writer from Barcelona Ildefonso Falcons At the age of 46, he published his first novel “La catedral del mar” in 2006, becoming a worldwide bestseller. Seventeen years later, he published his sixth book, “Slave to Freedom”, the story of two people. Black women fighting for freedom in two different eras: colonial Cuba of the 19th century and Spain today. He referred to the creation of his new proposal, which came out last fall, between operating rooms and chemotherapy sessions to treat the cancer he is suffering from. Next Friday, February 24, will be at Club FARO.
– You propose a trip to colonial Cuba and slavery in 1853, why?
– It is an unknown but reserved or rather forgotten subject, not covered in textbooks. Intimacy was what prompted me most to write this novel: I was struck by the fact that Spain was the last western country to abolish slavery in its colonies. My grandmother was a contemporary of slavery. And it was difficult for me to transfer the effects of that exploitation situation to the present day, I wouldn’t just write a novel about slavery on the island of Cuba, I would combine it with its effects in the 21st century. century.
–Do you want to give a message that the problem still persists by combining the past with the present?
– This is a current issue, racism is not only in force, but unfortunately lately ideologies and policies that do not care about being perpetuated by xenophobia and racism, maybe a little buried. UN studies and resolutions – we are in the six-year period for the recognition of Afro-descendants – show that we are living the consequences of this colonialism. You have to think that when slavery was abolished, all these people could not find a job and started to be exploited from the most radical capitalist point of view, and these effects spread over generations.
– That’s not what you had in mind, you changed it for health reasons, what was it like to write during your illness, between chemotherapy sessions and operating rooms?
– This was a heavily documented and fictionalized subject that I was already working on, so I avoided the deep work that other novels had taken me through. I went through all kinds of situations while writing; Sometimes it was overwhelming, and sometimes even just one paragraph, even in a painful or devastating state of inadequacy, it was reassuring and therapeutic to write. If I had to continue my law firm, I wouldn’t be able to continue.
– Are you choosing two heroines to justify the role of women in history?
– It was a necessity. Great Britain had already abolished slavery at the time, and Spain joined this treaty in exchange for money, but only agreed to abolish the trade, slavery was a visible legal condition in the colonies. Slaves were smuggled out of Africa, which drove prices up, so sugar producers concluded that it was more profitable to grow them than to buy them. From that moment on, they decided to devote women not only to work, but also to give birth in herds of kriollo, which is additional cruelty, and therefore the hero of the 19th century had to be a woman. He could have been a 21st century male, but I preferred him to be a descendant of that slave.
– Was it hard for you to get into the skin of two black women?
– I have no trouble getting into women’s skin, I’ve already done this in many of my novels, and if not, I have a publisher. I didn’t take it because it’s black either, but because I’m a slave I don’t think I’ve achieved 15% of the real toughness that a submissive life requires. As difficult as the novel is, I don’t think I’ve caught it.
– You deal with racism, colonialism, supremacy and job insecurity. Is the injustice in your novels due to your legal profession or vice versa: Did you study law motivated by them?
– It comes from life, seeing the injustice of those absolute, dictatorial or decision-making powers we live in even in the 21st century, even if they cannot be compared to slavery in democracy. Only genocide can be compared to slavery.
– In any case, are you looking for social awareness as well as entertaining the reader?
– My aim is also to entertain in attractive situations involving passion, love, money and revenge. Far from the pejorative clichés we have, I think to give a real vision of slavery: we see black people singing in movies – how wonderful, these were the beginning of the world. soul or jazz! but they sang not for joy, but to avoid whipping. The theory was that when a slave thinks, he works less; It’s best for you to sing so you don’t think. There’s also the stereotype of lazy blacks when they’re chronically tired from working twenty hours a day nonstop.
– What impressed you the most from what you found in your research for this novel?
– Slave farms were cattle ranches, they could be sentenced to 25 lashes for a crime; The beating of oxen was forbidden. They were trampled to death by oxen when they fell while walking; suicide was enormous; sexuality was forced to avoid conception, which led to states of sodomy.
– Explore the magical realism and religious syncretism of the Orishas, what was the experience like?
– Very interesting. Unfortunately, although I couldn’t find as much research as I wanted, I wanted to get away from that folkloric vision and took that religion as one more point of unity that black slaves had with their roots and discovered Sundays. this gave them a holiday decided by the mill owner, not every seven days. It is an extremely difficult religion, with gods almost more capricious than those of the Greeks.
– 17 years after the publication of “La catedral del mar”, what changed in that anonymous author who wanted to publish his first novel at the age of 46?
– Too much, Now I’m sure they will publish what I wrote., as long as it’s not a bodrio, and most importantly, I’m guaranteed delivery. Although I had combined the two until the third novel, it was impossible for me to carry out both professions together, so I had to quit being a lawyer.
– Have you ever thought about throwing in the towel when you can’t post?
– It has been four or five years since I finished, I was discouraged and disappointed many times, but I kept looking until I was lucky enough to find a publisher. During those five years, I was researching other topics to write about slavery in Cuba precisely.
– How do you manage the success of becoming an international sales phenomenon?
– When we talk about managing success, we imagine the young athletes, singers or artists the world approaches them. In my case, there was a balance in my life, all this caught me at the age of 46 and four children.
– What would you like to write that you have not done yet?
– I would love to be able to write Harry Potter or write Mafalda. Quino is great, it’s hard to make people laugh with words; I would love to do
– Which stage of the creation of a novel do you like the most?
–When I’m done, the rest is hard work in the office morning and night, not a job where I laugh and feel a special satisfaction.
– Do your children read to you?
– There are two people who have already read me. In general, young people do not read or do otherwise. Maybe we should ban them from reading, let’s see if they read more like that.
– Are you worried?
– Worried about failing to understand what you read today. At the moment when the comprehension of knowledge passes through the comprehension of writing, the inability of young people to read is a handicap for their education.
– If you could travel back in time, which moment in history would you like to go to and which character would you like to meet?
– I would go to Rome to meet Julius Caesar.
– Is the historical novel more necessary than ever, as it allows us to know the past in a fun way and not repeat mistakes?
– It is up to the will of the reader to know the date so that mistakes are not repeated. There are people who are committed to getting to know him in order to make these mistakes in his favor. This will always exist.
– More this time?
– We are in a period of absolute oppression, losing freedoms that are sometimes as absurd as being able to go wherever you want, they oppress us, skills change in schools, that was before we were told that knowledge liberates us. the motto of trade unionists, republicans, leftists. Now the opposite is true, the lack of information will allow for more repression, supported by those who fought for access to information a hundred years ago. This is extremely bad.