Ana Blandiana says that the Nobel prizes are not the problem of Romania. “We have always been good for exceptions. But the media is important, together we have to get somewhere”

Cace on Nobel prizes, but also opinions about Romania's needs, in a conversation with Ana Blandiana, for Hotnews readers.

I met the writer Ana Blandiana in the courtyard of the Royal Palace, before the celebration of the National Day of Spain, where she was invited to honor. It is one of the countries in which his works are not only beloved, but also awarded.

Last year, Ana Blandiana became the first Romanian laureate of the Princess of Asturia for Letters, within a ceremony presided over by the Royal Family of Spain.

However, I talked about another prize, the nobel for literature. “In the case of small, unimportant countries worldwide, like ours, it is much more important a Nobel prize for the country than for the writer who takes it.

Of the five Nobel prizes for literature that Poland has taken–an amazing number-some from the beginning of the century has set the dust, you do not know the names of the writers. But the glory of Poland has grown enormously, “says the poet and dissent, which was forbidden during the communist regime.

On the other hand, the writer believes, Romania suffers from shortage greater than the absence of a Nobel. “We have always thought of us, in these terms: we tend to have geniuses, to have peaks in different fields, we take prizes, but we have no average, average culture,” says Ana Blandiana.

From the backstage of the Writers Proposal Mechanism for Nobel Awards

HotNews: You have run for 14 years the Romanian Club, the Romanian section of the World Writers Organization. What can you tell us about how the Nobel Prize nominations were made?
Ana Blandiana: For 14 years, every December, I received a very sympathetic letter, with the Swedish, golden crown on the envelope. We were invited to make a proposal for the following year, for the Nobel Prize. While Eugen Ionescu lived, I proposed him, then I proposed Cioran, then I remember that I proposed Gellu Naum and then I was no longer and I do not know what happened. But what is important is the mechanism.

In this letter, after a friendly phrase in which we were invited to make the proposal, our attention was drawn with a severity that is almost good growth, that if we somehow make our proposal, it will no longer be taken into account, because the proposals are secret.

What I want to tell you is that, for example, over several years since the respective moments, the president of the Writers' Union announced that he has proposed at the Nobel prize about five to six writers.

It was like a beating, because it was obvious that, making the public statement, the proposal was no longer valid, and the idea that he proposed more at once was simply ridiculous. This category also includes the agitation and almost the hysteria every year around the proposals for the Nobel Prize. What is certain is that it is not known who the ones are proposed.

“They never replied that they recorded the proposal”

I forgot to tell you that then, in those 14 years, the most offensive seemed to me, until I understood that the secret is indeed sacrosant, the fact that (No. the representatives of the Nobel Committee) did not respond that they had received the proposal. They never replied that they had recorded the proposal. It was all the more frustrating, because although it was great writers, the lists never appeared.

So what is happening in the public space, journalistic in fact, are ideas of journalists about who could take the Nobel prize, after more or less valuable criteria. Obviously in that discussion, writers who have had many chronicles, who have successful or criticism and so on. But they have absolutely no connection with the Nobel Committee nor to the following prizes. Therefore, one appears one that no one expects.

“If a curve of the prizes that were taken were made, it is certain that it would not be a curve of literary value.”

In fact, I want to tell you that one of the quotes that always disturbed me is a quote from a French historian, who said that history is especially geography. And this is really disturbing if you think about our history.

But I remembered this quote of Jules Michelet, thinking that, from the point of view of Nobel prizes, literature is especially history and geography.

It is clear that every time there are arguments, if you can discuss their arguments, because they are generally very mysterious, but if they were a curve of the prizes, it is certain that it would not be a curve of literary value. As a proof that there are such great writers who have never even discussed.

“A Nobel prize is much more important for those who take it than for those who take it”

– How important would a Nobel prize be for Romania?
– A Nobel prize is much more important for those who take it than for those who take it. And the fact that Romania did not take any Nobel prize for literature, beyond the fact that he speaks to what extent we have been obstructing to each other and so on, if we think about Blaga, it is frustrating. In this sense, I want to tell you that I would like to take a Nobel prize with all my heart no matter what a writer, but Romanian. And we are not lucky, but I think we don't do enough.

