Leonardo Valencia: 'Bramante Merdiveni' on Art and Fanaticism Amidst Social Chaos

Famous Ecuadorian writer Leonardo Valencia has left a deep mark on the literary world with his most ambitious novel to date, 'La escalera de Bramante', published by Seix Barral and consisting of over 600 pages. This monumental work, which combines two stories with artistic obsession and fanaticism, centers on the most traumatic events of the 20th century, questioning the role of art amidst this dark period. Through characters like Kurt Landor, Álvaro, and Raúl, it invites the reader into the complex labyrinths of a post-war world that cannot escape the shadow of historical madness, even away from Latin America. Released in 2019 but unable to be fully appreciated due to pandemic restrictions, the work came to the fore again in 2022, solidifying its position as one of the most robust projects in Hispanic American literature.

In an interview with 'La República', the novel's complex structure and the characters' radical worldviews were discussed, exploring how the author constructed this challenging text and the vision behind it. Valencia describes the novel not as a metaphor but as a true narrative reflecting the complex and real journey of artistic struggle, sometimes imprisoned in its towers, yet mirroring the crazy environments and fanaticism around the artist. In this dominant environment of fanaticism, the author highlights the silent and silent loyalty of friendship as the most important and 'hidden' saving power integrated into the novel, contributing significantly to the work's philosophical depth. Additionally, Valencia emphasizes that his effort to build bridges between his Ecuadorian experiences and European roots is one of the cornerstones of the novel, highlighting the critical role of this context in shaping the story.

An interesting part of the interview showcases Valencia's quite interesting and skeptical approach regarding the validity of the 'total novel' concept frequently mentioned in contemporary literary discussions. Valencia clearly states that he is not concerned about fluctuations in value or literary fashions ranging from minimalist novels to micro-fiction. According to him, literature has always potentially had a massive, long, complex, and layered structure; this situation manifests itself in a wide spectrum ranging from classical examples like Rabelais' 'Gargantua and Pantagruel' to modern works. The richness of such big novels lies in demanding effort from the reader and forcing them to focus on the language and structure of the text, just like reading a poem, beyond merely a story.

'La escalera de Bramante' does not only tell two different stories but also deeply questions the impossibility of representing reality through the relationship between the artist at the center of the work, Kurt Landor, and a concentration camp inmate named Dora Lerner. Landor's attempt to paint a portrait of Dora, who is notable for her differently colored eyes, serves as a metaphor for the artistic and factual helplessness in capturing and reflecting all reality of the outside world. According to Valencia, believing that language can fully capture or convey reality is in itself the most extreme and perhaps the most impossible fiction; this points to a great paradox regarding the destiny and aesthetic pursuits of the characters in the work. This quest continues as an existential question remaining at the center of the characters and the narrative throughout the novel.

The novel takes its name from the famous stairs of Renaissance architect Donato Bramante and a replica of this work in Quito, a detail that increases the spatial and symbolic depth of the work. Valencia spent exactly nine years, between 2008 and 2017, writing this monumental work and made great efforts during this time to blend familial and personal experiences between Ecuador and Europe. The emergence process of the work was shaped after attempts to write a novel about years spent in Peru ended in failure, leading to the idea that the subject had to find its own time and form. While the city of Quito was determined as the axis of the novel both geographically and semantically, the information that the author plans to return to the Peruvian literary scene with a new book planned for 2026 shows that his literary productivity continues.