Interview with Barbara Abel
September 2006
Sophie Colpaert
Translation: Joanna Brown
Sophie Colpaert: La
Mort en écho* is
punctuated, in an Yvonne Bessonesque way, by scenes full of relationship
tension, loaded with emotion and wrenching for the reader. Are
you aware of the effect produced by these scenes? What are your
references, and what do you read?
Barbara Abel: I am, of course, aware
of the tension that I create throughout the book, fortunately!
Through writing detective novels that also tend towards being thrillers,
I have come to realise that what adds spice to a story is the way
that the story is told. Incidentally, Hitchcock explains this very
well: a bomb is placed on a bus that a little boy gets on. If the
spectator is unaware of the bomb and that bomb then explodes, the
surprise will only last a moment. If, on the other hand, the spectator
knows that there is a bomb, and sees the little boy get onto the
bus, the tension will be unbearable for the whole bus journey.
It all depends upon the perspective from which one tells the story.
I do not really have any precise references as far as what I read
is concerned, but I like to examine the way in which other writers
present characters and events. I like to do the same with films.
Sometimes, when watching a film, I fall in love with how an idea
is constructed or presented and I use it to ‘tinker'
with my own recipe.
S.C.: In your books, the women are, without exception, appalling
characters. Why so much hatred? Are we so terrible? :-)
B.A.: No, of course we're not so terrible.
It is just because I am a woman and it is easier for me to put
myself in the shoes of a woman. I feel that I have more prehension
for my female characters than my male ones. It is easier for me
to be able to put myself in their place, and therefore to describe
their psychology, their feelings, their fears and their doubts,
etc. When I was young I took drama classes, and I have found that
writing is not so far removed from acting, in the sense that when
I write I play the role of every character. And therefore, logically,
it is easier for me to play the role of a woman than a man. I think
that catharsis - the ability to identify oneself with a character
and to feel empathy for that character – works
better that way. And then it is also true that we are more afraid
when a woman is in danger than when a man is. It's unfair, but that's
the way it is.
S.C.: La
Mort en écho would
make an excellent television series. There is tension, suspense,
fear, and the isolated house, ‘Le Cheminot' (‘the Railway Worker'),
set apart from the village, provides an original backdrop. Have
you already been approached about a film or television adaptation?
B.A.: Yes,
but not for La Mort en écho. At
least, not yet. However, my first book** was bought by ‘GTV' (French television
production company) with a view to making an audiovisual adaptation.
S.C.: Have your books been translated into other languages?
How have they been received?
B.A.: My first two books have been
translated into German. Their reception? I don't really know, to
be honest. Although I haven't heard any negative feedback. ‘Duelle',
my third novel, is currently in the process of being translated
into Spanish and Russian. If all goes to plan, they should be published
during 2007.
S.C.: Do you foresee a day when you will write a book dominated
by a male character?
B.A.: Yes, why not? But it is more
important to represent a man in his entirety. It is this that will
enable the birth of a masculine character that must then take form.
It is true that all my novels represent women, but even the idea
of this story called for a female character: a surrogate pregnancy,
the emotional pull felt by a mother when her child is in danger,
the hell of a battered woman, a couple's relationship under strain
because of the desire for a child…I am
not particularly hung up on the idea of wanting to create a heroine
at any price, but it is true that my mind thinks up the sort of ideas
that favour women or talk about women. Both their good and bad sides.
* La
Mort en écho, Barbara Abel's fourth novel,
is presented in the ‘reading' section of this seventh edition of
Europolar.
** L'Instinct maternal,
winner of the ‘Prix Cognac',
2002.
