Eight years after Penguin India published her first novel Skin , Margaret Mascarenhas' latest novel The Disappearance of Irene Dos Santos was published in the U.S. by Hachette Book Group Inc. A novel set in Venezuela, The Disappearance of Irene Dos Santos is a differently crafted novel that gently reels in its reader into a story of love, family, belonging and the “search for individual truth”, set against a backdrop of revolution, uncertainty and change. Shortly after its India launch recently, Margaret Mascarenhas talks about the book, its subtext of resistance, growing up in Venezuela, and the influences on her work as a writer.
The Disappearance of Irene Dos Santos is an intriguingly crafted book. You've used magic realism a lot. The final chapter catches the reader completely by surprise.
Yes, everybody gets zapped by the end. But it's really up to the reader to decide if it's this or that. I grew up in South America, so magic realism is part of my psyche. But in this book, I turn magical realism completely on its head.
Technically, I was doing several things. I am questioning the genre of magical realism. I am converting to writing an essentially oral cliff-hanger telenovela format. And I also tried to tell a story in a closed third person narration, through the point of view of nine characters that the reader must get in love with immediately, and never repeat a character, while pulling the base story line through those nine characters' point of view. I had to see if I could pull that off successfully. And I think I have.
When I write I find it's important for me to challenge myself technically, in story telling, in terms of format and the way I would present it. It took me five years to complete, but I can never feel any urgency to rush things until I am fully satisfied with the work myself.
The Venezuelan cult of Maria Lionza has figured in the book, along with many aspects of Venezuela, its history, mythology, culture, revolution...what got you started?
I grew up in Venezuela, so I am very attached to it and familiar with it. What sparked this particular story was this incident in 2004, when the statue of Maria Lionza in Caracas cracked in two and created a big hullaballoo in the country, because Maria Lionza is this syncretic iconic figure in Venezuelan mythology and culture that represents many things to many people, but essentially is considered almost like a patron saint of the country. Maria Lionza is just a signifier in the novel. This is a story — besides being about family, love and the glue of love that keeps families together through difficult times — a story of revolution.
Where does the recent history of revolution and political upheaval in Venezuela come from?
I wanted to present this in a completely different form, an authentic form, not the way it is seen in the mainstream media. The novel is, as you said, subtly subversive. It alludes briefly to the current situation in Venezuela and Hugo Chavez. I am a story teller, so I don't want to get into a preachy area. It's not for me to decide what should happen.
But the fact is that there is a feeling in Venezuela about whether North America should be dictating how South American countries run their economies. That somebody can get this idea in his head, that no, I am not doing it... Who knows if he will be successful, but the fact that he is doing it, is important and he is massively popular in Venezuela with the masses. If you're talking about democracy, this is it. The interests you see represented in the mainstream media are really the interests of a very small percentage of Venezuelans, which are the elite and rich percentage. The masses still elect this guy with overwhelming majority every time. There was an election on Sunday and he won again.
You've conveyed so much of Venezuela in the novel...Were the kidnappings and disappearances something that registered with you even as a child?
Well I grew up in Venezuela. I consider it home in some ways. I do have a U.S. passport, but I did not grow up there. Venezuela is my identity. I love the country, Venezuelan food, the culture... I love to dance salsa meringue, everything about Venezuela.
I was sent to an American school, Colegio International de Caracas, where we studied both American and Venezuelan history. While I was at the CIC, there was this student whose dad was kidnapped for over a year. I was too young to remember the details. People used to disappear if they were inconvenient. There were political kidnappings and disappearances.
Are you on a third novel now?
Yes. I am working on a third book called Just Another Car Bomb, set in Beirut. There is a huge Lebanese population in Venezuela. I had a boyfriend who was from Lebanon, so I am very familiar with Lebanese culture. They are a very warm and friendly people, like the Venezuelans. Off course there is a subtext to the story, that we have become almost immunised to people getting blown up, whether it is in Lebanon or wherever. It can be read by people anywhere. Just like revolution and resistance.
Someone was asking me how would I talk about this book for an Indian readership, what do they have to learn from it? I'd say resistance and revolution, what is the differentiating line between who is a freedom fighter and who is a terrorist. It's an issue everywhere; it's a global issue now.
