Cristina Garcia
Cristina Garcia's latest novel is Here in Berlin. From her Q&A with Deborah Kalb:
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Here In Berlin?--Marshal Zeringue
A: It came about unexpectedly. I went in search of different kinds of stories…looking for Cubans’ relationship with the Eastern Bloc. I didn’t find much, although I tried really hard. I got despondent. I had rented an apartment [in Berlin] for three months!
Then I just got seduced by the city, the archaeology, and its ghosts, people in the interstices of history. It became its own thing. It evolved very slowly. It became a crazy historical excavation though it takes place in the present time.
Q: The novel features a visitor in Berlin and the various characters she encounters. How did you choose the novel’s structure?
A: That was another huge problem! You’re hitting every long night of despair I had! I just kept collecting these stories, finding them in little airholes of the history books I was reading.
At one point there were over 100 of these voices and I then started organizing them. I started ranking them. It was like a Busby Berkeley routine. Then I ended up...[read on]
