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Fernando Aramburu: “I know I’ve driven a lot of people crazy and they call me tocapelota. I don’t care”



When on October 20, 2011 ETA announced a “definitive cessation of its armed activity”, Fernando Aramburu (San Sebastian, 1959) wrote a tweet collecting the famous phrase with which Kafka recorded in his diary the beginning of the First World War. Cup: Germany declared war on Russia. In the afternoon I went swimming.” The tone of the date at that moment was suspicious and humorous at the same time, with a similar heat to that which moved Tale children (Tusquets), The last novel in which Aramburu dares Taunting two young Basque would-be terrorists They decided on October 20 that they would continue to wage war themselves. The result, almost comic-like, is so silly it’s easy to imagine the author licking his lips thanks to that pair of goofballs. clownshe tumbler And the month of August if the TV program of Basque Television What a week A before and after was marked in a mockery of ETA and then came Eight surnames BasqueThis novel follows this path.

Q: The reader who came to work with you homeland You can feel out of place before such a funny novel.

R was found. I have used this literary register on other occasions, but I have never addressed it to such a sensitive social group. I found the formula and commented on it for one of the victims of terrorism to give me his opinion. The idea was to leave the victims out of the narrative and focus on satire against the perpetrators, or rather potential perpetrators. I no longer had any moral restraints because the humor was in no way directed at the people who suffered and who let my hands free.

Q: Are the limits of humor, then, in caring for the victim?

R was found. Of course, but not only in literature. This limit in life must also be respected. One should not laugh at the problems of people who suffer from some grief or suffer from some discrimination. Humorous criticism should be directed at those who exercise power or are bad. Thus, satire becomes something commendable and balsamic, as it contrasts solemnity, rigid forms, and bad intentions.

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Q: A story Tale children It’s almost a Mortadelo and Filemón adventure, with a somewhat white-washed sense of humor.

R was found. There I delegate to those who want to interpret it. I had the feeling sometimes that I was being a little harsh with my characters. I tried really hard to make sure that they weren’t just trained terrorists, not particularly gifted with IQs. Peer also wanted his human condition and daily circumstances to be reflected. They’re fans, but you got them out of there and it turns out they are Nice. It happened during the years of armed struggle. They were arresting someone and the neighbors say, “But he was very nice & mldr; & rdquor;. Yes, of course he was, but he also went around with a gun to kill other people.

s. your ETA and mldr;

R was found. They are not even members of ETA, they would like to, but they cannot. But the metal mechanism of armed struggle works with them at full speed.

Q: Contradictory personalities. But he manages to make the reader see them so pathetic that he recognizes them.

R was found. I love this exercise. And I do that in all of my novels. As an author, I know very well what to give the reader, what expectations I create, and which I may not meet later. The novel lends itself to meddling in the consciences of others.

The tale lingers today in nationalism and in some parts of the Basque Country it is dominant

Q: When you talk about an anecdote, you are talking about an invented story that connects ideology with armed struggle. Has that been mitigated? tale In the last years?

R was found. The tale lingers today in nationalism and in some parts of the Basque Country it is dominant. To realize this, all you have to do is go there and see people or election results. What changed was the terror strategy with which they tried to capture that tale.

s. The aspiring ETA members are Children of Superstition, as are writers and mldr;

R was found. We are all children of the tale. It is impossible to be an intelligent person and not be influenced by superstition. In fact, the first things we receive are fables, children’s tales and stories that tell us what love, envy or evil is. The problem, and it’s a very serious problem, is that our superstitions don’t pass through a moral filter. I am not authorized to eliminate others to fulfill my superstition. This is very dangerous. What is good for democracy is to have a tale consisting of an election platform with promises and potential proof that the challenger is so bad.

Q: 12 years after the ceasefire, are these kinds of books documenting ETA’s death certificate still necessary?

R was found. That’s what I did in it homeland And also in this book that I envisioned as a plea against terrorism, because these heroes are so hilarious and funny.

I consider myself one more on a mission to put Etta’s misdeeds in black into white. I was not alone

Q: Have you tried to hurt ETA members in their pride?

R was found. If I could put my finger on which sore hurts them the most, it doesn’t sound bad to me, the truth is. I’d be surprised if the parody applauded me, it wouldn’t. But come on, I consider myself one more on the mission of putting Etta’s misdeeds in black on white. I was not alone. I think of Raul Guerra Garrido, who was attacked.

Q: Your heroes have serious problems with women. One of them says that ETA collapsed when women entered leadership positions.

R was found. That personality is repressed and afraid of women. He is the son of an oppressive mother. I was so inspired by the gastronomic communities. I remember that in the seventies a vote was taken in one of them if they would let women in on the Sabbath and the vote was overwhelmingly no. The thesis was that “women bring trouble” (laughs) that the communities were havens from wives who wouldn’t let them get drunk in peace. Those ideas have always been in the air of Basque society and have stuck with me. This book is part of a series called Basque people And it is advertised as such. I am trying to reflect the human landscape as I knew it. There were people like that, but this does not mean that I consider them actors.

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Q: The strong and emasculated mother is an issue that is not appropriate for the times in which we live.

R was found. But, like all clichés, it likely contains a grain of truth.

Q: In this book, a cemetery appears again.

R was found. It’s that if one doesn’t show up, it’s not my book.

Q: Why this installation?

R was found. It’s a trademark, as are those brief appearances Hitchcock made in his films. I think it comes from the first time I stepped on one with my mom. I was about seven years old and we went to visit my grandmother’s grave and that vision of the name stone awakened my awareness of the end of life.

Q: Does living in Germany for many years give you the necessary distance from your home?

R was found. Yes, of course. Distance can give me more freedom. It is difficult to realize oneself free if I go out into the street, they threaten me, they scold me, or they attack me.

Q: Did you feel attacked?

R was found. I felt it every time someone in the name of some convictions. But personally, I don’t want to talk about it. In interviews, I am more anti-national than I show in my fiction. So I get that they call me tocapelotas.

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Q: Do you enjoy being a sore ass?

R was found. I know I upset a lot of people. what are you going to do! I don’t care. If I am afraid when writing, I will devote myself to something else, mining or chess, which, as they say, is exciting.

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