The Argentine writer Eduardo Sacheri has just published his most recent book, the two of us in the storm”, edited by Random House and which talks about friendship, politics and violence in a fierce Argentina in 1975.
Winner of the Alfaguara 2016 award for The night of Usina, He spoke with EL NUEVO SIGLO about the history embodied in his book, episodes of left-wing groups that revolutionized his country in the 1970s.
his first novel, The question of their eyes (2005), was made into a film by director Juan José Campanella with the title The Secret in Their Eyeswith great success and even received the Oscar for best foreign film in 2009. It was followed by the novel Aráoz and the truth (2009) y papers in the wind (2012).
THE NEW CENTURY: What led you to write this story of war, politics and friendship at a certain time in Argentina?
EDUARDO SACHERI: the two of us in the storm It has a narrative that is set in Argentina in 1975; a very stormy and conflictive political time. Just before the military dictatorship; a constitutional government and a very critical situation. There are various political actors, very violent actions. At that time there were a couple of left-wing revolutionary organizations called Ejércitos Revolucionarios del Pueblo (ERP) and the Montoneros (a Peronist guerrilla organization from Argentina), so both wanted to seize power. The protagonists of my story are two militants, Antonio and Ernesto, each one in these organizations. They are lifelong friends, but they are also partners and victims of this war. The idea is to land in that extreme and violent era and tell the existential impact on the lives of all those people, involved in the decisions of these actors of the revolution.
ENS: In this story, what prevails: friendship, ideals or political warfare?
ES: The idea is to present both the universe of violence by armed organizations, their planning, their execution, their internal dynamics, as well as that other human and daily side of the militants, because they are young people who were not only armed militants, but also children, brothers, boyfriends, students, neighbors… the aim is to give relief and complexity to those characters that will not only remain as caricatures, but as protagonists of these stories.
ENS: What was the objective of delving into the past of your country?
ES: Undoubtedly in Argentina we have worked a lot, from novels, cinema and even fiction, on the military dictatorship that began in 1976 with a very atrocious regime, but that has somewhat unbalanced our interest towards other very interesting and very full historical periods. of meanings. In general, I am interested in those moments less frequented by literature and cinema.
ENS: Were your characters and plots based on any real life episodes?
ES: No one in particular. I spent several years not only researching academic papers on the period and its resonance in the revolution, but also collecting testimonies from ex-guerrillas or victims to get a vision of everything that was as close to real life as possible.
ENS: You were first a history teacher, how was that jump to literature?
ES: Since I was a child I always liked to read. At twenty-odd years my professional life was going the other way, I dedicated myself to teaching history at the National University of Luján. That had nothing to do with literature, but then I discovered that writing was a way of inquiring into the meaning of things that happen to us and I think it’s a very interesting experience, just as reading or writing is for a slightly deeper way.
ENS: In 2005 your novel ‘The question of their eyes’ was made into a film and won an Oscar, what did this merit mean to you?
ES: On the one hand, it was a surprise, and on the other, an enormous opportunity in the sense that the world of cinema has a much higher visibility than that of books. I was doing well as a writer in Argentina. But with the novel and the Oscar the opportunity was given for my work to expand to all of Latin America and Spain. Then came the translations to many more countries. It was a great opportunity to continue working in other dimensions, that is, from there I was able to publish many more novels, others were made into movies. It was a great opportunity that has to be cultivated and taken care of with the continuity of the work.
ENS: What were the doors that opened when you won the 2016 Alfaguara Award?
ES: Within the literary world, the prize is an opportunity. That book was promptly published in Spain and Latin America and at the same time a tour of all the countries of America was carried out. This award allows you to strengthen your presence in countries where, naturally, not so much is known at first, so for my books it allows that recognition abroad.
ENS: What similarities are there between Colombian literature and that of your country?
ES: Both societies have suffered very deep and long-term conflicts. They are not the same, but at the same time they look alike. I believe that literature is a tool that both societies find to investigate problems and bring them to light, asking questions and giving answers. It seems to me that on the surface Colombia and Argentina have gone through a very different history, but there is a very interesting cultural relationship. Although we are at the extremes of Latin America, we are much closer than geography seems to indicate.
ENS: What will be your next step, with which novel will you surprise your readers?
ES: I’m doing research for my next novel. This has to do with the Malvinas war, which was a military confrontation between Argentina and Great Britain. I would be very interested in creating a fiction based on that story.