Do you still write?
'No not anymore. Many people do not want to believe that, but ... I could
have died long ago, and there's no point in thinking about the books that
people could have written. Most writers write too much, they often have to
correct themselves later. That's no use."
Perhaps because it was your original homeland?
'No. Romania has no sense for me anymore. I have been away for more than half
a century. Moreover, my childhood in Romania was a tragedy without end. My
mother always cried because of me. If I had not left Romania, I would have
committed suicide. Paris saved me. I promised to write a thesis here. I did
not do it, but I never felt guilty. Romanians generally believe in nothing,
that is their only merit, the only positive thing about them. To write a
thesis, you must attach faith to a philosophical jargon. That is too much
honor for life. Life does not deserve a philosophical depth.
Translated into normal language, a philosophical text is emptied very
quickly.'
In 'La tentation d'exister' from 1956 you do not hint at all believing in the
future of Israel. You only call Israel a 'provisional' fatherland.
'Yes, the fate of the Jews is exceptional, and even uncompromising with the
help of compromises. The Jews are the only historical people that have not
fallen prey to decadence. One of the reasons is the absence of a fatherland.
A homeland is a kind of sleeping aid. The Jews have always been watchful
wherever they were. That still applies. Their walk around the world has
something unearthly. They attach to this world, but they do not belong in
some way. It is incredible how many civilizations they have traversed, how
much they have left their mark on it. And yet they do not belong there. Their
desire for the utopian is a memory projected in the future. I believe that it
is not possible to turn history back two thousand years. I believe it is
their destiny to keep running their heads against the wailing wall - while
they long for paradise."
--
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