Carrère ruling, to the Princess of Asturias
Arcadi Espada Termination of contract
Interview "Literature is like the Hippocratic Oath"
"I suppose so, that there is a thread but it is so difficult to see it ... It is like life, one advances in fits and starts, in the occurrence, without knowing where it is going. But then, if you look back, you see a trajectory that It makes some sense. How to define it? There is an expression in English that is
to think out of the box
, to think from outside the box. I would say that my books have consisted of that, in trying to get out of the box in which we all live and look further. I don't know if I succeed, but that has been my goal: to
be freer, more intelligent, understand things
better and understand myself better. Writing books has been my vehicle to achieve it. "
Emmanuel Carrère, new Princess of Asturias Award for Literature, explained his 40 years of literature at a press conference organized to celebrate the ruling and the enthusiasm of Spanish readers for his work. "Spain is, along with Italy, the country that has best received my books. Thanks to the readers and thanks to my editors at Anagrama."
Looking over the box is the
abstract explanation
of what Carrère's literature means. After setting that framework, the writer of
The Adversary
had time to go to the fine print of his books. For example: What does
the word privacy
tell you
? "A little yes I have sacrificed it. But, in reality, nothing happens because of that. How to say it: everything I can tell about myself acquires a different form in each reader. But, in general, it is okay to tell things not very honorable about oneself because the reader, who has his own miseries,
thinks 'He too!'
and feels comforted. "
Yoga
or
A Russian novel
are the books in which Carrère has exposed more of his intimacy. "I don't like the word autofiction. What I do is write autobiographical elements and
I think that has been around for a long time
. Well:
Yoga
was self-fiction."
Other best -
known of
his titles are not free from
a very crisp
, but they have a moral weighing felt more:
Limonov, the adversary ...
? "Really they would not go to dinner with their protagonists
Like I'm the person who It is not the most pleasant in the world to go out to a restaurant
. Actually, ultimately, I always write texts that speak of good, of how mysterious it is to do good. We tend to think that evil is surprising and dizzying, but it is our ability to do good is mysterious. "
And Carrère continues: "It is often said that reality is morally ambiguous.
It is not true. We almost always know what it is to do well and what it is to do wrong
. If we are unhappy it is because we do evil more than good."
And a little more: "I liked what Adous Huxley said, that after dedicating his entire life to studying religions and the great mythical cultures, he only had one piece of advice to give: try to be a little kinder"
The problem, the author continued, "is that I doubt that writing stories of a happy society will have any impact on our lives. We could try
making books about trains arriving on time,
but I doubt that it would do much good."
More small print: what happened to the myths? What became of his closeness to Limonov and Romand, the characters in his two great novels / chronicles. "There was a relationship after his books came out but
there was no intimacy
. With Romand I had an exchange of letters that became more dispersed until he disappeared. And with Limonov it happened to me that he was very skeptical of me when I told him I was going to make a book. about his life.
Skeptical and distrustful
. Later, the book was successful and he was delighted. He treated me with a kind of camaraderie. He told me: "If I were in power,
I would have you shot, but since I'm not, then nothing
." His death was very saddened. "
And a final curiosity: if Carrère is asked what the most important literary experience of his life has been, he names a science fiction book.
"I just gave it to my daughter and I have given it many times before. It has something foundational for me. It's called
Flowers for Algernon,
by Daniel Keyes, it's from the 50s, and I think it is an extreme representation of the human experience." .
So why not do science fiction?
"I don't like Tolkien, I don't like elves or unicorns. I like science fiction from the 70s, which was a very avant-garde literature. In France there are two writers who have taken an interest in that world: Houellebecq and me" .
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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