He has lived in Hannover, the capital of Lower Saxony, Germany, for 37 years. "It is the city that I chose or that chose me, where I have my family and they will bury me safely," explains the author of Patria in a bar on Madrid's Gran Vía where he meets with La Vanguardia to talk about his new novel, Hijos de la fábula (Tusquets). A work in which he addresses ETA terrorism... with humor. Two young puppies who have literally just joined the organization and are hiding on a farm in Albi, France, waiting for receive instruction and instructions, they suddenly find themselves with the announcement of the end of the terrorist band. And with their total abandonment in the field amid chicken droppings and broom training. With a lot of irony, the situation will drift towards the absurd and almost the grotesque Not without showing the terribly simple thoughts that guide them.
Does your novel support Marx's idea that history always repeats itself twice, first as tragedy and then as farce?
While the story is taking place, and it is bloody, there is not much room for smiling. Humor takes time once the whole or part of the story has been digested. In addition, humor attacks or can attack the argument, the consequences, the behaviors. And to perceive this takes time. While there is pain it is difficult to find formulas close to parody, grotesque or humor itself.
Did you want to bring ETA's tama to this field? Has someone jumped on you?
No, not at the moment, nor do I care much. I know in advance who my novel will please and who will not for extraliterary reasons. It does not take away the dream. In reality, the idea of Hijos de la fábula was born from a conviction that I had for many years and that occurred to me while watching a carnival parade. And it is that if one looks closely, he will see the tragic history of Humanity demystified, parodied. One sees a guy dressed as Napoleon, or a hussar, or a Roman… The stories of the past end up being caricatured. This means that the ideology of those who were involved in these tragedies is no longer valid. And their victims have already disappeared or remained in the trunks of the past.
Would you say that in this case the ideology is no longer valid?
Yes, in the case of ETA terrorism, the ideology is in force. As relevant as ever. And the victims present. The task is delicate if one wants to approach it from humor, which is why I consulted with the victims about my project and assured them, and I have complied, that the victims would not appear in any passage in my novel.
Why a title like 'Sons of the fable'?
We are all children of fables, of that I am convinced. And we are already at an early age, when they transmit to us some religion, a language, some convictions. When I was 4 years old, I believed in the Three Kings at all costs. From the moment we are born, others, from the social and economic conditions in which we live, write some fable, a story in our head that later forms part of our cognitive composition. It is always so. We are a species that needs stories, that explains the world with fables, with legends. The problem is not exactly this, it seems to me something innate to the human species, but that these fables do not have a moral filter that forces us to respect others. That is the problem for me, not the fact that one has convictions or has an ideology. The problem is that these convictions or ideology serve as a pretext to attack others.
One of his characters says that they can be unfair and can even kill children because they do it for a greater act of justice.
In that phrase, ideology is often put before morality, the cause is above individuals, and whatever they do in the name of that ideology is fair. I have been very careful since I was young not to adopt convictions that authorize me to cause harm to others. I have it strictly prohibited. It is a subject of constant reflection in me and that is very present in my literature.
You have created these characters at the service of humor, but does this brainlessness that they show have parallels with reality?
Well, I wouldn't be surprised if there were kids like these that I invented for my novel within ETA. In any case, I have to say that I was aware from the beginning of the dangers of an excessive dose of humor, and I wanted to limit the humorous dose, ruling out any humorous version. I was not interested in comedy humor, but rather I preferred another type of humor that has to do with satire, which allows criticism, which at times approaches the grotesque. But at the same time I made an effort so that these characters were also seen in their particular humanity. They are not just terrorist apprentices, but they have their illnesses, their nostalgia, they are friends, they argue. The novel is not only the story of the violence of two dolls, but they carry with them a considerable amount of humanity.
And at the same time an enormous simplicity: they always solve everything by alluding to police repression, the unification of the Basque territories and communism.
I am reminded of a passage in which Asier, who passes for being the ideologue of the couple, says that a few clear ideas are enough for them: "With a few clear ideas we have plenty."
Does the simple thought scare you?
It is that in reality simple thinking and fanaticism come hand in hand. As soon as one rules out going back, or rules out the nuances, it is very possible that one enters squarely through the door of fanaticism. And of course rule out any type of discussion of modification of what was thought.
One of them says that he sees no difference between armed struggle and faith. Is it also a taunt to the role that the Church could have had in the Basque conflict?
