Ana Iris Simón: "As they read Feria, my readers read themselves"

Ana Iris Simon’s baby is wearing mustard colored socks, jeans and an orange T-shirt. His father, Paris, rocks him at the back of the room, in one of the workshops in the Museo Universidad de Navarra where Simón presented Feria, her first book, a publishing revelation already in its twelfth edition in Spain, and which has prompted an intense intellectual, social and political debate about the situation of young Spaniards and their history as a generation. The book begins with a statement of intent: "I envy the life my parents had at my age".

The plot of Feria is the author’s family history: she is a granddaughter of fairground workers on one side, and of communists on the other. Simon’s colloquium was the closing event of the University’s summer course, "Ellas lo cuentan todo. Escritura autobiográfica femenina" (“Tell all: Women's autobiographical writing”). Professor Javier de Navascués and the 50 or so participants had a range of questions for the author. Simón responding to a question said that her great surprise upon seeing the success of the book was to discover that such a thing as normal exists. "I wondered who might care about my life or the life of my grandparents'? But I'm normal! My story is the story of almost all young Spanish people. Everyone cries at funerals, falls in love and loves their grandmother," she said.

Over the last few months the book has been read from perspectives across the political spectrum: Feria has been described as a nostalgic and even a reactionary book, that it portrays a happy Arcadia that never was, but – at the same time – that it is also a book criticizing precariousness of young people’s lives. "It seems that if you criticize the poor material conditions nowadays you’re calling for Franco's return," Simon said ironically in the colloquium. Asked about the variety of possible interpretations of her work, the writer quoted Cortázar's famous phrase: he who underlines a book underlines himself. That's what happens to my readers," explained Simón: "in reading Feria, they are reading themselves”.

The importance of the family and the Spanish ‘question’ were also addressed, among other topics. "Spain is a problem for any intellectual," she said. She also spoke about the role of the University and the work of writing and editing: "The editor knows how to see the soul and bring out the truth of the writer," she noted. At the end of the event, many of the participants asked the author to sign their copies of Feria.

The objective of the course "Ellas lo cuentan todo. Women's autobiographical writing" (“Tell all: Women's autobiographical writing”) was to show the historical process of women's affirmation in the public space through their representation as writers. It addressed the first examples of autobiographical writing by women, which emerged with European modernity from the sixteenth century onwards. In addition to Ana Iris Simón, the program also included the participation of Anna Caballé, who spoke on "Autobiographical writing and women", and Clara Obligado, who presented her book Una casa lejos de casa, in which she describes her memories of life in Argentina during the Dictatorship there and her arrival in Spain during the Transition to democracy here.