Conversation entre Veronika Mabardi et Claudia Durastanti

We had dreamed of a dialogue between Belgian novelist Veronika Mabardi and Italian-American translator and writer Claudia Durastanti. Their novels, Sauvage est celui qui se sauve (about a brother adopted from Korea) and Strangers I Know (about the passionate relationship that bound the narrator’s parents), seemed to us to share a number of similarities. These are novels about silence, family mythologies, the margins, migration, language and writing. Our dream became a reality at the Passa Porta Festival last March. Steered by Juliette Mogenet, the rich and profound encounter that followed, at once on an artistic and personal level, proved us right. Here you can relive the discussion, which opens with a quote from philosopher and psychoanalyst Anne Dufourmantelle – a quote about savagery …