No, it has more to do with the fact that when one assumes a single thought, also associated with a project, it becomes a religion, with a ritual, with an objective that is in the future, which would be equivalent to the heaven of the believers, it would be a social paradise or an ideal state. And then one even renounces his individuality, the pleasures of life, because they distract from the true faith. The mechanism of action and behavior of the fanatic, of the radical, is very similar to that of the believer.
The end of ETA, did it come from exhaustion, from politics?
I saw the announcement with skepticism, because it was not the first in the same sense, but this time it did materialize. It seemed very interesting to me to listen to what representatives of the nationalist left were saying. Sometimes they say things that clarify their positions and they do not accept the version according to which ETA was defeated: they spoke of a change in strategy. And the truth is that the project continues and that perhaps it is just as valid or more than when there were attacks. It is possible judging from what those who know or those who were in on it say that ETA was counterproductive for the consummation of the national project, and they decided to close it down with hundreds of militants in jail.
The protagonists say when they begin to know their situation: "What a waste of paper that history reserves for us." What do you reserve for ETA?
There is a fight to establish the version that predominates in the history books, in literature itself, in the cinema. What I perceive up to now is that outside the Basque Country I think that ETA has lost its story, it passes for being a terrorist organization, that's what it's called and that's how it was declared in Strasbourg. But I think that within the Basque Country another type of reading predominates in which there is a certain understanding, well, in some cases a lot of understanding, with what is called the armed struggle and not terrorism. In the vocabulary you can already see which version is in force. There is an obvious attempt to alleviate a discourse that was excessively critical of ETA by mixing different types of violence, it is said yes, well, yes, a lot of damage was done, but also the security forces, the GAL... There is a pasteleo to blur certain responsibilities.
Who is winning in the construction of the story?
I don't know, but the victims of terrorism arouse great sorrow in me and I will not move from their side and my literature will always try to be understanding with the victims.
“We have an organization, an objective, a strategy. We are not psychopaths”, the protagonists say to themselves. Was there something psychopathic in ETA?
This passage is taken from something I read. Someone close to the organization defended himself against that accusation. If one listens to their statements, statements by terrorists who do not call themselves terrorists, they are not presented as people who postulate evil, but as rational beings who defended a cause that they considered just and necessary and that, of course, is really perverse. Harming others in the name of what is considered a fair house. The same as the Islamist who exploits himself in the middle of the crowd and who aspires to heaven or to please God. There is an absolute, indisputable idea that requires those behaviors that to others seem terrifying or violent.
What is the situation today in the Basque Country?
There is an evident tranquility in the streets but I also see that it has become a territory that is a stronghold of nationalism, where nationalism has a lot of power. Before, when there was an attack, people did not want to speak out of fear. Now he doesn't want to talk so as not to twitch, so as not to bring up bad memories. There is a certain silence in the environment, it is still uncomfortable to discuss issues such as extortion, attacks.
Billy, where is he?
It is a coalition of parties, not all of them are the same or have the same story, I follow the news and I see them very motivated by issues that have nothing to do with the independence movement, labor issues, feminism, they support central government initiatives, naturally in return some kind of reward. They have taken a liking to touch a little power, to influence. They have adopted the traditional method of the PNV which consisted of coming to Madrid to look for things. To carry competitions.
Are they being prepared as an alternative to the Government, you mean?
I don't know. They have a lot of power in the Basque Country and great social support.
How 'Hijos de la fábula' fits into his books about Euskadi.
It is part of a series entitled Basque People, it is the third and the series will continue. It's not about ETA exactly, but they are stories and stories centered on people from my homeland, in a time that I have lived and it affects me. They are rather short stories in which in each of them I put into practice some kind of formal experiment. At first, Patria was going to be part of that series, but I left it out because it is a great novel that has had a lot of impact and would overshadow all the others in the series.
And how does your work fit into Basque literature, among other society portrait painters such as Ramiro Pinilla or Bernardo Atxaga?
I have followed a path where there were traces of others who preceded me. I would mainly highlight Ramiro Pinilla and Raúl Guerra Garrido, they have been kind of beacons for me that have helped me a lot to orient myself. Ramiro once told me that where he left off, that is, at the end, is in the mid-sixties, which is as far as Verdes valles, colinas rojas goes. That I took it as if I were taking over, he told me, and it was exciting for me. And Guerra Garrido is for me a model in terms of incorporating social issues and terrorist violence into his novels, a pioneer for whom I also had great personal affection, and then there are the rest of us who do what we can and give our personal contributions.
