{"id":10158,"date":"2011-06-16T20:00:37","date_gmt":"2011-06-16T19:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/?p=10158"},"modified":"2014-02-25T19:11:26","modified_gmt":"2014-02-25T18:11:26","slug":"interview-with-alfonso-zapico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cervantes.es\/dublin\/interview-with-alfonso-zapico\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Alfonso Zapico"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alfonso Zapico:\u00a0I am very serious-minded compared to Joyce<\/h2>\n

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

 <\/p>\n

Interview with Alfonso Zapico held on 16th June, 2011 at the D\u00e1maso Alonso Library of the\u00a0Instituto Cervantes in Dublin<\/a>\u00a0on the occasion of the presentation of his book\u00a0Dublin\u00e9s<\/i>\u00a0<\/a>at the Irish Writers’ Centre in Dublin.<\/h4>\n

Alfonso Zapico (Blimea, Asturias, 1981) is a cartoonist and illustrator. He studied Illustration and Design at the School of Art in Oviedo and contributes regularly to various periodicals and publishers. His first professional work in the world of comics was published in France:\u00a0La guerre du professeur Bertenev<\/i>\u00a0(2006), set during the Crimean War, and the collective volume\u00a0Un jour de mai<\/i>\u00a0(2007). In 2008 he published\u00a0Caf\u00e9 Budapest,<\/i>\u00a0addressing the Arab-Israeli conflict. In 2009 he participated in another collective volume:\u00a0Un buen hombre,<\/i>\u00a0on the daily life of SS officers. For his most recent work,\u00a0Dublin\u00e9s<\/i>\u00a0(2011), a biography of James Joyce, he received a residency at La Maison des Auteurs in Angoul\u00eame (France), and the Premio Nacional prize for comic books in 2012.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Alfonso, you\u2019re a cartoonist, you do graphic novels… How do you prefer to be called?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014I call myself simply an illustrator or cartoonist. Then I write books, comics, stories which can be labelled in different ways depending on how you want to call them, but they are basically stories.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014From\u00a0Caf\u00e9 Budapest<\/i>\u00a0to\u00a0Dublin\u00e9s<\/i>\u00a0only two years went by. What happened in that time?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014Well, I was looking for another story to tell. I didn\u2019t really know what to do and then this biography of Joyce appeared. At first it was like a challenge, something new, and I didn\u2019t know how it would end up. The publisher didn\u2019t have much confidence in it but finally it has resulted in more than two years of work, travel and also changes. Besides, as this is also a travel book it has been a way of evolving for me, to some extent, a way of drawing all this.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014What fascinated you about Joyce to the point that you wanted to make a book about him?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014When I started to draw\u00a0Dublin\u00e9s<\/i>\u00a0I didn\u2019t know much about the author, I’m not an expert in literature. But, I don\u2019t know why there is something about Joyce that grips you, that attracts your attention, that gives you the urge to find out about him. And that\u2019s what inspired me to start\u00a0Dublin\u00e9s.<\/i>\u00a0In the end, I depicted the \u201csurface\u201d of this author, with his optimistic philosophy of life and his love for every detail… at the same time I was telling the real story of a guy full of contradictions, of course.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Do you also slide down the handrails like Joyce used to do after class?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014Not at all. I am very serious-minded compared to Joyce.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Do you think the entire story would be more interesting if it were told the same way as your biography of Joyce?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014I think so. At first, Joyce\u2019s story or his literature may seem quite abstract, let\u2019s say very distant, complicated. But the advantage of the graphic novel is that the strips induce the reader to soak up the story very fast and they create a certain complicity because the reader becomes the travelling companion of the protagonist and travels along the pages, goes around the cities together with the character, becomes part of his life until the end.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014What comes first, the story or the drawings?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014For me, the story. Then I draw the strips with the story in mind. I’ve used grey colours for\u00a0Dublin\u00e9s,<\/i>\u00a0a realistic drawing style, because that\u2019s what the story required. For\u00a0Caf\u00e9 Budapest,<\/i>\u00a0which is more of a caricature, I used black and white, which was more suitable for the story.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Which comics did you read in your childhood?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014The ones everybody else used to read:\u00a0Tintin,<\/i>\u00a0Spirou,<\/i>\u00a0Asterix,<\/i>\u00a0Mortadelo y Filem\u00f3n,<\/i>\u00a0Zipi y Zape…<\/i>\u00a0In short, I was a conventional comic reader. I devoured them all, those available at the library and others I found lying around.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Do you still read comics?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014I do. The thing is that as the comic sector has changed so much, there are so many new publications, the graphic novel, many foreign authors… The truth is that I don\u2019t know much, now I’m starting to know more and read more comics. But paradoxically, being a comic author myself, I didn\u2019t know much.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Tell us a secret: Have you dazzled many girls with your drawings?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014To be honest, I don\u2019t think so. I don\u2019t have the aura of the bohemian painters.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Do you take photographs?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014I don\u2019t. I only took photos when I studied photography at the School of Arts and I wasn\u2019t very skilled.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Asturias, beloved homeland… What can you say about Asturias?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014I live in France now and I haven\u2019t been to Asturias in a long time. I really miss it. But coming to Dublin has made me feel a bit better because it’s pretty similar, you know. Because of the weather, the many pubs, the people talking very loud. I can feel the difference with respect to France.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Is there any difference between Asturias and Ireland?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014Yes, there are differences. I don\u2019t know Ireland. For me, Asturias is special.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014You write a blog with illustrations. Do you think the future of the comic, as with many other things, will be the Internet? Will we say good-bye to paper?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014I think the future of the comic will be the Internet. However, I don’t think paper will disappear. I think it will happen the same way as with novels, and books. The electronic comic is already a reality and I think it will do well. But I think that paper comics with a hard cover, or hardback, will continue to be published and sold.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Do you have any other historical figure in the pipeline?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014Not for the moment. I’ve been working on this comic for a long time and I have other things to finish. I haven\u2019t figured out yet what I’m going to do next.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Today is June 16th, Bloomsday. What does it mean to you to present your book\u00a0Dublin\u00e9s<\/i>\u00a0on such a special day and, on top of that, in Ireland, in Dublin?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b><\/span>\u00a0\u2014It\u2019s quite quaint. If I had been told that this would happen when I started drawing this book, I wouldn\u2019t have believed it. But look, I was lucky that the book was finished this year, it was published in May and here I am, on June 16th, the same day Joyce went for a walk with Nora, along the strand. So it’s a great ending.<\/p>\n

Carmen Sanjuli\u00e1n: \u2014Do you see life in cartoon strips?<\/b><\/p>\n

Alfonso Zapico:<\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u2014I do. I jot down things and retain faces and details that I use later as fuel for my drawings.<\/p>\n

Recommended links<\/h4>\n