Javier Cercas on Catalan and Spanish nationalism

The Catalan writer Javier Cercas won't be representing the autonomous community of Catalonia at this year's Frankfurt Book Fair because - like other well-known authors of the region - he writes in Spanish. In a guest commentary he criticises both Catalan and Spanish nationalism. Both are "as hypocritical, narrow-minded and potentially dangerous as all other forms of nationalism. In the case of Spanish nationalism this is because it doesn't grasp, or doesn't want to grasp, the fact that the Catalan language was not invented by the Catalan people for the purpose of destroying Spain's unity, but represents an important legacy for the whole country that deserves protection and promotion because otherwise it will disappear. In the case of Catalan nationalism, it's because it doesn't comprehend or refuses to comprehend that by the same token Catalan benefits from the Spanish language because obviously the latter wasn't invented solely for the purpose of destroying the Catalan language. And perhaps the world language Spanish represents the only chance of survival for català, which after all is not the private property of a few fanatical nationalists."

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