2024-09-24 09:33:48
BarcelonaThe writer Juan Trejo (Barcelona, 1970) was nine years old when his sister Manuela, Nela, died at the age of 21. He does not remember much because, when he left home, he was only five years old. Forty-four years have passed since that heroin-related death that meant before and after Trejo’s family life. Finding out who she is and what happened to Nela has been a long process, as there are no photos or information about her at home. It was as if her older sister was never there. along with The year 1979 (Tusquets) makes it come again.
When did you decide to tell your sister’s story?
– At the end of 2018 I started research, but it is a story that is always with me, because it is a story of family. I have talked about my sister in my previous post, Sound blocking (2019), but saying a couple of things that, in fact, I know today is not correct. I want to know more about him, but it’s all very slow because I have very little information, and it’s been over forty years since he died. The trigger is when I see the movie again Laughter and tearsthat I have seen with my sister. It was like an explosion. I started talking to my brothers, then my friends and acquaintances at that time.
During the investigation he found some photographs, very few, and not much paper. He talked to his mother, his brothers, acquaintances from time, he read … What helped him the most to know his sister?
– A little bit of everything, but at first it was very frustrating, because the information was a lot. I’m sure I don’t have the equipment to write a book. But I soon thought that my sister’s story was about a generation that, like my family, had been forgotten by the government’s history.
If you read the book, you will know that interviewing experts at that time did not help him much when it comes to reconstructing his sister’s story.
– Not much. They are people who come from a stable position, have means and resources and jump, but more or less return to where they were established. I have nothing to say, it is not a criticism, but they have that possibility. However, I hope to have more information after which, in the end, I was able to extract from books, newspapers, magazines… It is also true that I am asking them very important things about my sister and Italian boyfriend, Valerio, and on the entry of heroin into Spain.
He explained earlier that he had not seen much literature.
– I am talking about a specific period, between 1973 and 1978, and Barcelona. It was a time of the emergence of the counterculture. They have little to do with the anti-Franco struggle of the previous generation. What they intend is to change the way we live and understand the world. It is also a time that is easy to disappear because they are not attached to anything: either to parties or to political currents. They are rather acrates or libertarians and they don’t want to organize themselves.
In the book he makes many references to the fact that, despite everything, there are social differences. He even said his sister was “cannon fodder.”
— Yes, because my sister comes from a humble family. He has no training. She is very intelligent, awake and understanding, and the only thing she can bring is her strength and her faith. He is not a comedian or a singer… Even in alternative movements, there are first-class and second-class selections.
He said the King has no memory of his sister. With the book, have you been able to meet him?
— Now I know who you are. Not only do I understand him on a more intimate level, but also his motivation. I was a little afraid of what the family might read about it, but all the responses have been very positive. Using the principles of the book, I was able to see, let it be. I want to respect you, but also your vision.
However, it seems that it is difficult for his brothers to talk about Nela.
– Of course not. They have their own version that they created to survive the explosion that killed them. Now, however, they have also made the story I wrote their own and so our children will also be able to meet Nela. A friend of mine asked me why I didn’t write this story twenty or thirty years ago. I have not been able to. Not only because my parents are alive, but because I can’t do this job.
Wouldn’t he have asked you if your parents were alive?
— No, I think not. I don’t mean to criticize, but this is my version, not theirs. I would not have dared to ask him. However, it is a responsibility I have to my children: to give them my declaration.
Have you been able to understand the path that led your sister to heroin?
– He was a consumer before the great entry of heroin came to Spain. Despite everything, it has already been talked about a lot in the media. There is a lot of prejudice, and it is probably one of the reasons why it does not get the attention it deserves in the hospital. It was a combination of things. It was extremely adventurous, there was little information, and the heroine was a mythology. There is a very interesting book by Carl Hart about everything that can make you end up addicted to it. Sometimes it’s a burden you carry: a tendency to worry, that you don’t fit in, that you tend to isolate or that what you expect becomes something else. Heroin is a refuge drug. Maybe you feel like you are where you should be. I’m sure my sister would have ended up leaving. You are not a customer for a long time. And, in fact, I know that with Valerio they are trying to stop him.
Valerio is an important character in the book.
— It is a book marked by the sadness of not being able to find more, the inability to explain a life. Valerio is the key. He and his surroundings brought me to light, and they changed the focus of the book in a wonderful way.
#absolutely #sister #eventually #quit #heroin