What was the background to writing the fascinating novel Café Tempest?
Barbara Bonfigli: When I was a college student in Paris I found myself taking off between every semester to explore Europe. As an unreconstructed Pisces I naturally gravitate to water --rivers, seashores, islands. Many years later I found myself living in London producing theatre. So it wasn't surprising that when I started to write my first novel I was sitting on a beach on Greek island cooling my fins in the clear waters.
"Write what you know" in the first principle of creative writing. Theatre is my family tree; my mother was an actress, my great uncles were in Vaudeville and I re-lived my English incarnation as Lady Bracknell in my high school production of "The Importance of Being Earnest." So the central plot, the main character directing a production of a Shakespeare play by the islanders, was like natural childbirth. Having picked a remote uncommercial island to settle on for long periods of time, I found myself surrounded by wondrous landscapes and fantastical characters every bit as magical as those on Shakespeare's fictional island of Arcadia.
You bring the sights, sounds, and scents of the Greek Islands into the story, drawing the reader into the locale. Have you traveled extensively in Greece to have such intimate knowledge with the country and its culture?
Barbara Bonfigli: Guilty. I haven't explored all of Greece, but quite a lot of it. When you're traveling on ferries, which is still the main way of getting around, you pull into an unknown port en route to the one you're headed for, and you find yourself...disembarking. I've often wanted to parachute out of a plane as we flew over some mysterious tempting landscape, but that's trickier.
The story parallels Shakespeare's The Tempest, and features a production of The Tempest as well. How did you arrive at this beautiful layering of story upon story?
Barbara Bonfigli: Thank you for considering it beautiful work. Shakespeare's the best co-author a person writing in English could hope for. And he's out of copyright! There isn't a theme he doesn't touch upon and enlighten. I wanted to write a novel rich in characters that gave me a chance to explore my ideas and express my philosophy on several subjects. And I was on an island not unlike Shakespeare's Arcadia when I finally sat down to write my first long piece of fiction. The audition scenes were great fun to write; every fisherman is an actor; so is every cab driver and ferry captain. Sarah assembles a cast as riotous and unpredictable as Shakespeare's own Globe players.
Barbara Bonfigli (photo left)
The naming of such characters as Caliban and Prospero reflects their Shakespearian counterparts. Was this intentional to underline the parallels to The Tempest and the play within the novel?
Barbara Bonfigli: In The Tempest, Caliban and Prospero represent polar opposites of human nature and as such they're archetypes. No one is as powerful or as evil as these two characters. When unsophisticated Greek islanders play them they become accessible and believable. I don't know how I hit upon the idea of Prospero being played by a postmaster who can't remember anyone's address but it still makes me laugh every time I read it.
Sarah's love story is intriguing, and reflects the magic of the novel and the play themselves. How important was it for you to show the true power and real magic of love in the world?
How important? I wouldn't leave it out of anything I ever write. In one place Sarah says "If your lovers don't become your friends you're dancing on a dark stage." The Tempest is about redemption through love, though I'm somewhat uncomfortable with the religious implications of that word. Love is the foundation for all human relations and is the essence of spirituality. As the foundation for religion it has a very bad reputation, from the Crusades to the Inquisition to Northern Ireland and all the modern atrocities. But for Shakespeare and me, Love is the most powerful force for "good" that we know.
Is the character of Sarah drawn from life or from a composite of several people?
Barbara Bonfigli: Interesting question. I think you're asking if Sarah is one person or many.The answer is many. I don't have a journalist's brain, full of facts. I have a roving acquisitive purely subjective imagination. It observes, it reflects, it sifts; it forgets most of the bad stuff. I think Sarah and all my characters are composites, although Sarah is more closely linked to me than say Iannis the fisherman/waterski instructor. But if any character doesn't ring true you're going to put down the book. That's why 'fiction" is such a misnomer.
What is next for Barbara Bonfigli?
Barbara Bonfigli: Someone once said: "How do you make God laugh? Tell Her your plans." I'm writing, I expect another novel will happen. I'm kayaking, swimming, yelling at the news, doing book tours and blog tours. I'm going to learn to Tweet. Follow me and the future will reveal itself. Thank you for asking, and for asking all these smart, considered questions. I hope Café Tempest is keeping you laughing. Opa! Barbara
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To learn about Barbara Bonfigli and Café Tempest, feel free to visit any of these sites:
Order Café Tempest directly from the publisher Tell Me Press - order Café Tempest or order from Amazon.
To see the complete tour schedule visit Virtual Blog Tour.
Visit Barbara Bonfigli’s website.
Additional video information for your viewing enjoyment.
My book review of Café Tempest: Adventures on a Small Greek Island - A Fictional Memoir by Barbara Bonfigli.
