It often makes you wonder. If society and politics didn’t populate the courts with dwarfs and dancers, what would become of satire? Probably not much. Or nothing! Despite the devastation that the progeny of so much undergrowth has produced around the world – with all due respect to those who have always thought that it was an exclusive of the 1980s -, the unequivocal answer was provided bymeeting with Jonathan Coe from last night.
(caption id=”attachment_1954503″ align=”alignnone” width=”300″) Jonathan Coe, photo by Alessia Cosentini(/caption)
In the sixteenth-century rooms of Palazzo Arnone, home of the National Gallery of Cosenza, the English writer was a guest of the Sila Prize Foundation to present his latest novel, «The proof of my innocence» (Feltrinelli), in the only scheduled stop in the Center-South. Under the gaze of the president of the Foundation, the lawyer Enzo Paolini, and the director of the Award, Gemma Cestari, a particularly large and attentive audience followed with great interest the explanations and digressions on the book between Coe and Marco Vigevani, one of top Italian literary agents, called to dialogue with the author.
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Jonathan Coe, photo by Alessia Cosentini(/caption)
The brilliant British narrator owes his fame to the ability with which he has always outlined the vices and virtues of the protagonists of the political and social life of his England, using the art of irony in a sublime way, in a confident literary style. It is no coincidence that, over the years, his novels have been used to interpret English society and the political figures who have taken turns governing the country.
Through the narrative structure of the cozy crime, a light crime plot and doses of humor, and hints of dark academy style, «Proof of my innocence» is no exception. And between a protagonist searching for her place in the world and a mysterious murder, the novel photographs Liz Truss’s 49 days in government and the transformation of the British conservative wing from the 1980s to today.
At the end of the event we met Jonathan Coe – who follows Italian literature, revealing a passion for Italo Calvino and his linguistic games, but also has admiration for the Messina writer Nadia Terranova and her «Addio Fantasmi» (Einaudi, in five Witch of 2019) – for a very transversal chat…
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Jonathan Coe, photo by Alessia Cosentini(/caption)
How much she enjoys writing. Reading her books, and it also happened with «The proof of my innocence», I always imagined her clicking on the keyboard laughing out loud. A bitter smile, often, but still a smile…
«Well, sometimes yes and sometimes no. Writing this book was a lot of fun especially because of the pastiche of different styles. It has a fairly playful tone on the surface, while in depth it deals with very serious and important themes. Then, if we talk about another book, which was written on the occasion of my mother’s death, obviously it was more difficult to delve into the narrative, although it managed to provide an idea of what British society was at that specific moment, so delicate for me.”
Cozy crime is a very intriguing and popular narrative key. Did you also choose it to broaden the pool of potential readers and push them towards an in-depth study of important political-social concepts?
«I would say it’s more than a gimmick. It’s true that people who love the cozy crime genre obviously love that there are real facts related to it. But I really like crime fiction, because I believe it is the purest form of narration and it is also perhaps the most intriguing, because readers need a solution and therefore I don’t think we can leave those who read and are passionate about this type of narrative in a sort of ambiguous situation.”
The conspiracy from the 1980s reaches up to the present day to signify the paternity of a drift of the Right towards extreme shores… is it just a narrative gimmick or did something really start from those years?
«I can certainly talk about the British political situation and certainly in politics we have observed a shift in positions increasingly to the right. Over the last eight years, starting with the Brexit referendum. That was perhaps the moment it all began. Political figures such as Boris Johnson became increasingly bold and outspoken about the political direction being taken. And from that moment on I can say that the conservatives in my opinion are no longer recognizable from those who were the conservative figures of 40 years ago.”
The current young generations, represented in the book by Phyl and Rashida, are faced with a world in which they feel unfit, reaching the very sad conclusion of “I don’t have what it takes”… How did we get to this point?
«Once again I believe that Brexit is in some way a milestone, because it has made us understand that the divisions are no longer the traditionally understood ones, right or left, men or women, but also concern a whole series of cultural and political issues , which have increased the gap between the new generation and the old. The Brexit referendum exacerbated the concepts of borders, identity and sovereignty that were not shared by the younger generations. The younger generations felt more European, more devoted to freedom of movement and employment within Europe and saw that the older generation with its vote completely excluded this possibility for them. Even my daughter was crying the day after the referendum result. And I assure you that I saw her cry very few times.”
As long as there is a place in the world for satire, there will always be a child ready to shout that the king is naked… but how many will believe it?
«Well, people have become more and more cynical and this I think is quite dangerous, because when people feel abandoned by political leaders, they try to vote for what they identify as a savior. And the savior is simply a political extremist. In this sense, I believe that political cynicism is present in my novels, but nevertheless I have to think – and I want to think – that democracy is still the solution. And precisely the attitude I described before was well identified by the political result of the American elections a few days ago.”
Photo by Alessina Cosentini