{"id":10086,"date":"2011-10-18T20:00:49","date_gmt":"2011-10-18T19:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/?p=10086"},"modified":"2013-12-10T13:18:24","modified_gmt":"2013-12-10T12:18:24","slug":"interview-with-cristina-fernadez-cubas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/interview-with-cristina-fernadez-cubas\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Cristina Fern\u00e1dez Cubas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez Cubas:\u00a0Life is full of thresholds. It’s very easy to cross them. What\u2019s difficult is turning back<\/h2>\n

\"Cristina<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Interview with Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez Cubas held on 18th October 2011 at the D\u00e1maso Alonso Library of the\u00a0Instituto Cervantes in Dublin<\/a>\u00a0on the occasion of her participation in the round table discussion\u00a0\u201cThe story that will occur\u201d\u00a0<\/a>with David Roas.<\/h4>\n

Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez Cubas (Arenys de Mar, 1945) studied Law and Journalism in Barcelona. She is the author of five collections of short stories:\u00a0Mi hermana Elba,<\/i>\u00a0Los altillos de Brumal,<\/i>\u00a0El \u00e1ngulo del horror,<\/i>\u00a0Con \u00c1gata en Estambul<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Parientes pobres del diablo,<\/i>\u00a0winner of the Setenil Award for Short Stories in 2006. She is also the author of two novels,\u00a0El a\u00f1o de Gracia<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0El columpio,<\/i>\u00a0a play,\u00a0Hermanas de sangre,<\/i>\u00a0and a narrated memoir,\u00a0Cosas que ya no existen,<\/i>republished recently by Tusquets. Her work is translated into ten languages. In 2009, her collected short stories,\u00a0Todos los cuentos,<\/i>\u00a0received the City of Barcelona, Salamb\u00f3 and Qwerty awards, among others.<\/p>\n

Patricia Garc\u00eda: \u2014Cristina, in your stories we often find Fantastic elements. What does the Fantastic mean to you?<\/b><\/p>\n

Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez Cubas:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014When I started writing I never planned to write anything in the Fantastic genre. The Fantastic element appears before I summon it and it suddenly disrupts a very calm situation. Now, I can admit, that there are parts of my writing that can be considered Fantastic literature. But I was very reluctant to admit that in the beginning because I thought it was like a label. I have finally accepted it and I’m OK with it now. Yes, there is an element of the Fantastic in some of my creative work.<\/p>\n

Patricia Garc\u00eda: \u2014Given the topics, the claustrophobic and even macabre atmosphere, it\u2019s been said on some occasions that you are the Edgar Allan Poe of contemporary Spain.<\/b><\/p>\n

Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez Cubas:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014That\u2019s a big compliment, thank you.<\/p>\n

Patricia Garc\u00eda: \u2014Do you really feel you’re walking in his shoes?<\/b><\/p>\n

Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez Cubas:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014In his shoes would be going a bit too far. What I can say is that one of the first stories I remember which had an impact on me was \u201cThe fall of the house of Usher\u201d which my brother told me. He told the story and I loved it and I used to always say that he was improvising and, when I finally read the story, I found the house seemed very small. You see, he was adding rooms and information of his own, answering the questions that his little sisters would ask him. So it’s not so much that I’m in Poe\u2019s shoes, but he definitely had something to do with the start of it all.<\/p>\n

Patricia Garc\u00eda: \u2014Which short story created by someone who you consider to be a master would you like to have written yourself?<\/b><\/p>\n

Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez Cubas:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014Many by Edgar Allan Poe… although actually I don\u2019t think \u201cI wish I had written this\u201d. No, it’s written and I read it and enjoy it. I even think: \u201cLook, it\u2019s already been written, I don\u2019t have to write it myself\u201d. Many short stories by Poe and some by Guy de Maupassant, for example. And a short story named \u201cLa resucitada\u201d by Emilia Pardo Baz\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

Patricia Garc\u00eda: \u2014We know that you have travelled a lot in your life. Has Cristina the traveller influenced Cristina the writer?<\/b><\/p>\n

Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez Cubas:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014Yes, but not in a clear way. My short stories generally happen in places with no name, even if they might have one. But I don\u2019t say it. Somehow, my travel and life experiences are reflected in\u00a0Cosas que ya no existen,<\/i>which is a book of memories. Although they look like short stories, they’re not. The material I used in that book is my own memory, life is the scriptwriter. Many countries appear in that book.<\/p>\n

Patricia Garc\u00eda: \u2014Is there a short story of yours that you are especially fond of?<\/b><\/p>\n

Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez Cubas:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014Well, yes. I’m very fond of \u201cMi hermana Elba\u201d. From\u00a0Parientes pobres del diablo,<\/i>\u00a0there’s also \u201cLa fiebre azul\u201d or \u201cEl moscard\u00f3n\u201d. And this book of memories that I mentioned,\u00a0Cosas que ya no existen,<\/i>\u00a0because I had always said I would never tell things about myself, but you end up telling them, don\u2019t you? Because somehow, writing is always autobiographical. But when I finished\u00a0Cosas que ya no existen,<\/i>\u00a0I lifted a huge weight off my shoulders, I laughed like crazy, I cried as well with some chapters. And I think I was reborn. I think I became a better person. I was already good, but then I was much better, honestly. It was a very interesting experience because working with reality is very difficult, and even more so with memories.<\/p>\n

Memory is no more than a pulse, it\u2019s not easy to call back memories. I decided not to allow myself any license, apart from some name change, so as not to offend anybody or, sometimes, to do just that. Nothing else. There is not a single license throughout this book. In other words, life is the scriptwriter and life is very capricious sometimes.<\/p>\n

Patricia Garc\u00eda: \u2014Your short stories are full of thresholds that sometimes seem disturbing to cross: architectural thresholds, like the convent gate in your short story \u201cMundo\u201d, and sometimes they’re symbolic like the passage into adolescence in \u201cMi hermana Elba\u201d. What thresholds disturb Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez Cubas?<\/b><\/p>\n

Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez Cubas:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014Life is full of thresholds. It is very easy to cross them. What\u2019s difficult is turning back.<\/p>\n

The vision of life as something full of unknown thresholds always haunts me and interests me. Moreover, what we consider Fantastic today may not be the same in a hundred years, because what was considered Fantastic 100 years ago, now, due to discoveries and scientific progress, may no longer appear so. I believe that some things that come to us as intuitions or strange sensations, for which we don\u2019t have an explanation, perhaps these strange thresholds that I see everywhere, allowing entry into something different, something unknown, well, perhaps in some years they’ll be the most natural thing in the world.<\/p>\n

Patricia Garc\u00eda: \u2014We know that your first book,\u00a0Mi hermana Elba<\/i>\u00a0(1980), faced some problems before being published. What advice would you give to someone who is trying to publish his\/her first book?<\/b><\/p>\n

Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez Cubas:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014Those times were very tough. When I finished\u00a0Mi hermana Elba,<\/i>\u00a0publication generally was difficult, but for short stories, you can’t even imagine: it was as if I’d committed a crime.<\/p>\n

There weren\u2019t many short story writers at that time, but I persisted. I was being given ridiculous feedback: \u201cIt\u2019s very good, change the endings\u201d, for instance. I would advise someone who has worked earnestly, and believes in their work, to keep going until the end. I did that, I persisted, I ignored what was being said out there. Advice is helpful as long as it\u2019s advice, but not when it\u2019s nonsense. And even though you feel insecure writing your first book, you have to learn to defend what you really believe in.<\/p>\n

Patricia Garc\u00eda: \u2014And to finish, let\u2019s imagine, 100 years from now. How would you like to be remembered?<\/b><\/p>\n

Cristina Fern\u00e1ndez Cubas:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014First of all, I would like to be around in a hundred years… But that hasn\u2019t been invented yet. In a hundred years… It would be nice to be remembered… my writing, in any case, maybe my first book,\u00a0Mi hermana Elba<\/i>\u00a0and maybe the courage I showed when I had to defend short stories as a genre. Yes, I would like to be remembered by short story writers. Because it seems very obvious now that a story is a genre in its own right. But I\u2019ve had to continuously explain that a short story is neither an earlier stage of the novel, nor training in short films before getting to do a feature film. So, I would like to be remembered for my short stories but also for my stubbornness.<\/p>\n

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