Shelf Unbound October/November 2013 October 2013 | Page 10

said, just as happened every day
when she took her place at the
machines.” What drew you to this
theme?
Chejfec: The narrator is observant
and analytical. He feels attraction
to what is different and what he
cannot understand. He likes to plot
hypothesis, but not clarify mysteries. This novel is a small testimonial
to the working class, so
forgotten in spite
of sustaining the
world. It seemed
honest to assume
a
non-paternal
view—contrary to
what the social or
testimonial literaShelf: Being
ture usually has—
diminished or not
and try to describe
fully seen is a theme in the novel.
that world as if it
For example, you write of Delia: were about epitomes, through a
“She had a special capacity for moral digression that is at the same
imparting an overabundance of time anthropological.
being; not a longer life, but rather
a more emphatic presence. This Shelf: What did you learn about
quality, by a predictable mecha- this novel or about your writing in
nism of compensation, tended to the process of having it translated
distance her, dilute her, and make into English?
her nearly transparent, like I’ve Chejfec: I feel very fortunate in
ous outpouring of the real world,
but they are not. I believe they
should be presented as visions of
the world, although partial, and as
barely hypnotizing effects. When I
say “machine” I mean that the novel
only appears as an artificial organization of words, actions and arguments that because of its artificial
character is able to
talk about things
more eloquently
than the narrations
that are seeking to
erase the distance
between what is
said and what is
apparently real.

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OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2013