At almost 80 years old, Juan José Millás once again challenges literary conventions. publishing a new narrative that, far from remaining testimonial, lucidly delves into the border between reality and fiction. With the ironic title That idiot is going to write a novel., the Valencian author demonstrates once again his ability to observe the world with a a mixture of skepticism, tenderness and sharp intelligence.
The novel chooses as its starting point a seemingly banal situation: the commission for a new report for the Sunday magazine of a national newspaper. However, what begins as a routine exercise becomes the beginning of a introspective journey where the narrator, whose name is Juan José Millás and who shares traits with the author, travels through memories, chance encounters and reflections on his role as a writer and human being.
Autofiction without artifice: a conversation between author and character
In this story full of personal references, Millás borrows the structure of life itself.: scattered, capricious and often unpredictable. Autofiction becomes an honest, unassuming resource that allows the reader to enter a world where what was lived and what was imagined They coexist without clear borders.
The protagonist, the author's alter ego, faces a kind of content crisis.: doesn't know what to write about. Nor does he want to repeat what has already been said. Through this thematic search that never quite materializes, the reader attends a series of episodes where childhood memories, the father figure, long-gone university classmates, and the double entrances of banks and buildings become symbols of duality and life choices.
A story of doubles: two fathers, two heads, two versions of oneself
One of the richest threads of the novel revolves around the idea of dualityFrom the two entrances of a bank branch that the child Millás believed were two different banks, to the existence of two fathers - the biological and the symbolic - the story is flooded with symbols that They point to a multiple and constantly constructed identity.
Millás uses these elements to reflect on who each person really is.. ¿We are who we say we are or who others think we are?How memory influences that perception of the selfThe character recalls how old friends from his youth turned out to be police infiltrators, and how, despite everything, They decided not to report him because they saw him as harmless. Details like this give the novel an atmosphere that blends dry humor with subtle melancholy.
Style: irony, precision and literature as a necessity
Beyond the plot, what really stands out is Millás's narrative voice.. His ability to slip in metaphors, witty observations and lucid digressions gives this story a personality that is difficult to reproduce. Although he has sometimes been accused of writing newspaper columns under the guise of a novel, The truth is that the deeply literary tone and the open structure They end up justifying every deviation.
The novel is not woven by a classic conflict, but the will to continue writing, to continue thinking, to continue existing through words. Just like a literary character who refuses to dieMillás remains active, not out of ambition, but out of personal need. As he himself writes in one of the most poetic passages: “Perhaps I’ve grown old out of sheer stubbornness. Stubborn as cigarette paper.”
Literature, identity, and ChatGPT: a new crossroads
In parallel with the launch of this novel, there has also been space to talk about artificial intelligence.In recent interviews, Millás himself confessed to having used ChatGPT to answer promotional questionnaires, with the excuse of tiredness, but also as a creative experimentThe writer indicated that the responses generated by the AI surprised him with their stylistic coherence and even their wit, which opened a new debate on the role of algorithms in the construction of literary discourse.
This fact further highlights the context in which this work is situated.: a time of transitions, where writers reflect on their craft as technology redefines the boundaries of the author. The irony of the title, That idiot is going to write a novel., takes on a double meaning here: a criticism of the trivialization of the act of writing and, at the same time, a passionate defense of literature as a unique expression of humanity.
Millás's work represents an exercise in creative freedom, where language flows without rigid structures and becomes a vehicle of thought, emotion and memoryIt is also an invitation to rethink old age and legacy from a perspective free of solemnity, with a literary voice that, far from fading, continues to generate reflections on what it means to narrate oneself in advanced stages of life.