Ana Navajas has been linked to the pen since she can remember. However, she never thought that she would write a book. "It was something that I would never have proposed but life took me down this path and I realized that I had much more to say than I imagined," admits the Argentine author, who debuts in narrative with You are very quiet today (Seix Barral ).
Structured in the form of a false diary, the novel begins with the death of the mother of the protagonist, Navajas' alter ego, and reflects throughout its pages on the passage of time, death, ties and motherhood while, in parallel He tries to find his identity. To do this, she will remember her childhood in a coastal town until she reaches her present day in Buenos Aires, where she finds herself divided by her double condition as writer and housewife.
"Everything that is written is real. The protagonist is me and it is something that I do not hide and the rest of the characters exist. What happens is that the manipulation of the writing makes some aspects a bit far from reality, because there is a a lot of clippings and unsaid things", advances the writer.
When she entered this project, the Argentine was clear about what interested her: everyday life. "I like to give value to the small. To what happens day by day. This in turn worried me a little because I was convinced that the reader was a subject that was not going to care at all. It was difficult for me to find a literary value. That is why, in reality, I wrote for myself. Over time I realized how wrong I was," she admits.
Regarding starting his writing with the death of his mother, Navajas justifies that "I realized that this was what structured my life. What I currently live and many of the things that happen to me have been that way since his death I thought that if I structured myself, I would also do the same with my book."
Death, the Argentine insists, "is not the main topic, although it is something I often talk about. We are all going to die at some point. It is a difficult topic that we try not to talk about, but I think we should since death is intrinsically linked to life. When my mother was sick I was lucky to be able to discuss the subject with her, although less than I would have liked. We should be able to talk more about death and look her directly in the eye," he laments. .
When her mother left, the writer began to analyze her father. "So far, he was the strong, untouchable person, who knew everything that had to be done. But, overnight, we realize that he really has no idea about anything and that without her, he is practically another person. A vulnerable being. For the first time he appears lost. Perhaps he had never been that compass that we all believed?
Maternity also takes up an important space in its pages. "It takes you out of the center. You are not the one who is there, but the ones you are taking care of. That makes it difficult for me to value my writing time. It seems that I am not doing anything. And I have that feeling, and I think that the we have a lot, because of my surroundings. I always felt very objected to reading and writing. They see you with the pen, or in the chair reading, and they ask you to do things. But is it that nobody sees that I'm already doing them? "It's my job. Being a housewife and mother of three, who also works to survive financially, makes writing completely marginal, when in reality it's my life."
This situation, he admits, leads him to "a constant search for happiness. And it's frustrating because it never fully arrives. There are people endowed with a natural happiness that I envy a lot. I, on the other hand, am that dissatisfied person who seeks sparks constantly," he admits.
Following her literary debut, Navajas has been compared by critics on multiple occasions with writers of the stature of Natalia Ginzburg, Lucia Berlin and Joan Didion. "That comparison is a dream. I wish. Without a doubt, they are a great source of inspiration for me. I admire them, just as I also admire their work. But I think that I have no choice but to continue my search to finally know who I am really," he concludes.
