• Literature. 20 books to take on vacation

In a small village between Arles and Avignon , Pierre Lemaitre leaves the door open to write in front of his garden. He likes the sound of cicadas. And the smell of summer. He's wearing a baggy shirt and he's tanned. In this bucolic Provençal corner he has created the monumental trilogy The Children of Disaster , which now closes with The Mirror of Our Sorrows (Salamandra) on the ravages of World War II in France .

The first novel, There up in the sky , earned him the Goncourt and a brilliant film adaptation with five Cesar Awards. There appeared the little 10-year-old Louise , a secondary character who now, at 30, stands as the protagonist. Although it is set in the harsh war spring of 1940, the novel is a mirror of our time, an oblique reflection of the fake news (before, the lies of the Propaganda Ministry) and the refugee crisis (except that at that time they were Europeans fleeing of the Nazi troops).

What interested you about the interwar period? The Sons of Disaster explains the generations sacrificed: the young people who returned from the war, the rise of Nazism, the economic crisis of 29 ... It was a very turbulent period and a disaster because the elites understood absolutely nothing about World War I. : the specter of making the Germans pay the costs of the war and that idea that 'we would have won by our virtue' and that 'we have nothing to fear from our enemy because we have already won him' ... It is arrogance So macronian ... Macronian arrogance before WWII ? Yes, it is the idea that we know everything, that we are very effective and we have nothing to learn from anyone. The Second World War was due to the incompetence and disloyalty of the rulers. His project is inserted in a very French literary tradition, with Balzac and his 'Human Comedy', but also in that of Pérez Galdós with his 'National Episodes'. Pérez Galdós is a formidable writer. I don't know what place it will occupy now in Spain. They will certainly consider it as an old piece of furniture or an antique like Balzac or Stendhal in France. It's a mistake. Galdós has a narrative genius that can rival any great author of the 20th century: he is the equal of Dickens, his painting of society is worth the same as that of Tolstoy.You also make protagonists of ordinary people, those who suffered history I write about people from the social class I come from. And there is much to tell ... With the yellow vests we have seen that these 'ordinary people' still have many things to say and how they have been banned for a long time. They now have more desire to shout that decirlo.Siempre speaks of the resonances of history ... What's in the mirror of our sorrows ? First, the use of news fake . One of the characters, Désiré, is paid by the Propaganda Ministry for lying. This morning I saw on Twitter a video from March in which Macron, in front of the cameras, said: "Masks are useless, they are even dangerous." In Spain, Pedro Sánchez said more or less the same thing. the lie of global state. Even the WHO said they were not necessary because they knew there were not enough. In the book, Désiré is paid by the state to invent these lies. In the Trump era, being president gives you the right to tell whatever lie you want. Just look at the issue of immigration - in fact, his novel is about refugees. Then they were Europeans, now they are Syrians in Lesbos ... I don't like the idea that history is cyclical or repeats itself, although there are harmonics that resonate. There will always be wars. But I think literature has its utility. Read The Mirror of Our SorrowsIt can make you wonder about things like 'When I react to the health crisis, do I do it well, am I a civic?' Do you see a parallel between the Covid crisis and the 1940s? The 1940s exodus and the Covid they teach the same thing: they are periods that push people to individual reflexes at a time when the only solution is collective. The crisis leads to very individualistic behaviors and you have to fight against yourself, against your own instincts. When I went to the supermarket in March ... there was nothing! People packed carts like there was no tomorrow. They themselves created hardship. The aim of the book is to show that if we live collectively we have more opportunities. Its characters await orders from the General Staff or government action ... But it is like 'Waiting for Godot', which never comes. The incompetence of the rulers goes to have bigger consequences: Paris is going to be occupied and Hitler will parade on the Champs Elysees. The inability and lack of foresight of politicians have consequences in our lives. The same is true of climate change. All governments have only one goal: to be reelected. Then you have to satisfy in the short term. Nobody is capable of taking difficult measures claiming that in 20 years we will see their effect. Macron thinks of being reelected in 24 months, not 24 years. For me, that is the basis of political criminality. Political criminality? I speak of criminality because what we leave to children is a world in which they will die. That is a crime. Political crime is based on sacrificing everything for reelection. Furthermore, neoliberalism is incompatible with ecological duty. Capitalism always prefers the short term to the long term. Those who run the companies are not their directors, but the shareholders and they always want the maximum benefit, they never have enough. Although in French municipalities socialism has endured, are you worried about the rise of the extreme right? It is extremely disturbing, but more the answer is. The last French elections were right against extreme right, Macron against Le Pen. It doesn't go with me, I'm on the left, but since our individual freedoms are threatened by the extreme right, I voted for Macron, like Chirac 10 years ago. And what was your response? Let go of the police, cut off hands, send CRS armed to beat up protesters ... It does the exact opposite of what we expected. What would be the difference between right and far right from the point of view of individual freedoms? There is not so much ... In the French police, 50% vote for the extreme right. Perhaps if Marine Le Pen comes to power, would there be more? Individual freedoms are increasingly limited. It sounds a bit like authoritarian democracy. It is. We are in a democracy that hardly supports the answer. First the yellow vests intoned it, then the health workers and the pensioners ... The riot gear was sent to all. And what about our new prime minister? [after his debacle in the municipalities, Macron appointed the conservative Jean Castex] His first gesture was not to visit a hospital but a police station and, later, a court of law. It is a symbol. They are signs of an authoritarian democracy, which relies on the police and the justice system to stay in power. He could have gone to a school or a theater ... Does the title The Mirror of Our Sorrows contain a social message? Is it a mirror for the 21st century? Metaphorically, it is a mirror of our anguish, of our failures.

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