"Literature is not a science, it is an art in which there is no progress. You can write a masterpiece when you are young and then never hit the nail on the head again, or achieve it after a lifetime of trying". So said José Jiménez Lozano on the occasion of the international colloquium organized as a tribute to the writer himself by the Chair Félix Huarte of Aesthetics and Contemporary Art of the University of Navarra.

According to him, "it is a prejudice to think that someone with little experience cannot write literature. A person does not have to be mature to write better. Literature has never followed an order, it is random. Sometimes we don't realize that a work is good until after a hundred years".

He also pointed out that "the good writer is the one who formulates things that have value and makes the reader feel them as his own, the one who tells stories that never go out of fashion". In his opinion, "it is not true that years ago people read more than they do now, however, those who did not read kept quiet out of fear, out of shame, and even envied those who did. Now it seems that no one cares to say that they never do".

For José Jiménez Lozano, "the core topic to teach literature is to excite young people with stories that they have never heard, that fascinate them, that go beyond what they have experienced. Until now, it has been taught in a repellent way, scientifically structuring something that is not science and, moreover, imposing it".

Essayist, novelist and poet

José Jiménez Lozano was born in Langa (Ávila) and is graduate in Law and Philosophy y Letras from the universities of Valladolid and Salamanca. After finishing his programs of study in Journalism in Madrid, he joined the essay of El Norte de Castilla (Valladolid), where he was director. In this newspaper he has been reporting the current affairs of the country through countless articles whose quality and literary accuracy have made him one of the most prestigious Spanish columnists.