Max and the Cats
by Moacyr Scliar
List Price: $10.00
Pages: 128
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0452284538
Publisher: Plume
Moacyr Scliar was born in 1937 in the town of Porto Alegre, Brazil. The author of sixty-two books (translated into a dozen languages) and the recipient of numerous Brazilian literary awards, Scliar is recognized as one of the country's most outstanding writers of fiction. He is the author of The Centaur in the Garden, The Carnival of Animals, The One-Man Army, and The Gods of Raquel.
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Q: Despite its simple style, MAX AND THE CATS is packed with symbolism and broad social themes. What are some of the major lessons you hope that readers take away from the novel?
MS: Let me explain, first of all, my relationship to this story. I am a Brazilian Jew, a son of Jewish-Russian emigrants. In my state, Rio Grande do Sul, Nazi movements were not uncommon during my childhood. I also became deeply aware of the tragedies of the Holocaust; we had many survivors and refugees from Nazi Germany (among them the parents of my wife). This story was written during the period of the military dictatorship in Brazil, which sometimes reminded us of nazi-fascism. Which lessons, then, are to be taken from this story? "Don't forget," is the answer. Don't forget oppression, don't forget persecution, don't forget intolerance, don't forget dictatorship.
Q: How much, if any, of MAX AND THE CATS is autobiographical? Do you see elements of Max's childhood as parallel to your own?
MS: There are some autobiographical elements in the story (those mentioned above). But Max, and all the cats, are a fictional creation.
Q: Can you discuss how and why the events of World War II and of the Nazi rise to power remain to this day fertile ground for inspiring profound and relevant literature?
MS: I thing the shear magnitude of the Holocaust explains why it is impossible to forget it. On the other hand, the authoritarian temptation is always present, even in our democracies. We must watch our own intolerance toward other human beings. And this is fertile ground for literature.
Q: What's your opinion of the state of literature today? Do you feel that contemporary world events will affect the direction of literature just as past conflicts have?
MS: I think writers, as always, have to deal with the main questions of the human condition: the relationship between human beings, social justice, human feelings, etc… But I have no doubt that contemporary world events—fundamentalism, poverty, oppression—are big issues for writers.
Q: Who do you consider your greatest literary influences? To what extent have these influences inspired your storytelling in MAX AND THE CATS?
MS: I was deeply influenced by authors like Franz Kafka, Isaac Babel and the Brazilian Machado de Assis. Kafka is, for me, very much present in Max and the Cats.
Excerpted from Max and the Cats © Copyright 2008 by Moacyr Scliar. Reprinted with permission by Plume. All rights reserved.
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