Mexico City, Apr 29 (EFE).- For the Peruvian writer Santiago Roncagliolo, the fact that the characters in his novels do not fit into society is logical because they resemble him, a man with difficulties finding his place in the world. world.
“That my characters are out of place is inevitable; Being different, being weird, not fitting in has been an experience that has accompanied me. And my characters do not finish adapting to the world that surrounds them, ”said Roncagliolo this Saturday in an interview with EFE.
The winner of the 2006 Alfaguara prize presented this week in Mexico “The Year the Devil Was Born,” a novel about the figure of Santa Rosa de Lima, narrated with overtones of magic by Alonso Morales, holy bailiff of the Inquisition.
“I had a hard time with this book, I wanted each chapter to tell an episode from the first half of the 17th century; the pirate attack, the miners’ fights, the viceroy, the saint, the inquisition. It seemed to me a fascinating wonderful real universe; Alonso tours the stages and makes a fresco of society, ”he says.
The play begins on a black night in the Viceroyalty of Peru, where a novice gives birth to a baby with two heads, a forked tongue, and eight limbs; the birth coincides with the appearance in Lima of Rosa, a woman who works miracles, capable of speaking with God and the devil, who has become the target of the Holy Office.
“The birth of the devil was a real event, I read about it in a book by Fernando Iwasaki. Today we could say that he is a Siamese, but at that time he was a monster sent by the devil; I always knew that this was how this novel was going to start and that it was going to be a thriller from the perspective of the 17th century”, he reveals.
A DISTRUST OF FLAGS
The 552-page book, edited by Seix Barral, portrays a Lima kidnapped by crime, corruption and uncertainty, in which the protagonist Alonso Morales repeats his boss’s speech and tortures people, because he believes that this is the nobility. .
Roncagliolo investigated and portrayed the Peruvian society of 400 years ago to realize that after such a long time things did not improve much in the world.
“This novel made me think about how many things from the 17th century are still happening. The witch is a figure designed to blame women; today if a woman is raped there are those who blame her for the way she dresses; the inquisition is now called cancellation and the family of viceroys placed in public positions today is corruption, ”she points out.
The author, who lived part of his childhood in Mexico, lived in Barcelona and now lives in Madrid, distrusts flags and regrets the commitment to the tribe that rules the world today.
“The democracies made a change against the seventeenth century of the novel. They assume that if someone thinks differently, they are not a bad person, they just think differently and you can live with them, but we are losing faith in democracy and we are taking refuge in the tribes; we decided not to listen to someone from another tribe,” she explains.
According to the author, humanity should have already understood that a person is neither good nor bad because they belong to the left or to the right, and he believes that it is childish to think that.
“I have friends on one side and the other. It seems hypocritical to me to think that you are good because you raise a flag. That is what Alonso Morales does in this novel, who repeats what his boss says; It bores me deeply to talk to people who only repeat the clichés of whatever party it is, ”he said.
COUNTING IS CALLED THE GAME
As a child, Santiago Roncagliolo played at defeating armies, driving away ghosts and getting rid of vampires. At the age of 12, it seemed excessive to him to continue with the pranks, but some time later he discovered the profession of writing and returned to adventures.
“I missed my games as a child and a few years later when I started writing, I found that I could continue doing them; it is what I continue to do until now, ”she boasts.
The also screenwriter, chronicler and short story writer confesses to having serious problems with everyday life. He is a misfit in queues at banks, in red tape and has a hard time assuming social conventions.
“I hate reality. I lock myself in what I invent and during those hours everything makes sense”, he confesses and gives a clue so that his readers understand why the Chacaltana prosecutor from his novel “Red April”, Jimmy from “And deliver us from evil” and the protagonists of his other works suffer so much to adapt to the world.
