Arnon

We will make sure that there will be a happy audience in my apartment. If you prefer, it could be just Laura and me. There will be no stage and we will arrange for a comfy chair.

Why I ‘m doing this?
Strangely enough we do not ask that question when obliged, only when we feel free. For example I do not ask that question when in office – it seems irrelevant – but rather when I am in the arms of a girl, even if I like her very much.

I asked my self that question every day when I was in Turkey. I didn't come up with a descent answer. Even today, I wonder how entertainers do it every day over and over again. Either strong characters or emptyminded.

Heroic act: getiing on a stage

One of my hero's, Charles Bukowski, had a nice line about getting on stage: he always felt scared , scared shitless but superiour. Allthough his novel Women isn't hilarious all the way, espacially when the dirty old man get laid once more with some young literary groupie, I think his remark makes sense: the audience is there, for you! Almost as if you are some kind of a priest, giving a sermon from the pulpit.

But how will the audience react? Will there be a vibe, a mutual communication going on? Why am I doing this is a question to pop up eventually.

@ Victor

Is this why you write? Hoping you will get laid as a dirty old man with a young groupie. Is that your secretive dream?

My very nice neighbour Terry, who is a streetcar driver, used to be with jews for jesus. But now he is just very religous. When my dog was sick, he prayed for him.

@Mieke

When you would read more closely perhaps you will notice what I ment. Intelligent means nothing but "reading between the lines..."

Now I am going to read Imre Kertész translated K. dosszié . It seems to be an interview with another Hafner: Zoltán . In the preambule we read: 'if we accept the proposition of Nietzsche, the novel stems from Platonic dialogue."

In one gentle sentence line Imre changes his autobiography into a novel!

Yes: how to write about something one can't write about? How to fictionalize fact, horrible facts. The book finally arrived today in the most prestigious bookchain in the Netherlands: pulp somehow seem to enter those bookshelves immediatly ;(

@ Victor

If you are truly intelligent , than you would have realised that my questions are proof of my genuine interest in your motivation for writing.
Why do you write? I think the motivation of the writer will be partly responsible for what kind of texts he reproduces. That was a question that came to my mind when I tried reading parts of your novel on your website.
There is quite a difference between producing a piece of literature and writing a pamflet against childprostitution. Both have of course their own merits.

What an interesting and powerful woman Lori is. People like her make me aware that I'm wasting so much time doing nothing at all where I could be trying to change anything of importance.

@Mieke

I have written this first novel because I had to. Creative people usualy come to do what derives from an inner force: they write ( music, poetry, fiction, faction, dissertations), paint, sculpt, film, etc etc. Although your question seems legitimate, I still feel some pointing finger, some accusation behind it.

Anyway: I had to express what moved me. When we walk though a library, a museum, a Virgin Megastore: we read ,see & hear what moved all the people behind those works of art.

Charles Baudelaire believed in the (slow) gathering of success-molecules. A Princess and a well known female author have supported my 'work', for being so lucky getting a Member of Parliament asking those questions. Luck, whitout some of that mysterious stuff every endeavour is heading straight towards a quagmire.

More then once I 'hated' myself for the difficult subject I have choosen: on the other hand, with only a few hundred copies sold I am more then pleased with those suppotive mails in my box now! Snob, no. Guilty, no. Proud, yes!

Victor

*yawn*

@David

Go to bed. Goodnight.

Oscar W

Let me know when and I'll be there. Do you think Laura is going to bite her nails while I'm reading?

Victor

Thank you, daddy.

Arnon: writers of the Radical Left

Really a very nice article about your visit of Lori Berenson in the prison in Peru last friday in the NRC. As to Chomsky, I can imagen Lori was not so enthousiastic about him. I do not know if you intend to visit her again, but perhaps I can advise you some names of the Radical Left of a higher level: Antonio Negri on the first place, the political papers of Alain Badiou and Slavoj Zizek's book on Lenin.

Johan

You misunderstood me. Lori Berenson was very happy with Chosmky. Chosmky wrote a preface to the book Lori's mother wrote about the whole affair.
Zizek in my book is not a radical leftie.

Arnon

O yes I see, I misread you.
As to Zizek, I do not know what to say. It is hard to find a more radical thinker. I remember him saying: ' I do not like my first book. I still believed in democracy then...'

Johan

Have you seen the documentary "Zizek!" by Astra Taylor?

Oscar

Yes. Is it in that documentary that Zizek is saying that? You have a good memory.

Lori Berenson

I just read the article about your visit to Lori Berenson in Peru. Why is a white, western woman sitting in jail in a third world country so interesting, whilst hardly any attention is given to Latin people or black or whatever colour, sitting in western jailes?
It strikes me that western media always assume or suggest that people like Lori Berenson have been jailed unfairly, whilst no one questions or cares about the guilt of coloured people in western jails.
When will we stop looking at the non-western world through colonial, occidental eyes?
Apart from this, I think there are more interesting subjects in Peru to write about. By the way, I loved what you wrote in Het aapje dat geluk pakt.

