photo: Nina Antoňáková
Director and screenwriter Natália Antoňáková opens up several burning topics in her first novel The Womb. Toxic partner relationships, sexual abuse, alcoholism, self-destruction or a strong lack of interest from the father. “When your father leaves you, it’s terrible, but at the same time it’s clear,” she says. “But what about when your dad didn’t drink, beat you, earn, shop—just never hang out with you? That, too, is a specific kind of terror.”
How annoyed are you by the question of how autobiographical The Womb is?
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It doesn’t annoy me, but it seems to me that it is mainly applied to female authors, no one asks men like that. I don’t mind talking about my life experiences, but I want literature to be evaluated regardless of how factual it is.
Reporter: Stories that inspire
Why do you think we ask more women than men?
As a society, we still don’t trust women to be authentic and original. I don’t want to generalize, but I feel that female writers are judged differently than male writers. We also see it historically, for example, with Virginia Woolf. Respect for her as an artist is based on the whole myth of her life. It is not enough that her work is great, we also need to know the circumstances of her life. What if nobody knew anything about her life and we only knew her work?
Why did you need to work on the topic of a toxic relationship?
It’s something that I myself have life experience with, as do many friends my age. At the same time, I became interested in the history of our family. I realized that many of her relationships were toxic at their core, even though they were long-term marriages. A toxic relationship is a buzzword these days, but it doesn’t just mean that the other party doesn’t text you back or come home. It could be anything, like a lifelong relationship with an alcoholic. It fascinates me how much people can endure for love.
