On May 10, 2007, I appeared at Borders to play some music for a book reading and signing event hosted by Doug Abrams who was promoting his new novel, “The Lost Diary of Don Juan.” Don Juan is of course the legendary womanizer, originating from Sevilla, the heart of Andalucia; but Doug wanted to take another look at this (possibly mythical) character. Instead of portraying Don Juan as a ruthless man driven by primal instincts, Doug filled himself in Don Juan’s shoes, wondering, “what if the purported womanizer was as human as the rest of us, driven by, above all things, a quest for true love? And, what if Don Juan kept a diary?”
Doug took turns between commenting on the kinds of research he delved into–literature, manuscripts, tracing lineages–and reading passages from his book. (The former took him to Sevilla.) He spoke of the first-hand experiences and knowledge he acquired through things like living with the nuns of the convent, lying on the stretcher in the torture chamber, and even sifting through 15th century dictionaries in order to preserve a sense of “period practice” in his new fiction.
The similarities between the novel’s premises and our very own Spanish repertoire are astounding, thanks in a large part to the author’s very authoriative (literally!) reading. Both shamelessly exude sensuality and, I think, instill in a performer or reader, a kind of–not pride or ego, but: confidence. If there is any truth to the stereotype that “authors can’t (or shouldn’t) read their own works, because they don’t know how to,” Doug was certainly not the case. (It made me think of how sometimes composers shouldn’t conduct or perform their own pieces, and how there are always exceptions!)
But, the traveling author, reading his prose, promoting his art–this is what I’m doing now. What similarities, and what an exciting path, only, instead of re-living the stench of a 15th century torture room, I confine myself to long hours of practice at home and subject myself to unpredictable variables on stage. For for now though, let’s forget about that, since Doug’s performance was magical and left the audience on an edge satiable only by reading The Lost Diary of Don Juan.