Almudena Anés combines story, essay and poetic prose in her new book to reflect on reality and the role we play in it. Through video games, the author talks about fatigue and boredom in life.
In this Making Of, Almudena Anes tells the origin of Symbolic addresses (Ultramarine).
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Symbolic Addresses is a writing project that was born during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. It is about, as the Spanish critic and writer Matías Escalera Cordero wrote in Culturamas, about characters in a video game and players bored and tired of their lives who play them. This is the premise of a hybrid project (with a narrative structure but poetic writing) that is later developed in a much broader way.
For me, it was a complicated writing process, as it addressed the theme of avatar video games such as The Sims and the current precariousness in Spain, that is, it involved the combination of two apparently disparate elements: virtual simulation and the socio-labor reality of our country. I always wanted, with this project, to explore the intersection between the digital world of video games as Second Life and The Sims, life simulation games, and the precarious conditions that characterize contemporary Spanish society. Although I started from my specific experience, I later wanted to develop a collective critique through writing.
“On the other hand, the research and analysis of precariousness in Spain required an in-depth examination of the economic, labor and social data.“
First of all, to understand the book and the theme, I think it is essential to understand these video games that imitate real life, since they offer players the opportunity to virtually create and control the lives of simulated characters. This aspect allowed me Symbolic Addresses address issues such as character decision-making, resource management, and social interactions, providing a virtual mirror of everyday life. I wanted to make the reader experience situations similar to those we face in real life, or physical world, in this case, but from an external prism.. The avatars X, Square, Circle and Triangle, names inspired by the action buttons on Playstation controllers, are the avatars that suffer the precariousness and cruelty of a world controlled by Them, that is, the players, us. This causes several hierarchical levels, where the reader has false control of what happens in the book. Furthermore, the fourth wall is broken to rebuke the reader.
“I started from the American essay or the Anglo-Saxon tradition, with the clear perspective of writing a book queer. And honestly, I think I did it.“
On the other hand, the research and analysis of precariousness in Spain required an in-depth examination of the economic, labor and social data. Out of civic and artistic responsibility, I thought that writing should contextualize the current situation, highlighting aspects such as labor instability, lack of social security, and economic difficulties that affect broad layers of the population. However, I wanted it to be an uncomfortable project, that would disturb the reader, that they would not leave indifferent after reading the book.. My references, in this regard, were writers like Kathy Acker, Judith Butler, Maggie Nelson or Chris Kraus. I started from the American essay or the Anglo-Saxon tradition, with the clear perspective of writing a book queer. And honestly, I think I succeeded.
We will publish soon the videogame Symbolic Homesbased on the book, created in collaboration with the Mexican poet, cultural manager and designer Carlos Ramírez Kobra.
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Author: Almudena Anés. Qualification: Symbolic addresses. Editorial: Ultramarine. Sale: All your books.
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