Saturday, May 14, 2022
Arribada
Launching this week, Arribada, a 2022 Debut by binational and bilingual writer Estela González, tells the story of Mariana Sánchez Celis, a Julliard-trained pianist pushed to confront her and her Mexican family's role in environmental and social injustice when Mariana returns home and discovers that Ayotlan’s beaches, sea turtle colonies, and historic center are decimated after decades of neglect and abuse. As she becomes romantically and politically involved with Fernanda Lucero, an indigenous conservation activist, both women find themselves in danger...
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Thank you, Karla, for posting about my debut novel Arribada. The launch last week was great. I would like to share with you the questions from Roberto Lint Sagarena who interviewed me at the event. Here they are:
ReplyDeleteCould you tell us about the title of the novel – an arribada is a sea turtle’s return to a nesting ground – which makes it a perfect title for a transnational return to Mexico. How do your experiences of return inform the novel?
Is writing therapeutic for you and if so what did Arribada help you think through?
The novel treats desire beautifully. Can say more about the experience of bringing it to life in the narrative?
Did the tradition of Mexican indigenismo inform your creation of Fernanda’s character? She is a wonderfully contemporary character, rather than a stereotype. Did you have any concerns about depicting contemporary indigenous culture in the book?
What are the difficulties of writing about the flaws of Mexico when it is commonly represented in very negative terms in popular and political culture here? As we have long seen, Mexico quickly becomes the land of “Bad Hombres” in the cultural imaginary of the United States when it is politically expedient for it to do so. Were you concerned about representing Mexican decline to readers in the United States?
Social decline and environmental collapse are intimately tied in the book. Could you say more about how the themes work together in the novel?
Why 1989?
Can you speak about the trope of the disappearance of people in Mexico? As a deep form of trauma in contemporary Mexican culture, was it a difficult to engage and capture the topic?
Now that the book is out, where did the process of finishing it leave you creatively and personally? Are you pausing to reflect as you send it out into the world or are you generating new stories? Or both?
That's a great set of questions! It's so satisfying to have an interviewer who has really thought about the book.
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