"It's blatant autobiographical" | Franco Vaccari …

Among the writings on the theme of the Malvinas, a novel particularly aimed at young readers distinguishes itself by the strength of its history, by the way in which it paints with a literary precision this episode of history and its young protagonists. I've never been at war, says Francisco the narrator, and that's the name of the novel. This is strictly true, because the young conscript is in contact with this bellicose conflict (which he saw from the outside, like so many others, with admiration, being a hero) from his place of furriel to the infirmary from the naval base of Puerto Belgrano. As was the case for Franco Vaccarini himself, author of this great novel, now reissued by SM.

"And yes, that's my only blatant autobiographical novel," confirms author El Cruce, Fever Yellow and How to Bath a Martian, among dozens of titles for children and teenagers (also for adults) edited (see separately). He can also say: I have never been to war. But, like Francisco, he was also very close to the Falklands war, when he had to do his compulsory military service at the infirmary at the Punta Alta base in the south of the province of Buenos Aires.

From the experience of this Lincoln teenager as a colimba, an adult Vaccarini evokes in this book what he lived and the characters he met: the soldiers who crossed the islands and arrived at the infirmary with marks on the outside and inside, officers, NCOs and lieutenants and their modes of command, solidarities and curses, fears, anguish, friendship. What this special moment means for everyone, that of the transition to adulthood – and of love, of friends, of the uncertain future and of the relationship with parents – has also lived in this context, that of a current war. All these memories become literature, with a plot that captures. And this certainly causes great empathy among young readers, who will be able to identify in different ways with the protagonist, but who, as for good books, meet without limit of age.

– How was born the impulse to write on this topic thinking of a young audience?

-From 20 years old, I knew that one day I would write about Malvinas because that was the theme of my generation, but it was at the same time a thorn. I had pain, I did not like, I could not find the way, it was emotionally devastating. In 2011, I had pancreatitis and, because of a mystery of social work, I was finally transferred to the central military hospital where, by the way, they m? N 39; have treated very well. Pancreatitis is something very painful, with some risk of life. This certainty and the fact that all military hospitals look alike have brought me a cargo of memories. So, I discovered that I was younger, that my youth was a fiction in my memory, and then I had the pleasure of looking for that little boy that I had been, always obsessed with finding a quiet place to write, even in the colimba.

-And how much is the experience autobiographical or lived?

-I want to be precise with that. On August 1, 1982, I entered the colimba and attended the Training Center for Infant Training and Training of the Navy, Cifim, located opposite Pereyra Park. . In the jargon colimba, there was "Green Hell", for its mountains and slopes and for the conditions of extreme hardness imposed on the soldiers. A hardness that had more to do with humiliation, with the "dances", the change of water temperature in the showers, the waking up in the middle of the night … The typical "deconstruction" to which our soldiers were so attached. Let's not forget that colimba means "run, clean, sweep", minga to prepare for the war!

-The protagonist arrives in Puerto Belgrano, the base of Punta Alta. You too?

-Yes, a month and a half later, they sent me to the amphibious support force at the naval base in Puerto Belgrano. And there, they referred me to the Department of Health, that is, to Nursing. I had not taken the nurse course, I entered as a furriel or administrative employee. Gradually, the infirmary became my home; I had access to paper and typewriter, so I wrote hidden, mostly poems. And always accompanied by "Abaddon, the exterminator", Sabato …

-Like the novel!

Yes And then he brought me a problem, as I say in a chapter too. After my office hours, I did not go back to the neighborhood. Little by little, everyone agreed that I was there all the time, even if it cost me one night in a dungeon. And I ended up learning the arts of the good nurse called: take the pressure, the fever, vaccinate, do guards … There, I met the nurses of the hospital ship Bahía Paraíso and the soldiers who had crossed the islands and were in treatment. They came and went from the infirmary to the naval hospital. Puerto Belgrano is the largest naval base in Argentina and was a hotbed of raw stories.

– And the characters in the novel were also real soldiers, did you know?

-The names are fictitious, but the Chaco boy who had the amputated leg (Palatinus) is real and Lisandro, the missionary with schizophrenic syndrome too. The same thing with the petty officers and the medical lieutenant. Everything that happens in Puerto Belgrano is real. There is more fiction when I jump on the islands; for these chapters, I fed on readings, testimonies of veterans and the memory of the discussions between delirious and sad with Lisandro …

-The Malvinas issue continues to be uncomfortable. Ex-combatants are considered heroes or helpless children. Between talking about sovereignty and a war without meaning and atrocious, like all wars …

-On 29 March 1982, at the age of 18, I interviewed Borges in his apartment on Maipú Street. One of my questions was what he thought of the war. He quoted Alberdi as saying that war was a crime, beyond the fact that defensive wars leave you no choice but to defend yourself. A few days later, they launched us into this senseless war. The level of crime was higher here because untrained citizens were forced to go to the front. The first malaise comes from the fact that many celebrate the taking of the islands, there is a bad conscience as a society and it is better to accept it, to open our eyes to the manipulation of which we may be victims. Argentine veterans were boys because they were just 18 or 19 years old. They were called, that is, they were forced to go to war. And they were soldiers, because in reality they had to act as such. Guys, conscripts, soldiers; the three terms at the same time define them.

-It is not known how to locate the homeland feeling there …

– Do not forget that "homeland" is the favorite word of fascists, unifies a group or a country to separate it from another group or country. I like the concept of "Patria Grande", which includes others, our neighbors and neighbors of our neighbors.

-What do young readers emphasize or discover in this story?

– I had meetings with readers, especially in high schools. It is often said that "my father was about to go to war" or "my uncle was at war". They can identify with Francisco, the narrator, they use the book to bring them closer to their elders, and I like that. The contrast between the idealization of war and the reality that sprays all that romanticism counted in the families of the dead, destroyed, all that dirty slug that is the war hits them hard. And most importantly, this brought to light the cowardice, ineptitude and criminal irresponsibility of Galtieri and his company. I have also shared talks at book fairs, teachers, museum Malvinas with veterans.

-And what did ex-combatants tell you?

-The answers are good, emotional. Like the letter that Gabriel sent me a few months ago, he tells me that he has finished the book with tears in his eyes. The response to reading has always been positive, they are represented in the characters, because we were like that; because I was one of them, among those who did not go to the Malvinas and what I did, it is to describe the sacrifice that they consented in the islands, in the hospital ship, or in General Belgrano; and what happened immediately afterwards for those who still could not go home because they did not have the medical discharge.

-In the novel, two characters represent the soldiers who could not return home because they had not been released for medical reasons. It's awesome to know that they really existed …

– It is also true that Lisandro gave me this plastic white rosary, supposedly blessed by the pope, that he reserved to give it to his mother … But that day, he m & # 39; 39, said that he thought he would see him no more and gave it to me. I could not convince him that it would not be like that.

– Do you want to save this rosary?

-No, no … You do not know the guilt that gives me that … My life has been a lot of back and forth, a lot of movement; the rosary was lost, I lost it. In part, the book absolved me of this guilt, because I did not forget it. I have not forgotten his drama, I keep alive the image of Lisandro. Tell the readers that Lisandro was not an invention of me, a whim: he existed, he was a collimator of the FAPA, Puerto Belgrano, Marine Corps, who found himself in Borda. I do not know what happened to his life, I do not know if he went back to Misiones, but some of his words remained in my book. That's all I could do for him: do not forget him.