Alexander Zambra (Santiago de Chile, 1975) went from being a reference writer to a few to a few. first-class literary starA novel always marked by the very hairy theme of paternity—biological or voluntary—for lightness, exploration of loves, and masculine emotional education, thanks to the editorial bombshell caused by the ‘Chilean Poet’. After this book, written with a grace that will make men and women of childbearing age in their thirties drool, the Chilean writer now presents his B-side, living in Mexico, the homeland of his wife, writer Jazmina Barrera, and son Silvestre. from that work of fiction. ‘Children’s Literature’ (Anagrama) is a book put together by his close friend, the critic Andrés Braithwaite. The book is a collection of happy experiences as a father with a series of stories about various belongings. He is one of the participants of the ‘en altres paraules’ festival.
Did you design ‘Children’s Literature’ as an apostille to ‘Chilean Poet’?
It was born out of many texts I wrote during the pandemic with no clear intention to publish. I write to try to understand what is going on, and sometimes what I write becomes something that can be communicated, published. By the way, I like to keep writing in that area of what is not fully formulated, what is being built.
What vessels of communication exist between the novel and this book?
When Silvestre, now five, was born, I took a break from writing ‘The Chilean Poet’ and devoted myself to small essays about the experience this new state had given me. Some of these texts that I have published in North American magazines have been translated by my voice in English and a good friend of mine, Megan MacDowell. I’ve always kept a diary, I have a habit of writing every day, but when my son was born, I stopped automatically and started taking notes that no longer interested me in what was happening to me. I became very close to the fatherhood of some friends, they caught my attention. And when Silvestre came along, I thought to myself that this was a good way to combat the useless feeling we boys had in the early years of raising children. So I said to myself, “I’m going to dedicate myself completely to connecting.” Then I turned to the novel and felt that something inside me was already transforming and transforming my writing.
It’s interesting because the ‘Chilean poet’ depicts the relationship between a stepfather and his wife’s son, but in real life his father is biological.
I love literature that allows us to talk about contradiction. I wrote ‘The Chilean Poet’ while becoming the biological father, a novel about ‘step-parenting’ but also a novel I wrote when I lost daily contact with the Chilean Spaniards and I faced that knowingly. There was a loss and a gain.
Many of children’s childhood memories are built by the stories their parents tell them. In that case, Silvestre will have two books about those years, this one and one written by his mother.
That would be a great reason not to write anything (laughs). Children today are rebuilding their childhood with photos and videos. We went one step further: recording how emotions occur. Literature brings complexity and nuances. At its core, this is both a story of how a grandfather, a father, and a son pass on that legacy, and an attempt to do so in a way that has never been told before.
You write, “Our fathers taught us to be men, but they did not teach us to be fathers”. Missing models?
As a child, I went through many situations marked by physical strength that I wouldn’t want for my son today. It’s a shame that learning parenting is now a new thing. I’ve thought a lot about this, but I don’t want to get hung up on it. I don’t feel comfortable dividing the world between men and women, like in the ’90s ‘Men are from Mars, women are from Venus’ books, but it’s true that men talk very little about our feelings. Did we tell a woman a problem? You generally lack dialogue and a desire to enjoy.
for joy?
Yes, anyone who has raised a child knows it’s all about physical wear and tear, but the representation of pleasure is lacking. Until a short time ago, everything was limited to the boy, a young man with whom you can share your codes and laugh at the things you laugh at. Then the son appears as a copy of himself or as an enemy, but when he’s younger, that’s usually not counted when there’s some kind of outline of the man he’ll be. Many great writers talked about their childhoods but did not mention their children.
Rodrigo Fresán recounts how John Irving told him that having children is a machine for reclaiming one’s childhood memories. Did it happen to you?
It totally happens to me with music on an almost esoteric level. You improvise a lullaby they sing to you, and suddenly there are ten more songs you thought you had forgotten.
Could ‘Children’s Literature’ be the bright side of Rachel Cusk’s ‘A Lifetime Job’, a highly critical and bittersweet book about motherhood?
Yes, I think for many people motherhood or fatherhood is experienced as a duty, but that is not my case. I came to him late and called him. I don’t know what kind of father I would be at 20. That’s why I can’t complain because it doesn’t exist.
She tries to explain why to have a child without finding an answer in the book.
No. My grandfather had twenty-odd children, I’ve seen him three times in my life and I’ve heard that he was a beautiful person until the end. This tradition of having children and abandoning them is seen as something sporty in Latin America, as if the grand Slam had been won regardless of the damage done.
The image of the missing father is a literary metaphor in both Latin America and the United States.
This is true. A dear friend of mine said that our generation can be divided into those who complain about the absence of the father and those who complain about the current father. It is this contradiction that interests me.
One final question: Did the ‘little bird’ ingestion of a hallucinogenic mushroom really happen?
Yes, I took it as therapy for some terrible headaches I have and it worked. Some friends applied to accompany me on the journey, but what I wanted was to relieve the pain. And the medicine worked. Extended the time between crises. I had one at the end of 2020 and I needed three weeks of oxygen tanks, which helps me endure. It was funny because Silvestre played with the tank and put a hat on it. It was scary and sensitive at the same time.