Without money there is no poetry

The writer Sara Mesa in Barcelona.MASSIMILIANO MINOCRI / EL PAÍS

No matter how great the work of an artist, a writer, or a musician may be, his mouth will always be bigger that asks for food and the howl of his body that asks for a house will always be more intense.

The American critic William Deresiewicz has just published a brilliant essay entitled

where a reflection is collected, full of concrete cases, of the complex relationship of the contemporary creator with money. What makes the book an exciting read is that the author counts the money American artists earn, and the expenses they have. Sometimes the book seems like a guide to cheap, cheap apartments in New York, San Francisco, or Chicago. $ 40,000 to $ 50,000 a year is what Deresiewicz considers acceptable professionalization. Reading this book I have thought about its possible extrapolation to the Spanish environment. Deresiewicz holds the theory that only creators who come from wealthy families can engage in literature, music or art from the very beginning of their youth. Others have to make a living as best they can, that's the same in Spain.95% of the writers of my generation come from the Spanish middle classes, or the lower middle classes.

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The other day I was on a train with the writer Sara Mesa. We started talking about our humble origins and how that had made it difficult for us to become professional writers. It is not a complaint. It is analysis. No complaint. It's just awareness of who you are. Neither Sara nor I had parents who sent us to a bilingual school from the age of three and long teenage summers to England to perfect our English. Not speaking English well is also a statement of social class. One more catastrophe. A 40-year-old Spanish writer who cannot make a living from literature ends up thinking that this is so because he has no talent. No, that is so because you live in a country with a mediocre economy. Deresiewicz does not know that there are countries where the professionalization of creators is infinitely worse than in the United States. I will tell you a country: Spain.Countries with centuries-old democracies and the capacity to produce economic wealth invest their surpluses in culture. And that is the most uncomfortable paradox of money, because when there is money to spare, you can buy a book, you can go to the opera or the theater. If there is no money, there is no poetry.

"Deresiewicz warns that the enthusiasm that nests in artistic vocations can become a strategy not to pay"

In Spain it is difficult for us to talk about money, it is frowned upon. And in the field of culture, talking about money is even worse. Deresiewicz already warns that the enthusiasm and enthusiasm and total availability that nest in artistic vocations can become a strategy to not pay, accept free work or humiliating remuneration. Beware of the romantic vision of artistic creation, which leads to misery. Creators are freelancers who never rest. I don't know of any professional writer who takes a day off. It is true that in the artistic professions there is a very stimulating confusion between life and work, but we all know what work is. Because the work of a creator consists of the same as in any other profession, that is, in an intense exercise of will,of sacrifice and time of your life, where you do not walk, do not sunbathe, do not ride a bike, do not drink a beer on a terrace, you are not with your family, with your friends, or with your children. You can't even get sick.