There is no hint of humility towards Celine Curiol when she speaks of her great opus. The Lyon-born author is well aware of the work he conceived, wrote and published Laws of Ascension (Errata Naturae) and its flawless result. “I wanted to be A. The world of the novel“It sounds a bit like crazy ambition,” he admits in the Madrid cafeteria. This microcosm consists of thousands of pages, with almost any dialogue, but it collects all the problems of the present. And in this case, “all.” Is not exaggerated.
Six different voices travel for a year in the eclectic district of Belleville, Paris, at the center of the story. Orna is a loyal journalist but unable to help a homeless man who has fallen on her doorstep; His sister, Selenium, is an environmental expert and, in turn, is stuck among the concrete skyscrapers of Dubai; Orna the snobbish psychologist is Pavel, an absent father whose priorities have been changed because of an attack victim; Hope is a sort of Amazon worker who was fired for non-production and falls into a serious depression; Mode is a retiree from Senegal who spends his free time volunteering; And Mehdi is a teenager of North African descent who is radicalized. A passion for a dramatic ending at McDonald’s will connect the lives of all of them.
Curiol’s ability to balance all of these issues without sounding pretentious or superficial sounds is admirable. An engineer who became a journalist and later a teacher, with beauty and scientific precision tells us about the vicissitudes of the European community in which we live. Sponsored by Paul Oster and with good reviews behind it, Laws of Ascension Is becoming one of the most powerful editions of 2022.
He points to the novel belt and in his biography that Paul Oster is his main supporter. How did your relationship start and what did it mean in your literary career?
I have been a friend for 20 years now. We met while I was working in New York and although we do not see each other often because he still lives there, I call each other in Paris at least twice a year to overcome it. Siri Hustvedt, his wife, is also a close friend. By the time we got closer, they were my family across the pool. They were like my adoptive literary parents who encouraged me, supported me, and are the backbone of my story as a writer.
Laws of Ascension This is a polyphonic work with a very complex structure. Where did the idea come from and how long did it take you to write it?
The writing process took six years, but the process of mental conception made it more protracted. In total, about ten years. The idea originated in 2011, the so-called. With the Arab Revolution in Syria, Egypt and Tunisia. It was a phenomenon that impressed me and made me think whether we would be in Europe or France to understand something like revolution or revolutionary movement or not because our existence is very comfortable.
As each represents a different social class, age, origin, and profession, the six characters are somewhat related. Why did they work for you as a choir portrait?
First of all, they all experience a moment of crisis when they question their lifestyle. They seek harmony. They ask themselves if their lives are in line with the values they want to move into. That is, the dissonance between their ideals and their course of action. Also, they are never lonely, but their future depends on their relationship with five of the other characters. Finally, in the middle of the novel, there is an event that suggests a rift in the lives of all of them and what turns it upside down: a passion (later an attack) at McDonald’s. This is fictitious, but at the same time quite convincing.
Which character did you find difficult to write?
Mehdi found it difficult to assemble because he is the only one who speaks first person and he is the youngest of the six. Expresses himself in very street language and writes everything with abbreviations. Admittedly, it was very difficult to move from one to the other, as I did not write the episodes of each character in blocks, but did so in the order shown in the book. And to be honest, I never thought it would be so difficult.
Mehdi represents the second generation of children who are not fully integrated into Western society and who are the target of jihadist cells. Was he inspired by anyone for character design?
Especially not. I live in the Belleville neighborhood and have spent a great deal of time listening to what is happening on the street and with neighbors who match Mehdi’s profile. Not in the sense of radicalization, but they are born in France, but of North African descent, who are the same age and spend time in the park smoking and fooling around with their colleagues as all young people. I wandered around a lot to catch my way of talking and expressing myself. Then I also turned to novels and texts written by people who had direct contact with radicalization. And, as in any novel, is part of fiction. Mehdi is a poetic mix between different inspirations, but not specifically one.
The recent history of France has several episodes of jihadist terrorism. You invent one to deal with its causes and consequences from all sides: privilege, migration, instability, intolerance or frustration. Do you think this could lead to wound purulence?
Is it a sensitive topic? Maybe yes, but no one has said anything about it in connection with the novel. Clearly, there is a perception that terrorism and Islamist radicalization have disappeared from the media and political discourse. But in reality it is just such an impression. I have talked to researchers and political scientists who know for sure that the problem still exists and sooner or later it will come out again, although public opinion does not know about it.
