Marta Barrio: “I think language is performative, it has the power to console and condemn”

His novel ‘Leña menda’ received the Tusquets Novel Prize. What did this recognition mean for a study that tackles topics that are still taboo in society and literature, such as abortion or pregnancy mourning?

The reward was a great happiness and it is. First, because this novel was born out of great pain, silenced pain, a very difficult process, and the confession made by a friend of mine who had the generosity to detail his story in order to write this novel, it’s like giving it its due. , to take the hidden light to break a taboo. Then, on a personal level, it’s a tremendous compliment, as it gives me a certain peace of mind when faced with the blank slate. ‘Leña Small’ is a story based on true events, but it’s also a reflection on the body and about the names we give to objects. I never thought that such a devastating novel from a tree with so many branches could win such a prestigious award.

exactly, you think Literature Did it contribute to naming, making visible, and promoting dialogue around these facts – mainly written by women?

I believe language is performative. the power to console and condemn, to make visible and disguise ourselves. I also believe that literature can help us imagine other possible worlds and change the world we live in.

To what extent have you been inspired to read contemporary writers or writers of your generation?

It has helped me a lot in reading authors from my generation. I felt approved, I felt empowered to write. Roles and idols are very important. If you see that they only post middle-aged, 50-60-year-old men who shoot, you don’t make that definition, and when I see a lot of women writing… I think of Sabina Urraca, who is dealing with issues at Aixa de la Cruz. this affected me very closely and maybe not my family. It made me think of a generational change that I wouldn’t have thought of if they had continued to publish only middle-aged men’s novels. But I, who had studied philology, was an editor and did not feel empowered to do so. When I reached a certain professional maturity, a certain stability, and when I looked around and saw that writers my age whom I highly respected were publishing novels… I was encouraged.

In an interview about the motivations for this novel in Zenda Libros, she quoted César Vallejo’s ‘Black Evangelists’: “There are blows in life, very strong. I don’t know!” What was the engine of your post?

In order to conquer or re-signify privacy, it is important to represent the domestic, the body. We often look for each other in other novels, other books, and other lives, but we don’t always find ourselves in the canon. After all, it’s another type of revelation that consists of exploring traditionally silenced worlds. The representation of certain realities is destructive, marginal. And therefore potentially transformative. In the process of writing, more branches of that tree emerged that were close to me, relaying their experiences to me, making me believe that there are things unnamed and the power of literature as a cathartic process. by writing and reading for their own and others’ suffering.

The ‘yes only yes’ law came to the fore last August, and the forecast is that reform abortion law. Are you concerned about the resistance of certain segments of society against these measures in the 21st century?

I believe in literature as an act of change and am particularly interested in ecology and feminism. The growing threat of climate change scares me as the perfect crime committed before anyone can stop it, which will reach us no matter how much politicians insist on looking the other way and fail to give them due priority. agendas. I’m also worried about the decline in mentalities about women’s rights and especially about abortion. I think about the new laws in Texas and I shudder. We’re back to the times of whistleblowing by curious neighbors who profit from the suffering of others. it would be a long road, seeking common good for this planet and future generations, and I don’t understand why some segments of society insist on walking backwards. I have a four-year-old daughter and it makes me nervous to think about what planet we’ve inherited for newcomers.

Despite these advances, do women continue to bear the burden of care?

There is a real problem of reconciliation in Spain, and we are the mothers who bear most of the burden of raising children and of the household. As a society, we couldn’t leave a gap in life, and that’s a failure. A mixed model should be preferred for negotiation and remote work and face-to-face participation as a method of employee control should be removed. If an employee is not productive, he will not be at home, but neither will he be in the office. You will waste time smoking in the coffee machine or outside. It’s like heating a chair from the last century. I’m not even counting the hours. I believe it with more freedom of movement we would all win as a society.

How would you describe your relationship? maternitybut with expectations that weigh heavily on motherhood?

Ursula K. Le Guin said the children ate the manuscripts. After all, it’s more difficult for women today to take time to create than men, because we are the ones who carry the weight of this care. Maybe now, besides, we have very high expectations. Pretending to spend time with the kids while making homemade cakes and at the same time being fully successful in all other areas of life, taking time to create, exercising, and going to the movies is just nonsense. This is impossible. I feel guilty, that’s the ideal of the perfect woman who makes you try to achieve everything and leave your skin on the road. On the other hand, as we see in the data, far fewer women are still broadcasting than men, and this is partly due to this problem.

Even though ‘Leña little’ was not based on your own experience, was your writing cathartic for you?

Yes, of course. I lived my pregnancy with a lot of fear, I was a little scared. I also had diabetes and cramps every afternoon… Anyway, I was really tired. And people kept telling me to “enjoy it”. But how can you enjoy it! This “happy pregnant” idea bothers me a bit. Let alone birth, pregnancy does not seem like a pleasant experience to me. In fact, the entire dream part, if not the rest, was based on my own fears. From this point, the novel was a bit of catharsis for me.

He’s heading to the island of La Palma this month to attend the Hispano-American Writers’ Festival. What emotions does the prospect of a soldier visiting a devastated region evoke? volcanic eruption?

I visited the island more than ten years ago on a trip with my parents and brothers, and I have fond memories of that trip. When the volcano woke up, it was almost the only news that interested me because I remembered that island fondly and could not imagine the extent of the disaster.

You will meet many writers from the islands at this event. What are your references to literature written since then? Canary Islands?

Last year, like everyone else, I read Andrea Abreu’s ‘Panza de burro’ and was dazzled by the freedom of his language and the freshness of his creative proposal. Sometimes, the paradox of the editorial job is that you spend your day reading manuscripts or books to be translated and you don’t have much time to read whenever you want or for pleasure, and I admit I don’t know. Canary literature as much as I want.

He is an editor as well as a writer. How does this dual aspect affect the way you deal with each?

My favorite thing about typing is when you almost only have to polish, use a single key, the delete key, and sweep away the letters and characters to leave the text clean and make the previously typed words. was saved from liquidation. So actually my favorite thing about writing is the editing part. I see it as two sides of the same coin, namely the love of literature.

What literary projects are you immersed in (as writer and editor)?

As the editor, I will publish three very special books this term. The first is Josephine Johnson’s ‘November Now’, by American author Josephine Johnson, the youngest to win the Pulitzer in 1935, at age 24, who should have entered Literary History but never passed. it did so because the Western canon is structured to turn its back on the female gender. Second, by a Malaga writer who is a swimmer and writes about competitive sports, Podio is a short novel with great power and style. The third is about the return and exile and family of Iranian writer Parinoush Saniee, best known for ‘The Book of My Destiny’. As a writer, I write about a girl. rebuild your family historyHer grandmother, who has Alzheimer’s, forgets the same memories she has uncovered. It is the summer of the end of childhood, when the girl’s illness and death for the first time, and when she discovers the meaning of nostalgia, she ceases to be a girl.

And what topic would you like to write about one day that doesn’t have to be in the short term?

Lots of kids in my family want a book from me that they can read, because right now their parents have censored what I’ve written so far, so I guess children’s or teen literature would be the most important book. task waiting to access your requests. Also, I was particularly excited to be able to read to my daughter something I had written before I went to sleep at night.