They say it’s his first novel. And also autobiographical. But the poet Raúl Zurita (Santiago de Chile, 1950) is not about labels. “It is actually a poem that has taken this form,” says the author. Purgatory and the Reina Sofia Poetry Prize for Ibero-American Poetry (2020). He will be speaking about this “mainly night” book at the launch of the course at UA’s Mario Benedetti Education Center (CeMaB) this afternoon. At Alicante Town University Venue, 7:30 pm.
Why are you writing a novel now?
I don’t know if it’s a novel. About something else I wrote, whitest dayA story about my life, released in 1999. But it’s hard for me to immerse myself in one genre. I understand that others put it for clarity. The book is autobiographical and not at the same time because life and writing will never be the same. There’s a fine line, so there’s nothing more akin to someone’s life than a book that talks about someone’s life, but nothing more different at the same time.
This book is autobiographical, it’s like reconnecting with one’s past.
It is framed in a very difficult time in Chile, during the years of the Chilean dictatorship under Pinochet, when there were many intense events from all sides. We created CADA (Art Actions Collective) in a human sense, we were torn men in a fragmented country. At some point their paths crossed and they got their dreams together and imagined a future. They formed very intense personal relationships. The good thing you had was the other, your friend, your partner, because no one knew what was going on in the house next door. There were some protests in 1983 and then I realized for the first time that the neighbors were also against it. The subject was not discussed. At that time the world was falling apart and you had an inexplicable feeling of being happy in an unhappy world.
His life has always been the central axis of his poetry, but why tell it in narrative now?
In fact, it is a poem that has taken this form; took the form of narrative. You’re reading and it’s actually a poem, I didn’t choose it. I felt the need to tell something like this.
His life has been very difficult. Fatherless, arrested, imprisoned, suffered many atrocities. Even if it’s literature, does it still hurt?
It still hurts, yes. A painful episode where very painful things have happened to me, both personally and collectively. All of us who witnessed this left a deep mark. Then I caught a moment of happiness, but happiness is a solitary act. Yes, there were great happiness, encounters and separations.
Was writing this book a therapy or did you surprise yourself by remembering all those dark chapters?
I don’t know if therapy is good or bad. Writing in the background won’t solve anything, but it can give you a little more peace and understanding towards your own mistakes and the mistakes of others, your own and others’ mistakes. So many powerful things that I want to be there.
“Writing in the background won’t solve anything, but maybe it will give you a little more peace and understanding of your own mistakes and those of others.”
He talks about a father walking with the head of his son who was beheaded in his hands, and that is Raúl Zurita. Nice metaphor…
I took the image from a historical event that was told to me. There was a Mapuche chief whose son was beheaded and had to carry him. That scene was told to me and I used it in the book.
Do you feel peaceful after removing your ghosts?
Yes, well, in peace yes, because I’ve had a happy life with my wife and children, all is well… Peace in the artistic sense maybe, you did what you had to do, that’s it. . Now I’m happy with the book, satisfied, happy, and in a way I’ve left some things behind.
Would your literature be different if you hadn’t experienced living Chile?
I can’t think of an idea without the conditions in which I live. What I would be without it, I have no idea. This is unimaginable. It’s my life, it happened to me and from then on I’ve been doing my job. It would be someone else. The other life is given to you by love. This this is another life..
He also presents his anthology this afternoon. God can’t see it was made by Héctor Fernández
It was Hector’s idea and I appreciate that. He read all my authors and gave them a form, but it is a work for which I am grateful. I have several anthologies and personal readings of the author.
And also the book Raul Zurita and Dante Alighieri. Dialogue between the dark forest and the stars, by Elisa Munizza. Her relationship with Dante started when she was very young and her grandmother read to her Divine comedy.
I feel great gratitude for your generosity. I came to Dante by chance, because my grandmother read to me, she touched me. I never had an intellectual relationship with Dante, it was a life relationship. And it remains a reference for me, always on my mind. divine comedy It is the most perfect poem. I still have the childhood image of my grandmother telling stories based on her characters.
The world is changing, societies are turning to the extreme right, as in Italy. What’s going on?
Finally, the far right comes from deep people, working people. What emerges is very concrete, very populist. But the left is pursuing a dream, it has no image, what it can want most is social democracy. The left has even been blinded intellectually. The left failed to grasp what society needed. I suffered a lot with Chile, who lost the constitutional amendment to the right. The far right is populist and there is too much inequality in the campaigns, the lies are spreading. But you have to deal with it.
What will happen in Europe with the victory of Giorgia Meloni?
You have to rethink everything because there is a political and social vacuum. Right populisms are very simple things, full of nonsense. They focus on security issues, immigration. I trust the President on the Chilean example, he seems smart to me. He got the blow that the constitutional amendment was rejected, but I trust him.
“The left was even intellectually blind. Didn’t understand what society needed”
Have you thought that there might be another war in Europe in the 21st century, like the one between Russia and Ukraine?
We have not made any progress. As if there was something in the human heart that didn’t make sense. And then the nuclear threat. There is a possibility of total destruction. bombs. Now, I don’t think you would dare.
Are people aware of what fascism entails?
No, not because you don’t know him.
What is the role of literature in all this?
One is to persist, to persist in the infuriating dream of hope, and I think that is very important. We must insist that another world is possible and that life does not have to be like this. If you lose hope, everything loses its meaning.
What would you like to be able to say to Raúl Zurita in his next poetry or novel collection?
The brain and hand send themselves. I always hope that what I write is not the last. Even just writing, painting, taking notes helps.