Interview with Marialena Semitekolou in “Pages for Book Lovers”.

On the occasion of the publication of her first novella, *Sundays, in Summer*, Marialena Semitekolou gave an interview to Sofia Politou-Ververi of Nakas bookshops. Read it below: Your debut with the book ‘Sundays, in Summer’ is a powerful one; it is a very expressive book with a heroine who draws us into her heavy inaction. Tell us about your choice to present Marina, the protagonist of your book, within the summer atmosphere of a city. Summer is not an ‘easy’ season. I chose it for Marina precisely for this reason. It is the season when people – young and old – grow up. Our growing up is not all joy; it involves pain and disappointments. Yet, in a strange paradox, the time of summer – which makes us grow up – seems to stand still; it doesn’t do you any favours: it is slow to turn to night, the days last longer, and one has the feeling that the slowness of summer time is constantly asking something of you. It was, then, this contradiction of simultaneous growth and suspension that probably led me to summer. And indeed, an urban summer that intensifies this sensation and gives it the image of a prolonged pause, rather than enriching it, which is what would happen in a natural landscape bathed in summer light.There is no typical happy ending in your book; what was your intention when you began writing your book ‘Sundays, in the Summer’?I knew the book’s final sentence and was entirely focused on it long before I wrote what came before. So perhaps it is a book written from the end to the beginning, rather than the other way round. On the other hand, I don’t know how common happy endings are, how long they last, how they’re defined or what they actually mean… In the case, say, of Marina, what sort of twist on her Sunday would constitute ‘a typical happy ending’? I don’t know… We’ve often wondered whether Marina suffers from depression. We’ve also wondered whether her behaviour reflects a large proportion of young people in our country. What would you say to us?I am sceptical about the ‘ease’ with which we conclude that someone is suffering from depression. I have the feeling, that is, that the verb ‘to suffer’, followed by a diagnosis, is a sign of the times we live in, and that it shuts people down rather than helping them to grow. What does, say, depression mean in Marina’s case? I prefer to describe her as a woman who surrenders to the allure of the melancholy that all Sundays inherently possess. If she suffers from anything, I imagine she suffers from the fact that she is alive... however paradoxical that may sound. In that sense, yes. She reflects a large proportion of young people, and of course those older in age, who are alive. What I don’t know is to what extent, both young people and older ones, we can bear to go with the flow that Marina is on, rather than sitting in front of a screen, idling or typing.What do you think is really missing from Marina to set her in motion, to pull her out of her sterile passivity? I wouldn’t for the life of me want to describe Marina’s passivity as sterile. I love her very much and I’d be doing her an injustice if I did. Marina’s ‘passivity’ harbours a whole host of things that will either help her grow or destroy her. I don’t know the outcome of this situation, although deep down I’d like the first scenario to come true, and I fear the second!How much did your studies in psychology help you in shaping Marina’s personality and the environment in which she moves? I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that question. I imagine that my studies in psychology helped in some way. But the reverse could also be true. I really enjoy observing people and describing them from within, and that is perhaps why I decided to study psychology. If I had to say what helped me most in writing this story, I’d say it was all the summers I’ve spent in the city, reading other people’s stories or watching them at the cinema.After Marina in the height of summer, what can we expect from you? Do you have any ideas swirling around in your mind to get you started on writing?I’m very drawn to the idea of parallel monologues that ‘respond’ to one another, without ever knowing or finding out about it. I have a feeling this idea will torment me more than the idea of Marina. Marina was extremely kind and generous towards me. Where can we meet you online and in person? I’d love to tell you that you’ll find me in bars and cafés in the city centre. Even more so that I’ll always be on the terrace of a summer cinema and/or in the dark auditorium of a winter one, waiting for the opening credits of a much-anticipated film... Most likely, however, you’ll find me on public transport to and from the city centre or see me walking around my neighbourhood, doing all those everyday chores that help families function...