XLWeekly. In The owner (on sale October 6) deals with the fights between the Navarrese and Castilian kings of the 11th century.
Elizabeth San Sebastian. Yes; what happens is that the kings did not fight in duel: they sent their retinues and many peons and knights died for a few more inches of land.
XL. A time full of intrigue.
ISS And very divided. There is a lesson in this novel, still valid in Spain, and that is that unity makes us strong and fragmentation weakens us. Both Christians and Moors.
XL. Women were almost rulers.
ISS Yes, the ones that really broke the cod: they resolved the conflicts of their properties, managed the crops, educated their children… But the chronicles were almost always written by the clerics, with a masculine and biased vision. Women weren’t trampled victims, not then, not now, not ever.
XL. Has religious power annulled women more than political power?
ISS. Much more! For centuries, the Catholic Church had great political and social influence. In pagan and medieval Asturias, women had much more power. She lost it to the Catholic Church.
XL. In the Muslim world it is not better…
ISS There the woman has always been reduced to nothing, with a burqa. Fortunately, in the West we already live in secular societies and we are very free.
XL. In her novel, parents choose their daughters’ husbands. Seeing how long marriages last today, who better than them to know what suits us? [Risas].
ISS LOL! Well surely. Love marriages were based on passion and heat; those of convenience, in reason and calculation. Maybe these are more durable and happy, right? [Ríe]. Life expectancy was also shorter and they did not have time to see the harsh reality of what there is…
XL. Is it easier for you to work with historical documentation than current documentation?
ISS It’s more exciting, really. The information today is depressing. But even though the news and politics can piss me off, they don’t hurt anymore.
XL. Will he leave journalism for literature?
ISS The ABC column doesn’t… and maybe the radio doesn’t either. As long as they love me, of course. But I will leave the TV.
XL. He worked with Jesús Hermida, Luis Del Olmo, María Teresa Campos… Is he an active sacred cow?
ISS Sacred cow? I don’t know. Yes, I am a veteran, a grandmother of family life and journalism. And I resist, which is what it’s all about. I’m in a wonderful moment: ‘grandfather’ is the best thing that can happen to a woman.
As usual!
«Toasted bread, loaf or loaf, with butter and strawberry jam and a slice of melon. And, if there is no melon, a kiwi. And a coffee with milk.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.