Interview with Massimo Carlotto
A Buenos Aires Horror Tour
You are one of the most highly appreciated crime writers from the Mediterranean area. All your books share the common theme of memory, be it historical or personal. How does a writer that makes reality an important point of reference, as well as inspiration, work?
I have a formula that I apply to all my books: telling a crime story is in fact an excuse to describe the social, historical and economic circumstances of the time and the place where the action happens. This means doing thorough research and then thinking about the book. What’s also important to me is trying in some way to give the reader the most detailed information possible, as today in Italy investigative journalism is all but dead.
What kind of relationship do you have with writing? Are you methodical? What proportion of your work is composed of stylistic research and how much instead is narrative invention tout court?
I am methodical. Every story is a literary project in which stylistic research and investigation are blended together. I always take a month to find the right style with which to tell a particular type of story.
“The Irregulars - Buenos Aires Horror Tours”, your story about the Argentinian coup and the desaparicion is particular, different from your other books, in terms of style and structure (the rather oneiric “horror tours” alternate between tales of ferocious and due realism). How and why did you arrive at this result?
I let myself be transported by the atmosphere of Buenos Aires, which I hoped to transmit to the reader. The magic of the city (even in the horror) is its raw naked history. I came back from Argentina with lists of names and appalling events and found myself having to make these desaparecidos (disappeared) real to try to give them back their concrete dimension.
How did you write “The Irregulars”? How long was your research and documenting phase and what difficulties did you face?
I encountered many difficulties. First of all asking people to relive their pain and loss for my tape recorder. Then I had to cross-reference the stories and I was forced to examine infinite lists of missing persons. I had to read and photocopy legal documents, books, newspapers. Those were six difficult months and I was afraid that I would be overwhelmed by the enormity of history and I wouldn’t be able to maintain enough focus to write my story.
There is perhaps one story in the book which particularly struck me, the one about Miel Bru, ”llevato” (“collected”) and killed in 1993. Eleven years after the end of the dictatorship, in Argentina, young people continued to disappear and be killed. Almost thirteen years have passed and Argentina still isn’t one of the countries commonly considered to be a violator of human rights. I ask myself, and maybe you have an answer, where was (and is) the rest of the world while all this was going on?
Both the right and the left, for different reasons and for too long, wanted to keep quiet about what was happening in Argentina. This determined an atmosphere of impunity in the armed forces and Argentinian police that prolonged the illegal practices. Until Kirchner was elected no government had wanted to clean up the military and police, and corruption and “putschism” continued to thrive.
Thirty years after their fight began the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo have marched for the last time. Many of them have grown old without seeing the justice they sought. It seems that the Argentinian state, today, nominally supports them and acknowledges the crimes committed during and after the dictatorship, without however, really doing anything about it. Is it really like this? Is such an abomination really destined to go unpunished?
Unfortunately the mothers and “abuelas” (grandmothers) have been abandoned for too long. Nowadays it is difficult to reconstruct events and pinpoint responsibility. Only the generals are paying for their part in the crimes with house arrest. The only hope is to one day discover the truth that will reveal what really happened, and give us the exact number of the missing and the babies born in underground concentration camps. Despite the time that has passed the Argentinian Catholic church, which continues to hold secrets, could be of great help.
Some of the babies born in the concentration camps or orphans of murdered mothers were bought by other families. Some of them have been traced and put in contact with their original families. An important and profound experience for those who had lived all their lives in families that in some way were accomplices of the regime that killed their parents. What do you have to say about these stories?
The Carlottos of Argentina continue to search for Guido, born in a concentration camp. This is one story that I am deeply involved in. There isn’t one day that I don’t think of his return. In these years I have met many rediscovered children and I have collected many stories. The worst are those who were adopted by the members of the military directly involved in the kidnapping, torture and elimination of their parents. Luckily the abuelas have created a network of support that can help them in the best ways possible.
The dramatic events following the coup have partially come to light today. Books and films like Garage Olimpo or Hijos, which have been widespread and successful also in Italy, bring news of a recent and unknown drama. In what way is today’s Argentina coming to terms with a recent past that it can no longer hide?
Argentina is an ailing country that cannot deal with that piece of recent history. On one side there is memory, and on the other the desire to forget. What has been done, and is being done today, is not enough. The only way to emerge from this situation would be to adopt the South African method of putting victims and executioners face to face without trial or punishment to get to the truth and so be able to rebuild a real national unity.
Translated from Italian by Goran Mimica.