"What happens if a woman catches her husband having an affair with their daughter's babysitter?"

BarcelonaIf one day, by chance, I happen to be on the subway with Màrius Serra (Barcelona, ​​1963), it's very likely that he has a notebook open in his hands and is writing frenetically. Don't even think about interrupting his creative flow: you could break the torrent of words that has ended up shaping a monumental novel like The misunderstanding (Proa, 2026). "A half-hour subway ride can be very productive," he says. "On a commuter train, the result can be spectacular. I like to practice writing on the move mainly for two reasons: first, because I'm away from my usual workplace; second, because I'm writing by hand, and I'm aware that what I'm doing is a first draft, something that gives me..."

It was in a very thick notebook, designed to jot down phone numbers and addresses of family, friends, and acquaintances—"a gift from my mother," he specifies—that the writer placed the word under the letter C. kangaroo stemming from his fascination with an anecdote involving Captain Cook. "When he arrived in Australia, Cook saw some jumping chili peppers and pointed them at the Aboriginal people to ask them what they were called," he recalls. "They replied:Kangarú»and decided to name the animals kangaroos, that is to say, kangaroosFor a long time, the anecdote circulated that kan-ga-rooFor the Aboriginal people, it meant I don't understand you"I investigated it and came to the conclusion that it was a false story." From there, Màrius Serra began to compile historical misunderstandings, until he decided that he could use a small part of that information in a novel starring Joan Ferrer, a translator fascinated by false friends in linguistic terms, who starts from a far-fetched situation. Paul Auster of the New York Trilogy (1985) or of theAM Men ofI hope they forgive us (2014). “What happens if a woman catches her husband sleeping with their daughter’s nanny?” he asks. “What if, after discovering this, the woman runs away with the girl in a car, they have an accident, and the woman dies?” Serra complicates things even further, because the translator soon discovers that the daughter, who has survived, is not his biological daughter. “I had such a good time writing it.” The misunderstanding"It has been painful for me to finish it," says the author, who has dedicated hundreds of hours to it since it was published The most painted woman (Proa, 2023). During the last year, I could dedicate marathon sessions of between eight and twelve hours to it.

Parenthood, bewilderment, and non-binary identity

“We live in a world that has become much more complicated, and it’s increasingly difficult for us to understand it,” Serra continues. “Joan Ferrer is a perpetual supporting character, yet he fits perfectly with today’s chameleon-like identities.” Joan needs a lawyer because his nanny is suing him. He has to go to therapy with a doctor to improve his relationship with his daughter. By chance, while translating an erotic novel, he meets an anthropologist who is an expert in historical misunderstandings. He also reconnects with a childhood friend who has become an editor and the secret lover of Juan’s late wife.

Among the book’s themes are the exploration of complex fatherhood, the bewilderment of contemporary man, non-binary love, culture clash, and an ironic portrayal of the publishing world, an aspect Serra had already explored, in a more ruthless vein, in The novel of Sant Jordi (Amsterdam, 2018).There was a killer of authors who write bestsellers —he recalls—. Here I notice an editor who commissions non-fiction books from experts with some media experience. During the novel, he wants to publish a book by a lawyer for confessed criminals, another about masculinities that distort discourse to appear more feminist, and a manual for curing heterosexuals of their heterosexuality.” The day they present this last book to the press, the editor is capable of kissing the poet. Màrius Serra, about to turn 63, and after a prolific career that began with Line (Column, 1987) and which includes titles such as Still (Empúries, 2008) and Future plans (Proa, 2013), he remains "a staunch defender of fiction as a field of knowledge and experimentation." Although he has just presented one of his longest books –The misunderstanding It's over 500 pages long—he's already started a notebook with the new story that we'll be able to read in a while. "Nobody, except me, knows anything," he says with a victorious smile on his face.