. To hide such an unfair and unethical attitude, Herralde and his friends brought gossip and lies to the fore that, finally, justice has agreed with me and there is already a final sentence.
There was an exhibition at the CCCB for the tenth anniversary of his death. Do you expect any upcoming activity?
That sample implied a previous work of many people during two years. For now, we do not have any project of this magnitude in sight.
