Describe yourself in a sentence
A curious man that agrees with the phrase ‘Nothing of the human kind is far from me’.
What's the one record you'd take to a desert island?
Symphony of the New World by Dvorak.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
First a chess player, then a tennis player, finally a writer. I am still trying…
Who's your oldest friend?
The Argentinian writer Pablo De Santis (I met him for the first time in 1992). In the literary world this is indeed a Guiness record.
If I ruled the world …
Children wouldn’t die by hunger, that’s for sure.
Which book do you wish you'd written?
Ficciones by Borges or The Lesson of the Master, The Beast in the Jungle or The Aspern Papers by Henry James.
What makes you angry?
In a broad sense the persistency of capitalism ways of life, the perpetual machinery of making poor people. In the every day life, burocracy, Argentinian drivers, some literary critics,
Name your five dream dinner party guests
The usual group of four friends that I have for dinner, with ocassional guests: magician René Lavand, or singer Caetano Veloso or writer Philip Roth or… Jennifer Connelly.
Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with?
With anyone that ate garlic at lunch
What inspired you to start writing?
My father, himself a very prolific author that never worried to publish his work.
Where would you most like to live?
Buenos Aires with half of the people would be fine. I liked also Londres very much.
Sum up your latest book in no more than 12 words