the novel The followersby Alma Mancilla, addresses the tragic event of the collective suicide in Guyana of the Jim Jones sect, People Temple, focusing on memory and fiction to offer a deep introspective journey into the psyche of its characters.
Mexico City, November 26 (However).– “This is not a historical text,” he said. Alma Mancilla when talking about The followers (Hachette Livre México), a novel that introspectively delves into one of the darkest and most studied events of the 20th century: the massacre and collective suicide of Jonestownin Guyana, under the figure of Jim Jones and his Peoples Templand. The author, on the other hand, proposes an approach from the deepest fiction, exploring the human psyche of those who were involved.
Mancilla explained to However that the creation process involved “trial and error”, leading to a style of narration that is detached from the real event. “I looked for a very introspective narrative, close to the flow of consciousness or internal monologue,” commented the author.
The decision to “sacrifice the historical account,” Mancilla explained, “was not a great loss, since there is a lot of information available,” which made it easier for “fiction to flourish” and reflect on evil through the invention of specific characters.
In this way he fed his writing with a “fictitious, but interior, testimony”, which responds to a fundamental interest of Mancilla: the psychology of those involved.
“I am faithful to my interest in the psychology of the characters. I am interested in the internal exploration of those involved; probing the psyche allows us to get closer to the darkness,” he stated.
The author rejected simplistic narratives, seeking complexity instead of Manichaean figures. “I dislike explanations that turn the leader into a monster and the followers into mere objects, stripped of agency. Notions like ‘brainwashing’ limit that agency.”
For this reason, his work delves into a “dark territory,” which requires intense psychological exploration. The narrative voice, he noted, far from being objective, reflects a “confusing environment, where clarity of judgment is lacking, something natural when events overwhelm us.”
In this way, the novel is distinguished by a notable fusion between narrative, poetics and a “dream perspective.” In this regard, Mancilla agreed that he introduced “dreamlike and nightmarish elements, consistent with the flow of consciousness and the narrative freedom he was looking for.”
This “formal rupture,” he explained, made it possible to establish a rhythm that reflected the “mental chaos of the event and its characters,” in addition to satisfying a “personal desire to approach the poetic in strictly formal terms.”