Carles Morell: "Education should prevent dismemberment"

BarcelonaAlthough he is just over 30 years old, Carlos Morell (Artés, 1992) has already published half a dozen books. He debuted more than a decade ago with The vapors that kill (Galerada, 2014), which received the Amadeu Oller award, and since then has combined poetry with titles such as Availability (Payés, 2018); the diaries, with Notes for a solo by Scriabin (A Contravent, 2017), and the edition of correspondence such as that of Joan Vinyoli and Eudald Puig (CCG, 2018). Pulse variations (Quaderns Crema, 2025) breaks a seven-year editorial silence, but contains notes written almost a decade ago in which the author reflects on friendship, love, the birth of a literary vocation, and current education.

The first author to appear in your new book It's Josep Pla. "Literary drama is always the same: it's much harder to describe than to give an opinion," says Pla in relation to the Diary by the writer and lawyer Francesc Rierola, written at the end of the 19th century.

— Making a diary in Catalan is, in a way, a tribute to Josep PlaIt was he who paved the way for that literature that spoke of observation. I bring him up at the beginning of the book and in many other places. In fact, Pla accompanies me until the very end. A friend told me not to talk so much about Pla, because they'd say I wanted to be like him, but I didn't listen: I don't know any Frenchman who has any reservations about talking about Baudelaire or any other indisputable classic.

From time to time you poke at his crest, like when in Scattered notes devotes some considerations to the family and the couple...

— These pages in which Pla talks about physical love are ridiculous. This is my personal opinion. I have spoken with Pedro Rovira, with whom we share a good friendship, because he shares his conception. Love between a man and a woman must be physical to exist, writes Rovira, the author of Vermeer's Window [Proa, 2016] and Music and pulse [Proa, 2019].

Pulse variations It is a diary where several dietitians appear with whom you have or have had a relationship: Pere Rovira is there, but also Enric Soria and in Feliu Formosa, among others. And there is the poet Lluís Solà.

— I have had or have had friendship with all of them. After Pulse variations I've been writing a book of portraits of living poets. We always complain that we're not given much attention. In this book, I dedicate extensive portraits to authors like Lluís Solà, Ramón Andrés, Pere Rovira... Other poets I've met recently are Narcís Comadira, Miquel Desclot and Carles Camps Mundó.

Most of the literary friends you mention in the diary are over 60. "There's the fear of being left alone, facing total incomprehension, little by little, any unexpected day," you write.

— It's a blessing to have friends between the ages of 60 and 90. One important thing is that they're very generous: they know much more than I do, but they let me stay by their side, and I can grow and learn with them. It's also very scary because, of course, they'll leave...

In a passage from Pulse variations You explain that you've connected better with these authors from other generations than with your contemporaries. Do you think this has to do with your shyness, which has been perceived as "apparent immodesty," or a fear seen as "boldness and petulance"?

— Sometimes I use my diary to examine my conscience, and at some point I reproach myself for the fact that insecurity has sometimes made me feel too confident. Shy people seem to attack the world, but in reality, they feel attacked. It's a reproach I made to myself then: it's been a long time since I wrote this passage; I wouldn't give it so much importance... We're talking about very young ages, and people evolve very quickly.

The book arrives on your 27th birthday. It was a difficult time at work, when you were hesitating whether to leave your job as a high school teacher. We read: "Lying in the classroom is constant; it has become an essential ingredient."

— I dedicated seven years to teaching.

Did you end up folding?

— Yes, yes, just before turning 30. I have a post-diary Pulse variations There were a few notes on education, but I ended up deleting them because I didn't want to convey any bitterness. Since then, I've been working for various publishers. I've returned to Artés, the town where I grew up, and I'm very peaceful at home, writing, walking... I'm living a much better life than before, in terms of calm. Also as a Catalan. After a few years in Barcelona, I ended up realizing that I wasn't very welcome, something that doesn't happen with tourists.

You complain about the diminishing presence of Catalan.

— The setbacks of Catalan are becoming more and more pronounced. Living temporarily in a city like Barcelona, ​​which is also your home, is horrible. Village life has ended up making me kinder. I've reconciled with it.

You say that there was no one in your family who studied literature, but they still supported you when you said you wanted to study Catalan philology.

— I come from a home where there were practically no books. Even so, my parents have always given me the freedom to study whatever I wanted. I've been writing since I was very young; it's my life. I take it as something very natural.

Before winning the Amadeu Oller award with The vapors that kill You wrote a novel. I didn't know that the poet Carlos Hac Mor was one of the first to read it and believe in you.

— At first, in addition to writing poems, I had written short stories and even dared to write a novel. It was probably a book to break, and that's how it ended. But in Carlos Hac Mor and theEster Xargay They believed in me very early on. They were very kind to me despite the ideological and, above all, aesthetic differences we had.

Let me briefly return to your time as a teacher. "Teacher teams are insufferable, typical idiotic meetings," you assert. "If not unnecessary, then absolutely tiresome: they could be resolved in a matter of a quarter, not a whole endless hour." What bothers you about the students is the shouting in the classroom and the aggressive tone they sometimes adopt.

— I had a collision with the adult world. Now I've adapted to it purely for survival. I don't know to what extent the shouting has to do with our Mediterranean nature, which I don't have much of... At home, we know how to laugh, but we're formal. When I grew up and saw what adults were like—the hubbub, all the manners that have been lost, the lack of education—I was very disappointed.

You were let down by both students and teachers, right?

— Yes. Teachers should not only be role models for language, but also for behavior. I've encountered it all around the world: alongside very good teachers, there were also deplorable ones. Education should be about good treatment, humanity, and ensuring that no one is trampled on. Education should prevent dismemberment.