It is obvious that lately things have improved-I mean that after the Cultural Institute appeared in Patapievici's formula, they have improved very much, now there are whole groups of Romanian writers that matter, which are fired, so we go for the better. But other countries have started much for a long time, with real support for the image of literature abroad.

“I think it's terrible to wake up with such a sum and start administering it.”

– What does a Nobel prize mean for a writer?
– I hope with all my heart to believe me those who tell me and not consider me hypocrites, but I think for a writer to take the Nobel prize is not a big win.
Okay, I don't talk about money. As for the money, I think it is awful to wake up with such a sum and obviously you start to manage it, that is to give it to various organizations, that you will not take a million for you, that you do not know what to do with it.

It would complicate life, but not about this, but about the fact that I really read, it is not my idea, I read a study in this regard, about the fact that, with few exceptions, with very few exceptions, the Nobel prize blocked and interrupted them … I mean that it is very difficult to wear.

“Between the notion of poetry and the notion of prize there are not much connections”

– This year, as in other years, your name was conveyed in Romania on these informal lists of the possible winners. Have you ever thought you could win a Nobel Prize for Literature?
-No, I never thought. Okay, I want to say that the Nobel Prize is not really nice among the prizes, there is too much talk around him and, please, the amount is too big.

I have never thought of myself in this sense that in one country or another, especially those in which I am very successful, like Spain or Italy, there is always a Nobel prize in connection with me has nothing to do with the Nobel Prize.

Beyond that, I really believe that between the notion of poetry and the notion of prize there are not much connections, with one exception and that reverse than the poet would like, Plato's idea that the poet must be crowned with laurels and the date of the fortress.

Plato's idea was that poets can confuse their unrealistic ideas, say, but now, in the 21st century, when the poets are very mixed in the life of the fortress, giving out of the city would be more than the well -being of the leaders.

The wall of officials that made the books no longer see

-What should Romania do more to promote and encourage literature?
– I remember a book fair in Frankfurt, in 1995, I had a book published in Germany, the “applause drawer”, and I was there, not in the Romanian team, but invited by the German Publishing House. But of course I went to the Romanian stand.

And there, it was particularly ugly, for all the other stands, it was obvious that someone made efforts to look good, while there. This has changed, I remember another moment, from a fair in Turin, from Patapievici period, when we were also guests, our stand was a miracle, I simply have no impression that it continues with the same fervor.

But then, I remember that I had felt so humiliated, because at the various stands all kinds of trifles were invented to attract the world, and everything was in a single detail in our eyes.

There were so many officials who came by the Ministry of Culture or God knows where, that the books were no longer seen. They were a man next to the man sitting there because they were taking wages for it and they had taken advantage of going. So, for a long time it worked, then there was a very good period after the establishment of the ICR.

Now it is done, I know admirable teams in Rome, Spain, etc., but obviously it could be done more. Look, please, you don't have to ask me, how the Minister of Culture always appears on the list and always gives the Ministry of Culture to someone who has no importance.

– Where do you think this obsession of our Romanians comes to prizes? In Romania there is this concern for the prizes of any kind, we are with the Olympians in mathematics in the country where we are among the last in Europe in Pisa tests, with sports medals in the country where there is not much sports?
-I have always thought of us in these terms: we tend to have geniuses, to have peaks in different fields, we take prizes, but we do not have the average culture. Yesterday the 13th volume in the series of Academy Library history was launched, these are things that create the basis of a civilization and culture.

That is, to know what we did, to classify the average values. We have always been good for exceptions and, in this sense, obviously, the prizes taken abroad, even by writers, are many. I think it has to do more for the average, both the state and the cultural people who want to achieve something for the country.

Everyone wants to be in front and, if possible, alone. This is not the culture of a country, together we have to get somewhere.

“The problem is to teach them to read, not write”

-When I was talking on another opportunity about how “the events in my garden” were born, you told how you returned to that perophade then to simple things. And I was thinking, should we start a change in culture from simple things?
– Simple and serious. For example, those who finish philology, would be a profit if at least half would take care of how to arrange the libraries in Romania, how to get to read, not necessarily write lyrics. This is another madness, which is not our specific, but works at the creative courses, to teach others to write. The problem is to teach them to read, not to write, because each one has to learn alone, if he is in a state.