I do not believe that the process of radicalization is directly related to poverty or the economic situation of the country. Unlike. We can not think of radicalization from a national perspective: it is an international phenomenon and will depend on the conflict zones. In the case of 2015, the war in Syria gave great motivation to the process of radicalization in Western countries. Now, I do not know about Ukraine, but maybe it will respond to countries like Bosnia, where there is a Muslim population. But in the evolution of this movement, the key is to look at the international context and globalization in which we live, whether we like it or not.
He points to 2015 as the year in which all disasters occurred. After the global pandemic and the war between Russia and Ukraine, would you still see it that way?
When I was writing the novel, I could not have imagined that a COVID pandemic and almost a third world war would occur. Probably, if I write a novel now, I will call any next year “the year of all disasters”. But you do not have to take it literally, it’s something fictional. In any case, the attacks on Bataclan Hall were before and after in France. It was a moment when the public was asked why this violence arose from within and by French citizens who were born here and educated in the values of the French Republic. Something that seemed impossible until now. It was a tragedy that made us think about the people who are radicalized in France and that is what I am trying to explore through Mehdi’s character.
Switch to the character that plays the most pages: Orna. He is a loyal journalist who walks past a homeless man lying on the ground one night and does not help. Interestingly, a few weeks ago Photographer Rene Robert died of hypothermia On the streets of Paris because no one stopped to help him. Are there more than two in the world than we are willing to admit?
I think so. In fact, what he wanted from this scene was to get the reader interested in what he would do. Wondering why we lose the help-seeking reflex when he needs it? In society and in big cities, all this is happening because we are becoming more and more individualistic and more reluctant to stop and think about others.
Do you think it all has to do with individualism?
Of course, the individualism that society itself promotes. And also with this advantage of efficiency. Everyone always has something else to do. You are not helping anyone not out of disgust, but because you think, during a very fast mental process, that you will not have time to lose the clock that you need to be elsewhere. Or do something. This is a series of mental mechanisms that push you to refrain from doing so so as not to harm your daily life or your own time. This and fear. I was in the subway recently and someone was choosing a boy girl. I tried to convince the other passengers that they had to do something, but people did not want to because we did not know how the man would react. There is a great fear of consequences.
Another big criticism of the book is the media. Orna is not built on the rhythms and modus operandi of online journalism and feels like she has sold herself on clicks. You have been a journalist and correspondent for many years. Was it the same frustration that led you to leave the profession?
Frustration. Yes, of course. But it is not the fault of the journalists, but of the whole mechanism that exists around them. From the people who decide where the money goes and what the funds are used for. Much more resources and time are spent on actually trivial items. Even in the case of television, where I worked is worse. There is an opinion that you either inform the viewers or entertain them. There is a discrepancy between these two concepts and it is clear that the information is boring. And, of course, television does not allow viewers to get bored. But who really decides what is boring and what is entertaining? We have entered a vicious circle: journalists think that people do not want to be informed and people think that the media does not want to be informed.
Orna reflects and feels bad because, although she considers herself a conscientious journalist, she has “never fought for anything.” Can well-done journalism be mixed with social commitment?
If implemented well and under good conditions, it can be a form of social commitment. However, I always think of this contrast between action and testimony. Journalism is a witness to something. You do not act, you just observe. And while it is very important to have witnesses who are accountable for what is happening, you are nothing more than that. I realized this when I was working in New York, in 2001, and there were attacks on the Twin Towers. I saw people around me who were constantly running and trying to help me and I was there, planted in the middle. The only thing I was doing, in unique quotes, was telling the story of what was happening, which in turn helped other people. But there is no such immediacy of action and help.
A few days ago, Made several statements about children’s literature Which caused a bit of controversy. He said the only thing his 22-year-old students read was this Harry Potter And that they did not make the leap to Kafka and Dostoevsky. Do you think youth literature is limited to a certain age and should be a bridge to high literature?
Perhaps the generalization was a bit extreme and my words were misunderstood. Of course, I recognize that children’s literature has many advantages as it allows many people to take the first step and encourage reading. But I have really noticed that lack is a step that goes from youth literature to literature in general, just plain, not just high literature. And if that happens, it happens later. That’s what I regret. Because when we are adults, we have an open mind and spirit, and we are much more receptive and willing to permeate ourselves than we become adults.
Source: El Diario
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