After children's books Blas and the mysteries of the night y Blas and the mystery of the abandoned dog, and a historical one about the figure of Jorge Juan, The old notebook, Antonia Montaner delves into literature for adults with this Don't forget to laugh. The protagonist is Adela, an older lady who tells her granddaughter Julia's camera, for a documentary, their experiences during the Republic, the civil war and the post-Franco war. A fast-paced story that exudes oppression, machismo and barbarism, but also hope, laughter and joy against an unjust world, then and now, when it seems that you have forgotten your recent history and are heading to repeat the same mistakes.
Don't forget to laugh, it reminds us of how much our grandparents have lived and remained silent.. Is this book a kind of invitation to listen to them?
Yeah, to listen to the past, a very close but very different past. I have not experienced a war, but many people close to me did go through it, and listened to their stories. And not only war, if not the hardness of their lives, so different from now. My children have heard less of those first-hand stories and my granddaughters barely have witnesses., so this is a way to keep from forgetting because, what is forgotten, repeats and, although it sounds cliché, it is a great truth.
Adela, in its simplicity, with his plain wisdom, gives us great lessons. To his granddaughter Julia and us, the readers. What do you think we can learn from it??
I believe that fortitude, the will to live despite everything and whatever bad life brings us, that always brings bad things, don't make us worse people. Adela, like many women of her time, They lived real nightmares, from our current perspective, They seem almost implausible and they found a way to move forward, and that is what he tries to convey to his granddaughter.
Although historical memory is the core theme, many others are treated like the constraint of women in society. No education, without salary, unquoted… But we also see his strength, how, supporting each other, they faced very complicated situations. The sorority, so, it's not something new?
No, women have always helped each other, and they continue to do so in many parts of the world. In our society these customs have been diluted, especially in cities, Furthermore, now we control our birth rate and that makes everything easier for us.. But when we were full of children, There was no other way to attend to the rest of the tasks in our charge, which were many, that solidarity between all, some made bread, others washed clothes, others sewed it...and the children of each, attended to by all.
Regarding what you say about controlling our birth rate, the protagonist explains at one point that women received menopause as a blessing. It is a very significant detail to understand how much society has changed in recent decades.. How important have contraceptives been in the process of women's emancipation??
Bueno, I don't know if this joy was generalized either., but menopause really makes us free, and if it also arrived to you still young, you could enjoy sex without fear of new pregnancies, not to mention freeing yourself once and for all from monthly bleeding, year after year, How assumed we are but that it is a holy pain. But it is that, besides, You couldn't even talk about all this., They were taboo topics., We not only have to carry rules, pregnancies and menopauses, But we have also had to put up with age-old prejudices that turned us into impure people and things of that nature.. Without a doubt, the arrival of contraceptives was decisive for us.. We have never been able to defend ourselves, take our place, because we have always had a lot of children behind us to take care of and that makes anything impossible. Now we decide our motherhood and that makes us freer and stronger.
After so many years, Adela now feels free to say what she wants, but we see that he goes around and rambles because it is very difficult for him to verbalize what he has experienced.. There were matters that could not be mentioned, don't even cry, and now it is difficult for him to tell secrets that he has never revealed before. Do you think this fear still exists?
If you are referring to the fears during the dictatorship, those, here and now, fortunately, they no longer have. We are talking about a time where prison and death were common, just to think differently. But the other fears, those that have to do with one's own life, with family secrets and the consequences of making them public, those still exist and, It is also a classic and recurring theme in literature and in life itself..
Despite suffering the most repugnant violence from the national side, Adela tells us that barbarism was also practiced on the Republican side. To what extent does war dehumanize all men?, whether red or blue?
And so much. War drives people crazy, everything goes up in the air, literally and metaphorically speaking. In the Spanish Civil War they became brutal on all fronts., but the one who got us into the war was a dictator who did not care about the consequences of his decision and, worst, once the war is won, He maintained his cruelty and his harshness with half of Spain that lost it. And that was no longer a consequence of the madness of a war, that was decided coldly in a quiet office, full of crucifixes, saints and relics, that Franco liked so much. It is seen that, in the background, The bad conscience did not leave him alone and he had to entrust himself to the entire saints list..
In the end he is outraged by those who criticize the desire to open wounds because he says that these have never been closed.. Do you think that at some point the children and grandson of the losers of the civil war will be able to locate their dead and remove them from the gutters??
I hope so. I don't understand how this sad issue can still be unresolved., so unfair; What person of good will could be bothered by these poor people coming out of the graves?, it doesn't make sense. I trust that common sense will prevail and everything will be resolved soon..
