2024-10-15 09:57:00
The French author, guest at the preview of the Radici festival, created by the Readers’ Club, talks about literature, politics, current affairs, trials and legal battles
He introduces it by talking about how “generous he is to be here for us”. Thus Giuseppe Culicchia, curator of Radici festival created by the Turin Readers’ Club (with the support of the Piedmont Region’s emigration department), welcomes Michel Houellebecq, in town for the October 14th preview. «I don’t think that right-wing parties describe a real situation – he says, in dialogue with the writer Ottavia Casagrande -. In France there is not an Islamist conspiracy, but an ethnic retreat, with clashes between Moroccans and Chechens or between Muslims themselves.” Life in the West goes on “with difficulty, because we ask ourselves too much, a general slowdown would take us in the right direction”. Current events remain, which speak of war and conflicts. «I support Israel – he explains – but the situation is becoming increasingly difficult and painful. If Israel stopped fighting it would disappear, anti-Semitism is the socialism of imbeciles.”
The dialogue starts from his most recent book, A Few Months of My Life (The Ship of Theseus), in which Houellebecq recounts facts such as the threat of denunciation by the Rector of the Paris Mosque or the pornographic video made with a Dutch artistic collective. A much told fact though the media “are only looking for controversy” and for this reason he advises young authors “to seek immediate assistance from a lawyer”. With the Dutch, Houellebecq signed a noose contract handing over the rights to the films. «I didn’t win the case – he reveals – but I never thought I would be blackmailed, I thought it only happened to famous actors, singers or athletes. That is a collective of failed artists.” The story led him to write again. «Around the theme – he announces – of trials and legal battles. He already did it Emmanuel Carrère and I’m a little jealous (he’s joking, ed), but he is my favorite writer and I will take inspiration from him.” Then he continues. «If I had been a woman – he accuses – I would have received greater empathy, but men can also suffer violence. I was shocked to see what Gerard Depardieu suffered: not the accusations at the trial, but what was said on TV. He will come out clean, but he will no longer be able to make films because cinema is a world of cowards. Almost like literature.” He doesn’t consider himself a “misogynist”, he says, but accepts the definition of “macho” (a statement that sparked applause in the room), because “if a woman cries during an argument, the misogynist gets angry, the macho man softens”.
As for writing, Houellebecq quickly reviewed the relationship with some of his novels. «At a certain point – he underlines – not writing is no longer possible. Writing usually has a therapeutic value, but not always,Why Annihilate it made me afraid of having cancer, while Serotonin it is a more romantic novel. The Fox Dog by The possibility of an island? My love goes above all to dogs, I have also been a member of an animal defense association. They say that animals are islands that encourage love.”
October 15, 2024 (changed October 15, 2024 | 11:57)
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