When we authors publish a book and the editors take us on a tour of Spain like bullfighters, there are places we look forward to with excitement. For me, one of them was Bilbao, because an intelligent, difficult and entertaining interview awaited me there. A mixture of examination and celebration: the examination of an exceptional and detailed reader and the joy of being read by him. When the name Félix Linares appeared on the promotion agenda, I was very happy and felt that I had agreed: if Félix asked me for an interview – I thought – I must not have written such a bad book.
Félix Linares is retiring from television at the age of 75, which is sad news for the Basque Country and the world of culture. He will continue on radio because there is something immortal about radio, but he is breaking away from the chain that has made him famous in his country. His show “La Noche de…” on ETB2 is one of the finest film slots ever produced on Spanish television and a mixture of humour, irony, cinephile erudition and enlightened hooliganism. I don’t know why, out of strange selfishness, the Basques stuck with Félix and kept it an open secret without sharing it with the rest of Spain. I never gave up hope that national television would give him the space he always deserved.
They say that the Chacolí loses its spark as it travels to the plateau, and perhaps Félix feared (unfoundedly) that the same would happen to him. I hope you will do me the honor of appearing again in your literary program on Radio Euskadi, Pompas de papel, one of those miracles that last for years and years. Not just to feed my vanity, but because it means he continues to apostolate with his charisma, and until he shuts up we won’t be totally lost or alone.
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