Cabello/Carceller

355 PLOT
project financed by a public foundation which consisted in unifying
pre-existing material; but moreover new content would be
acquired with which to improve the existing resources. The main
aim could be summed up in bringing together all the autobiographical
material created in the twentieth century, which could help
us understand and discover new ways of living and the aspirations
of anonymous citizens who had lived in the region. They had
a large amount of space at their disposal and the new director
would be able to hire their own team, but they knew it was not an
easy job: “It is obvious that the archive of a society, a culture,
or a civilization cannot be described exhaustively; or even, no
doubt, the archive of a whole period,” commented the interviewer,
pompously quoting Foucault. “The archive cannot be described
in its totality; and in its presence it is unavoidable,” answered
V. J., continuing the reference and imagining that the possibility
of getting the job was getting closer. “We are looking for someone
committed to the job who wishes to dedicate the whole of their
professional life to it,” continued the interviewer. “We are looking
for someone who can analyze with utmost objectivity the documents
found and who is able to classify them avoiding unnecessary
hierarchies. We do not know what the future has to offer, but we
wish the users of this archive to have the greatest number of possible
options for finding what they are looking for available to
them. We are conscious of the difficulty of undertaking this task
and of the necessary implications, which is why we are interested
in people who will not prioritize their personal life over their
dedication to directing this project. If you accept the job, your
loyalty to the archive should be total. As we all know, having the
largest possible number of originals will be shortly necessary to
all research and because of this we need to provide our scientists
with direct access to the sources. We expect from you a systematic
working method focused on the documents and on their statements,
to be dispassionate with respect to particular interpretations,
guaranteeing a vision where the stored elements speak for themselves
and give us their version of events.”
The conversation continued for half an hour more. Meanwhile
V. J. agreed and confirmed that all the necessary skills were met,
defended a personal project with conviction but without vehemence,
something that was aided by a naturally controlled personality.
That which had been so desired had finally been achieved. V. J. was
given the directorship of the archive and was to start immediately,
soon becoming well known for the faultless seriousness with which
the job was undertaken and admired as an example to follow. The
citizens trusted the project and did not hesitate in starting to
donate their personal objects for the sake of research: Often they
were narratives of frustrated lives; on other occasions, they were
examples of happiness gained through effort. Totality represented
by disconnected fragments. But one day a document arrived at the
archive which made V. J. tremble. Being in the habit of personally
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