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Marias, Javier
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2 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Javier Marías Franco on his inability to be patriotic
Spanish writer and columnist Javier Marías Franco speaks out against patriotism in the liberal-conservative Italian daily Corriere della Sera: "I love the individual, not the country. I always found it hard to understand patriotism. Proclamations like: I Love Spain … sound false and empty to my ears and also implausible because no one can 'love' a whole country … I also find it difficult to be proud of my country simply because one of my countrymen has excelled at something. … How was I supposed to feel honoured when for example the Nobel Prize [in literature] in Stockholm went to Camilo José Cela, whose literature I find rancid and meaningless … . Strangely enough I perceive patriotism as something entirely negative. … There are individuals and facts with which I have no desire whatsoever to be associated. … I wonder how this illness can be defined: this inability to feel proud combined with the ability to feel ashamed of the unknown neighbour. Not that it's any consolation, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who suffers from this illness."
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More from the press review on the subject » Weltanschauung, » Spain, » Global
Javier Marías on the dramatization of death
In an interview with Justo Barranco, the Spanish writer Javier Marías laments the current attitude society has to death, a theme that features in his latest book 'Tu rostro mañana' (Your Face Tomorrow). "[Compared to times of war], today's society is too coward, it exaggerates a bit. Human life is of course sacred, but in less silly times people didn't make such a big thing out of it. It was admissible for people to die. Now we are trying to eliminate chance, as if we were perfect. Everything that diverges from the given order is experienced as great tragedy. This may be so on a personal level, but it is not a tragedy in itself, as was seen with the death of the young footballer [Antonio Puerta, who died last August 28th]. It seems that the only way for death to be considered bearable these days is to turn it into a spectacle."
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