• Formentor 2020. Homage to Cees Nooteboom

Cees Nooteboom, on the other end of the phone, talks about Menorca. «From my island, from my house». He has spent five months a year there for half a century. «I have part of my books, of my archive. And I don't know when I will be able to return, if I can ». He is a shrewd poet, essayist, and traveler. One of the most prominent writers in Europe, convinced of Europe. Dutch born in The Hague in 1933, he lived through World War II. In Spain the publishers Siruela and Visor publish their work. On Wednesday he was awarded the Formentor Prize. Several worlds fit in his eyes and a few certainties in writing.

How is confinement living? I am 86 years old, so I must be careful. I am at the house of a German friend, two hours from Munich, with my wife and surrounded by books. But from this privileged space I do not lose sight of the tragic reality. Do you have any conclusion? It is soon. There is much to ponder and we will need time to assimilate this disaster. I am not pessimistic, but we are facing a crisis stronger than that of 2008. On the one hand there is fear and uncertainty, on the other hand I think we will be in a position to build new rules of the game. But let us not neglect difficult realities that are still there and that are going to flare up, such as inequality. The world is now less fair and will emerge from this more divided pandemic. We will further accuse the differences between North and South. What are you afraid of? Personal fear is the least of it. The concern is now global and for everyone. You just have to listen to dangerous idiots like Trump or Bolsonaro. The political atmosphere is not very encouraging, and billions of people depend on what happens in the political spaces. I am also aware of what is happening in Spain. And how do you interpret it? Well, you must demand more respect from your politicians. They don't seem aware of reality. Why don't they try to work together in the face of a crisis that requires unity and strength? They are installed in an expired policy of ridiculous confrontations. They are not up to the task, I assure you that in Germany and France there is not such an ugly political atmosphere. Democrats are paving the way for the advance of the far right in Europe. Imagining the growth of Vox in Spain is scary, more than the coronavirus. Just as it is disturbing to see what happens in Hungary or Poland, the Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra, also did not facilitate the spirit of European union with his position on the coronabonds that the countries of the south requested. . His position responds to that Protestant rectitude that does not favor the Union. He treated everyone the same. He does not know that the differences between Spain and Italy. Do uncertain times fuel nationalism? Yes. In times of danger some tend to fall back on themselves and sell salvation by narrowing their plurality. We have also been experiencing that danger for a long time and I think it will increase. But I am confident that the good inertia of History will help correct some excesses and the liberal spirit of transnationalism cannot be eliminated. The world can no longer be understood as a succession of walled borders. It is difficult to imagine it otherwise. Look at what is happening in England. The terrible reality imposed by the coronavirus has blown up the political priorities they had a couple of months ago. You are no longer in such a hurry with Brexit. How do you think the world will be different? I cannot imagine that it is completely different from what it has been until now. But there is no doubt that this situation will not just happen. Some ideas or certainties that were installed among us because yes until not more than eight weeks ago will be reviewed. It is not possible to continue thinking about the world as until now. And unfortunately we have been cruelly warned. The pandemic will leave its tracks. We will and will not be the same. It will be young people who decide the new routes. Those who are between 20 and 30 years old today, because they will soon realize that their possibilities, their horizon and their idea of ​​the future must be rethought. Awareness of essential issues such as fighting climate change will be strengthened. You lived through World War II. The pandemic caused by the coronavirus has circulated the warlike language again, making this situation a scene of war, because it is a battle, although not exactly a war. This has nothing to do with what I lived with. A few months ago I finished a new book of poems that has to do with my memories of that. It is called Goodbye. Poem in time of the virus. In Spain it will be published by the publisher Visor. And in those poems I remember something that I have now revived: the total exception that the war imposed on the lives of millions of human beings. And what does it find similar now? I have a memory that has never gone away: the perception of time, how everything that seemed unreal acquired the status of reality. I summarize it in a scene from my life: the morning my father took me by the hand to see the entrance of the German troops in my city, The Hague. It was 1940. I was very impressed by that moment. The Nazis parading, the thunderous music, the stupefaction of the people. My father died shortly afterwards during a bombardment. What I did not imagine is that a few years later I would see that army be defeated. The triumphant, front and challenging entrance was in the end an exit with humiliated backs. Everything was possible again. Now we are not in that, of course, but we do experience an atmosphere of waiting that is not at all normal. Like when I was a child. Does History help to avoid certain mistakes from the past? I don't think it's such a simple formulation. There is less and less interest in history. Or, worse, history is manipulated in favor of one or the other. Also, too many young people are not interested in her. There are 20-year-old boys who do not know who Hitler was. Thus it is difficult not to repeat the mistakes. The promotion and the capacity of expansion of theFake news and the hoaxes do not favor either. It is another danger. Some ideologies rely on falsehood to make room, to grow. And it is increasingly complex to fight their lies. Confusion is your best tool and it makes citizens manipulable. Lying makes the world a more insecure place. What can literature be useful for? Well chosen it can give ideas, it can shed light, it can clarify some things. In Spain they have some really shrewd or illuminating writers. I think of Javier Marías or Javier Cercaas, among others. Read them. Do you think that the political and social noise will increase when this first strike of the pandemic is controlled? We have lived the last two decades with a lot of hysteria, with too many decibels. I suspect that once the impact of these months passes we will have to calm down to study what is happening and rethink where we are going. Maybe we'll activate a new civic consciousness. Do you really believe that? Of course you do. An example: every day I watch the TVE newscast in this house, in a German town. When people appear applauding public health professionals from the balconies, I imagine the seed of a different civic conscience, if only because of the boredom of being locked up we will have to think.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Covid 19
  • culture
  • Quarantine
  • Lockdown
  • literature
  • Holland

LiteratureIbsen Martínez: "It is alarming that Podemos can take advantage of the catastrophe to impose its agenda"

Literature The Government lowers VAT on electronic books and digital press from 21 to 4%

LiteratureHow Foam Pages sold almost 700 books for the love of bookstores in full confinement