The writer Elaine Vilar Madruga has declared that she “wishes” that all her books could be published in Cuba, given that not all of them are on the shelves of the island, although she has expressed hope that one day this could happen.
Vilas Madruga, a native of Havana, where he resides, has presented at the Celsius 232 Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror Festival from Avilés his work The tyranny of fliesone of his works not published on the island.
The extraordinary voice and work of the Cuban Elaine Vilar Madruga filled the Activities Tent of the #celsius2024 during the meeting with the author pic.twitter.com/H5yZeSTtSi
— Celsius 232 (@festivalcelsius) July 18, 2024
As he defined in an interview for Efe, It is a black comedy which tells the story of Cassandra, Caleb and Calia, three siblings, each more unusual than the last.
Cassandra, the eldest, feels sexual attraction to objects, specifically to a bridge near her house, the author explained.
Her father, a stuttering soldier, falls into disgrace with Grandpa Bigotes, the country’s leader, and out of frustration, he makes life impossible for his children, especially Cassandra, whom he prevents from going to see the bridge she is in love with.
In this novel he recreates the political conflicts contained, “compressed under pressure”, in the home of the protagonist family.
In the process of creating characters, Vilar Madruga always begins with in-depth research and, in this case, the author has studied the figure of dictators in the contexts of Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa.
With these premises, he has been constructing a “Kafkaesque, magical and wonderful story, and also one of oppression, claustrophobia and terror”, mixed, a bit, with parody, because Vila Madruga has shown herself convinced of the “revolutionary power” of humour.
That’s why, The tyranny of flies It allows us to put into question “the ridiculousness of the dictatorship, in its uniforms, in its way of behaving, in the physical appearance of the tyrant, his gestures and his stage projection.”
Vilar Madruga has his second home in Toronto, although he lives in Havana with his family, where he writes stories that are published in countries such as the United States, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Spain, Chile, France, Italy and Mexico, but not all of them in Cuba.
“Cuba is not a democracy,” but, as the author has indicated, “one builds democracy at home,” since “the essential space of democracy is one’s head, the brain of the creator, which is where spaces of freedom and thought are built.”
“I have learned to build that other Cuba within myself,” said Vila Madruga, aware that there are books she writes that would not be published in her country, such as The tyranny of fliesalthough he consoles himself with the fact that the island “is just a piece of the world” and that, therefore, “there is more world.”
Elaine Vilar Madruga: “I am from a generation that does not keep silent”
“I write what I like first and foremost and I try not to censor myself too much, which is something different from censorship,” said the writer who began writing her first novel at the age of seven, convinced that this would be her life, and who has already published fifty books, many of them in her country.
At 35 years old, Vilar Madruga has a degree in Theater Arts from the Higher Institute of Art of Cuba and also has musical training.
“When you come from the theatre, you realise that there are many arts, but they are combined into one, and I would love to write a script, because I think that the dream of writers is to one day get into cinema. I won’t deny it, I hope so,” he said.
Efe/OnCuba.
