Written In Spanish About Belgium By A Colombian, 'It Feels American'

Transcript

ARUN RATH, HOST:

Juan Gabriel Vasquez is best known here for his 2013 blockbuster novel "The Sound Of Things Falling," set in his home country of Columbia. But we've had a long wait for the English translation of his celebrated short story collection "Lovers On All Saints' Day." It's finally here, 15 years after the Spanish edition.

JUAN GABRIEL VASQUEZ: The book, as a whole, is quite concerned with the idea of a couple revisiting a certain moment in their past to try to see what they have become and try to salvage what they can.

RATH: Like the title story, in which a couple in a dying relationship finally confront each other - it doesn't end well.

VASQUEZ: Sadly, in most of the stories, they don't really - they're not really successful, but this was - this was the idea. Yeah.

RATH: The stories in this book - they all work independently, but there's a interrelatedness to them. Not through characters, but it's almost like - it's kind of almost like a musical thing. You repeat situations or imagery. It's almost like a symphony where you're going back to certain motifs.

VASQUEZ: I think that's very good. Yes, that's a very good metaphor. The stories are built in such a way that they communicate with each other, that they echo each other. I had the toughest time just rearranging these stories - placing them in the right order so that that idea of stories playing with each other, communicating with each other really worked in the way I wanted it to work.

So you will be curious maybe to know that in the first Spanish edition, the order of the stories is not the same as in the English - in the English translation because I came to realize after many years that the way the stories worked - I could use it - that communication between the stories - in a better way if I changed the order. And the sum of the parts is more than the total.

RATH: So the background to these stories - these were - these were written quite a while ago, right?

VASQUEZ: Yes. They are set in France and Belgium, which are the countries I lived in between 1996 and 1999. They were first published - the collection was published in 2001, so, yeah, it has been 14 years.

RATH: So why bring out these English translations now?

VASQUEZ: I think I needed a readership that understood the genre of the story - the short story as a genre. It's very American. It's very - you know, it's relationship with the English language is very good. And this book, in particular, was built on influences ranging from Joyce's "Dubliners" to John Cheever's books America and Carver's and maybe a little of John Updike and Richard Ford. So it feels - it feels American.

RATH: I'm curious about how you work with Anne McLean, who has translated - I think she's done just about all the translations of your work into English, right?

VASQUEZ: Yes.

RATH: This book - you know, we talked about - there's very personal feeling to this writing. There's an intimacy, a particular rhythm. I'm curious how much of this is reflecting the original - the Spanish original?

VASQUEZ: I think I was very lucky to meet Anne McLean. I think she's the best translator my books could have in the English language. She allows me to participate in the creation of the new thing. I have been a translator myself for some years. I used to translate books from English and French. So I know that one of the worst things that can happen to a translator is to work with another who thinks they know your language. So I think, in a way, Anne is very tolerant with me. She allows me to give her my opinions, and we work really closely.

RATH: You move around a lot - you know, obviously the time in France and Belgium. You've spent time here in the U.S. You're in Spain right now, as we speak. Are you there for a while, or you do have any plans to settle down in one place?

VASQUEZ: Well, I lived for 13 years in Barcelona, and it's a time when many important things happen for me. I started publishing. My girls were born while I was here. The place holds fond memories for me. My wife and I have agreed that eventually we will come back to Barcelona. Right now, we have moved back to Bogota. We have spent three years already. And I think we will stay in Bogota for two more years, but the fact is we love to move. We actually like the feeling of not really belonging somewhere - being Colombian, but at the same time, having this history with different places that will allow us to feel comfortable in them or, at least, equally uncomfortable, which is interesting, too.

RATH: Juan Gabriel Vasquez's new collection of stories is "Lovers On All Saints' Day." It's been great speaking with you. Thank you so much.

VASQUEZ: Thank you very much for having me. It was my pleasure. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.