Lilia Refle launches her third book and talks about the thematic controversy of the work
The writer Lilia Refle will launch the novel “A religious puta” on April 1 in Rio. The book chronicles the struggle for survival of a young black woman who leaves behind debt and a broken family in inland Bahia to make a living as a call girl in Rio. Torn between two worlds, the protagonist maintains her faith supported by Pentecostalism, looking for ways out, with her alcoholic mother, chemically addicted younger sister and the absence of her father. In a short time, by dressing and undressing a character with a double life, Sebastiana (or Penélope) becomes the most desired prostitute in the house and the favorite of a senator from the evangelical bench.
These are the topics and the report of the new book by the writer who defines herself as a “survivor”: Lilia Refle is the youngest of a family of 17 children, born in the hinterland of Bahia. You moved to Rio de Janeiro and say that your writing “is made of internal pain. I write to ease the soul, to endure life. There is still a lot to say. Since, in all countries, literacy has always been a class privilege, it was not enough to survive childhood hunger. I had to survive the audacity of a denied intellectuality, because blacks and the poor were only born to clean toilets. I fought to get here. I don’t know if I’m victorious, but I’m self-critical and ambitious about intellectual training.”
“The religious bitch” is the third book by Lilia Refle, who last year published two other novels at the same time: “Inquieta” and “Primeiro amor”.
Lilia Refle says she also has other literary projects underway. The next novel will be “Nine nights out of ten I would like to disappear”. “She is about a German aristocrat who becomes pregnant by her father at the age of 16. She is a blonde girl with blue eyes. Some people have asked me why I don’t always focus my writing on black people. Well, because I’m inspired by the human soul and I don’t think we have a color. Despite the fact that I have yet to deal with racist attacks and establish that I am always black. All this is getting tattooed on the soul. A dish full of inspirations. I dream of the day when human beings will be able to simply be human and that their humanities will be above any material good,” the writer reiterates.
We spoke with her about this, the next works and the previous ones.
D – The question is inevitable from such a straightforward narration: how much is fiction and how much is reality experienced in the work (not necessarily by you)?
A – I believe that literature is a mirror of the darkest parts of the human soul, the shadow of a denied reality. A way to say the unspeakable. Therefore, it would be impossible to write literature from what is not known. And that is what Conceição Evaristo brilliantly calls “writing”. Each woman felt invaded and used in her privacy. Pleasure is sexist. So Jonathas’ abuse of Sebastiana was an inspiration for what I call the male superiority syndrome, which isn’t always a part of men. But they are the only beneficiaries, always. The hypocrisy treated in “A puta religious” was inspired by a field research of more than nineteen years, when I set foot in the South Zone of Rio de Janeiro. I’ve always been very questioning and absurdly critical. Thus, I began to observe what makes marriages happen and last in the Brazilian bourgeoisie. And when I came to the answer (which is) class interests, I was forced to create the trajectory of Sebastiana, who, unlike the girls of Leblon, is a whore with a holy soul. You are a victim of the whole structure of a political system.
Q – Why such a provocative title?
R – I carry a lot of hate in my heart, certainly more than love. I have an absurd repulsion for certain social values. The moral is overwhelming: the greatest of all vanities. In this way I just described what I feel when I’m having dinner with my husband in a fancy restaurant and I get up to go to the bathroom. Men’s looks can kill a woman’s soul. Sebastian is black. And this is something I discovered very early on: prostitute is an adjective used with white, well-mannered women. The adjective for the black woman has always been bitch.
Q – How is your creation process?
A – It’s chaotic. Suddenly I am taken for a saint and something called inspiration comes. I call it an epiphany. Out of nowhere comes a vision of reality about things that have always been in front of me. And I think: “I have to turn it into literature”. I never write just one thing at a time. Because I have no control over epiphanies. “Unquiet” and “First Love” were completed in parallel. “Nine nights out of ten, I would like to disappear” should have ended with these first novels of mine. However, I can’t finish. I sit in front of the computer and epiphany turns into doubts. I hope to receive a German saint to finish the story of Johanna, the protagonist of the novel.
Q – You have 17 siblings. How many others have gone into art, literature, or are you the only one?
A – Now I’m 12. My mother has lost four children. Recently, a sister died of liver cancer. In the context in which I grew up, it was madness to think about intellectuality. Literature, therefore, was the epitome of reverie. But when my sister, eight years older than me, passed her civil service exam and started teaching Portuguese and literature, I thought living in that system and doing nothing to change it was really crazy. Madness would be to stay there. I never had a black teacher in high school, they were all white. My sister passed the state competition long before the first Lula government. It was a dimensionless audacity.
Q – What causes or flags do you raise with your work? Or nobody?
A – I dream of a world where literacy is not a class privilege. But yes, a possible choice. When I talk to upper class friends, it’s funny to think that this adjective exists only in Brazil, they think poor is stupid. I also heard from a friend in 2009 that Brazil was not moving forward because the current president was betting too much on the people. “People are stupid. Everyone who has money will have to get out of here. No country moves forward by betting on people”. He shocked me so much and I felt the need to metaphorically tattoo it on my face that I have never seen a middle class so committed to their own dementia. I am living proof that you can still dream of a less unequal world. And that’s what moves me.
Service
“The Religious Whore”
Astrolabe Editor
74 pages
BRL 45.90
Inauguration April 1 at 18:00
Travessa Library of Ipanema
Rua Visconde de Pirajá, 572, Rio de Janeiro
Source: Terra
Earl Johnson is a music writer at Gossipify, known for his in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the industry. A graduate of USC with a degree in Music, he brings years of experience and passion to his writing. He covers the latest releases and trends, always on the lookout for the next big thing in music.