Ralph Mens

I firmly reject your suggestion that writing about Lori Berenson is an act of neo-colonialism.

@Ralph, have you read Lori's website?
She herself seems to hate herself (and the publicity she's getting) for exact the same reasons you mention. To me she comes across as sincere when she continually underlines the fact that there are so many more people in jail for all the wrong reasons.
I think it's a wonderful thing she's using her contacts, skills and background to bring attention to the situation she's in. If she doesn't do it, and subsequently people like Arnon don't do it, who will?
Your point on neo-colonialism is interesting, it has been discussed before on this site and is complex. I'd like to narrow it down to one thing: aren't we all (including our actions) but a result of our histories? In other words, your interest in 'Het Aapje dat Geluk Pakt' is most likely a result of your own heritage and historical embedding. It's not something we should discuss or judge, it's simply a fact of life. Now get up off your leather chair and adopt an orphan from Africa or something. How's that for neo-colonialism?

Noa

I don’t think Lori Berenson hates herself, and if you are referring to the site http://www.freelori.org/ it’s a nasty and jejune remark. Or do you think Lori has wi-fi in her cell? And a small laptop?
This site is obviously set up by her parents – among other people – and I really don’t see how you can jump to the conclusion that Lori Berenson hates herself.
Also the word “neo-colonialism” is an empty vessel. The way some people speak about “terrorism and islamo-fascism” other people speak about “neo-colonialism.” I guess they think it’s chic.

Arnon/Noa

Having lived myself in Peru for four years has very much opened my eyes to the way the western world looks at 'the rest of the world'. Amongst Peruvians, I never met anyone who thought Berenson was jailed unjustly, nor any of the other Peruvian prisoners (by the way, many of them have been released over the past years). Also I don't believe she would have had less jail time had she been peruvian. There are several Peruvians from high class families that got involved with Sendero or MRTA, and they got heavy jail sentences too.

Ralph

Yes, most Peruvians will possibly argue that Fujimori did a good job fighting terrorism. Most Polish people are in favor of the death penalty, and maybe most Dutch would like to castrate sex offenders. I’m not sure what your argument or your point is.

Arnon

In your article you write that Berenson would have gotten away with five years had she been a Peruvian, and that she has been given such a long jail sentence because she is an American with a big mouth. My point is that also many Peruvians who were involved with terrorists, some even from wealthy high class families, have been give long jail sentences.
What further struck me in your article is that you suggest at the end that the revolution is still alive, although dormant. In my experience, it is as dead as a doornail. At least, all the people I spoke to in Peru, whether poor or rich, coloured or white, only speak with grief about that period. As some commentator pointed out: Peru has been immunized against terrorism.
The greater danger nowadays in Peru is not another revolution (I say danger because of the devastating effect it has had on Peruvian society, apart from the immense loss of life), but nationalistic populism, the same kind that is ruling now in Venezuela, Bolivia and elsewhere. But that is just my opinion.
I do like your writings about Peru, both fiction and journalism, and always am very interested in your observations concerning this fascinating country.

Ralph

Only the leaders of MRTA (and Sendero) got twenty years or more. Lori Berenson was never accused of violent actions or she was never accused of being a leader.
I think the Peruvian journalist who remarked that she has been sentenced for being an American woman with a big mouth got it right.
I remarked that the ground on which Sendero could flourish is still fertile. That’s all.
I don’t think we will see another Sendero in the years to come, but I do think that people (also in Peru) will feel a need for prophets.
In this sense the revolution is dormant. Not only in Peru. But it depends of course how you define revolution.

Arnon

Point taken! I guess I read 'revolution' in your article too literal, but I do agree that people will always look for (false) prophets to follow, to believe in and sometimes even to die for.
In that sense you are right that Peru (and many other Latin American countries) are fertile ground for these figures and movements to arise.
I'm not sure what the situation in Peru is like now, having moved back to Holland more than a year ago, but before the last elections things were pretty tight, and had Humala won, the country would have been in for another disaster. Many people (those with money that is) had their suitcases ready...
Are you planning to write more about Peru, either fiction or journalism?

Ralph

Maybe. I don't rule it out.

Arnon

Yesterday I received the series of articles you previously wrote on Lori Berenson. I can now see how you got to write about her, it puts a context to the article you recently wrote about her.
For someone who has lived in Peru (Lima) your articles are very recognizable, even if you only add little details about the surrounding. I can almost smell the life there again. So thanks for sharing this, and I do hope you will write some more about Peru in the future, life there is very rich and full of unexpected events.

Ralph

You are welcome.