You’re immersed in the characters and in the stories. And I feel like when you’re writing, that’s exactly what you do. But I thought, why is this not unusual or strange to me? It’s all about disappearing, of disengaging from the self and being present. And when I first sat down to meditate, I had never meditated before. In fact, I have been doing a meditation practice now for over a decade. One of the great joys of writing is you disappear. It’s funny because I think people think that because writers are writing about their emotions and their feelings and so forth, they must really be focused on themselves. Do you think this is a condition for writers?ĪLVAREZ: Well, I think we disappear. RENDÓN: I was wondering while you were talking about this if this is a condition for writers, to see themselves as a person from the outside, and then detach themselves from that person, and then become somebody else while they are writing. And really, once we’re gone, what will be left of us, or as long as it is useful, will be the stories we wrote. So in our personality, celebrity-driven cultures, we pay too much attention, I think, to the author. But ultimately, I’m not interested in portraying her. And I use whatever has happened to her, whatever she has learned, whatever she has heard from others, whatever she has read, whatever she has imagined in the service of the story. But I need that Julia Alvarez to be my eyes and my nose and my senses, and my gatherer of experiences. I’m interested in my characters, and the story itself, and what it requires. When I’m writing a story, I’m not really very interested in Julia Alvarez, and who she is, and telling my story, and getting things off my chest. In that sense, I think of Julia Alvarez in service of the story. She is my way of accessing material of all kinds that I need in writing my stories. She is the only vehicle I have out in the world gathering the research. The truth is, I’m not very interested in Julia Alvarez, but she is my eyes, my senses, my ears, my smells. And then the Julia Alvarez who’s out there and getting attention and going on book tours. JULIA ALVAREZ: Bueno, I’m recalling the Borges’ story about the two Borges-the Julia Alvarez that disappears and does the work. Who is Julia Alvarez? A lot of people have read your novels and your poetry, and we think that we know you, but I believe it would be very interesting to hear from you how you define yourself. Julia, thank you so much for being with us. Scott Fitzgerald Award, and in 2013, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts by the President of the United States. She has won the Hispanic Heritage Award, the F. She is one of the most recognizable faces in Latinx literature. HÉCTOR RENDÓN: Julia Alvarez was born in New York City to parents from the Dominican Republic.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |