By Millicent Borges Accardi
Born in Lisbon, celebrated professor and writer, Rui Zink, is a multi—faceted individual, the author of more than 30 books, his wonderful literary work has been translated into a dozen languages and the extraordinary range of his literary output stretches from children’s stories, to cartoons, opera and fiction.
Hotel Lusitano, his first novel, debuted to much acclaim in 1986, and is still considered one of the best books of his generation. In 1997, Zink co-authored, with artist António Jorge Gonçalves, A Arte Suprema, the first graphic Portuguese novel. In 2001, he wrote the first Portuguese online novel, Os Surfistas, with the input of e-readers.
He has translated into Portuguese significant writers’ works, such as the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize-winning author Saul Bellow.
Zink is an Associate Professor of Portuguese Literature at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. In 2009, he served as a Hélio and Amélia Pedroso/Luso-American Foundation Endowed Chair Professor in Portuguese Studies at UMass Dartmouth and was recently a visiting writer at Middlebury College, Vermont. In 2005, his novel, Dádiva Divina, received Portugal’s prestigious Pen Club award. Visit Zink’s web page @ www.ruizink.net/about
In this interview for the Portuguese American Journal, Rui Zink reflects on his eclectic creative process, writing for a global audience. He shares insights from his experiences as a visiting professor at US universities and discusses the contributions of Portuguese-American writers within the broader context of the Luso-American experience. He reveals details about forthcoming publications and offers a glimpse into his current work in progress.
Q. How do you decide what to write about?
A. I don’t. Either someone invites me for a paid job, or I sit down watching what’s going on. Something will eventually come up.
Q. What challenges or benefits are there in writing in Portuguese in a global world?
A. Well, from a writing point of view, it’s wonderful. Such a ductile and beautiful language. The challenge is that to write a simple sentence — “Coffee, please” – there are so many alternatives. Too many tenses, too little time.
Q. How would you describe your work process as a writer? Any rituals?
A: Not really. Focus is the keynote. My main problem is finding a subject (idea, scene, sentence, trigger) that I find interesting to grasp, grab, twist and smash, Hulk style.
Q. If you have one, can you describe your writing space/desk/café?
A. Not interesting at all. I have no fetishes. I wrote a whole novel in 2008 (O Destino Turístico) while standing, not to mimic Pessoa, but for health reasons. It is not the most comfortable way to write, and it stiffens the sentences a bit, which can be good if that is your aim.
Q. Given that this interview is for the Portuguese American Journal, can you discuss how Portuguese writers and Portuguese-American writers can bridge the gap between both countries and be more connected? Through collaborations? Readings? Translation?
A. All of the above. In groups and one on one. Sometimes, Portuguese-American writers are too fascinated by Portuguese culture talking points. Salazar, fado, saudade and so on. That, for me, may be a downer. I’d rather (they write) about their Luso-American experience.
Q. You recently led a PT-US exchange at San Diego State University, where you taught what may be the first creative writing course in Portuguese. Can you describe the experience?
A. I was part of, only, just a few classes, the semester was led by (quite soundly, I think) by Lauren Applegate, with the support of Ricardo Vasconcelos. The students were enthusiastic, and I think the outcome may be beautiful.
Q. What were the students like? The type of writing that was done?
A. Students were open to every challenge. High spirits and playfulness are the only tools required. Oh, and pen and paper. Here, there was the extra challenge of the language barrier.
Q. Will there be another workshop?
A. I hope so. You just need two friends to start a creative writing club. One teases the other by increasing the difficulty. And the other doesn’t have to try to ‘be creative’, just needs to get out of the trap, thus being truly creative without trying to.
Q. You were Hélio and Amélia Pedroso/Luso-American Foundation Endowed Chair Professor in Portuguese Studies at UMassD in 2009. What was that experience like?
A. It was a blessing. A couple of months ago, I had the honor to present a book by one of the, then, students.
Q. What was the title of the book? And the name of the class at UMassD?
A. Ramos de uma Falsa Árvore (subtitle: Ficcção Portuguesa na Era Democrática). [ROUGH TRANSLATION, maybe: True Limbs from a Fake Tree – Portuguese Fiction in the Democratic Era]. The class was Portuguese 620, if I remember well. [Contemporary Literature for PhD students.]
Q. What images or touchstones do you think are unique to Portuguese literature? Words, phrases, images?
A. Flexibility and open-mindedness. Even on an island, we are a language aware of the world.
Q. Your literary output is so varied, from novels, children’s books, translation, plays, to comic strips, how can you straddle so many genres with ease?
A. Well, I don’t do poetry, the only real different genre. All the others belong to the narrative mode. Writing an opera book is not so different from writing a comic.
Q. As a translator, what work have you been most proud of translating and why?
A. Home is an Island, by Alfred Lewis. Sort of bringing back home a wonderful novel by a man who left Flores at age 19 and spent time in Providence, Rhode Island, before he went out to California.
Q. How did you land on the style of writing you use?
A. There’s no secret. You find your voice through those you emulate. I was lucky to have good masters, both in books and in person. Plus, the beauty of art is when you realize that you don’t find your voice through your qualities but through your flaws.
Q. What are some of the challenges you face as a writer?
A. Losing interest in sitting down and spending an awful amount of time trying to answer the world around me.
Q. What could Portugal learn from the US?
A. Positivity. America is very encouraging, at least it was when I was young.
Q. What could the US learn from Portugal?
A. Sobriety. Compassion. Acceptance that not being Number One is cool too. The art of the deal — we invented it.
Q. Can you describe the current writing scene in Portugal (or Lisbon)? What poetry readings, magazines, and gatherings?
A. We now have festivals all year round. Writers mingled and learned that being interesting as a person doesn’t turn you into a bad writer. The Nobel for Saramago released the pressure and put the Portuguese language in the spotlight.
Q. That is amazing, there are festivals year-round. Is there a festival you could recommend?
A. The mother of all festivals is Correntes d’Escritas in Póvoa de Varzim (20 miles from Oporto, I think). It has been on for 26 years and it is the role model for all others. Its core is Iberian Languages, i.e., countries and writers from these languages. If I dare pick another, it would be one in Ponta do Sol, a small village in the north corner of Madeira Island with a strong cultural vibe, and where the Centro Cultural John dos Passos is.
Q. Your children’s book, The Boy Who Did Not Like Television. How did that come about?
A. A children’s book that is not just copycatting others is very difficult to achieve. I watched my children and wrote down the plots they made. Then I edited.
Q. What message do you hope that children will take away after reading the book?
A. You know you reach them when you reread the book, or ask grown-ups to reread it. I will talk about my favorite, unpublished in the US: O bebé que fez uma birra, about a little boy locked inside his own tantrum.
I believe it helps defuse tantrums. I only started writing for children after I became a father of two. Before, as Camões said, I lacked the “saber de experiência própria”.
Q. Do you do research for your books?
A. Not really. But, of course, after the 1st draft, I try to get facts right. At that moment, I either read stuff or ask professionals in the field for accuracy and language.
Q. Of what importance do you feel Portuguese culture is in Portuguese writings?
A. A lot, but now we have, sometimes, a trend similar to the folk talking points, but on the opposing side. Fiction [has been] so cleaned up of local references, even in the main characters’ names, that it would easily be a translation. I disapprove of that, but what can I do?
Q. What are you working on now?
A. I just sent a novel to the editor. Either she says “It’s interesting”, which means Mónica hated it, or she’ll set a publishing tentative date, and we’ll start [wringing] our hands to make it as ‘perfect’ as possible. I’m a great believer in editing and I enjoy it.
Q. What initially drew you to writing?
A. I wanted to draw comics. My style stopped evolving.
Q. What contribution to world literature has Portugal made? In your opinion. Contemporary and historical.
A. I think we can all agree that poetry is our strength across the centuries. Now we have a language officially spoken on four continents and expressing a variety of realities. It took America almost a century to discover Pessoa. But he was there and generations grew up reading him. Now this country found Clarice Lispector. Good for them, but we knew it decades before.
______
Millicent Borges Accardi, a Portuguese-American writer, is the author of four poetry books, including Through Grainy Landscape (inspired by Portuguese writings) and the recent Quarantine Highway. Her awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, Fulbright, CantoMundo, California Arts Council, Foundation for Contemporary Arts (Covid grant), and Fundação Luso-Americana (Portugal). She serves as a mentor in the AWP Writer 2 Writer and Adroit writing programs. She also curates the popular Kale Soup for the Soul reading series.
