JM Coetzee: “Cervantes is the writer I admire the most”

The South African writer John Maxwell Coetzee (Cape Town, 1940) is in conflict with English. The novelist, a naturalized Australian, is upset that his language has taken over the world. It is not for nothing that since 2018 the author has been publishing his works in Spanish translation rather than in his native language. The winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003 does not trust language that conveys a vision of the world that he does not share and that sometimes even seems hateful to him. Perhaps for this reason, when he deposited his bequest at the Caja de las Letras of the Instituto Cervantes last Friday, he chose Spanish. For this reason, but also because he considers himself the author Quixote “father and mother of all novelists”. “He is the writer I admire the most,” added the narrator.

Coetzee thus became the first winner of the Swedish Academy Award to leave a copy of his work in the Letter Box. The writer is in Madrid, where he is spending a three-week stay at the invitation of the Prado museum, which is his center of work and pleasure until the middle of this month. After those days visiting art galleries, he will write a text related to the museum, the first of the collection which will be focused on the research of expressive connections between fiction and plastic. During these first days, he talked with his Spanish translator, philosopher and writer Mariana Dimópulos. Namely, Coetzee stored the manuscript of this dialogue in box 915 of the vault of the Cervantes Institute.

“I did not imagine that my visit would end in a bank vault, surrounded by memories of the great writers of the Spanish tradition. It is clear to all of you, and to me, that my presence here is a coincidence,” said the novelist. Despite the fact that Coetzee does not belong to the Spanish literary tradition, “except in the spiritual sense,” he thanked the administration of the institution under the leadership of Luis García Montero for the gesture of “generous of preserving the memory” of his work.

Hispanic American Imaginary

It is true that Coetzee’s writing does not belong to the Hispanic imagination. Nevertheless, it maintains an idyll with Spain and Latin America. Polish, his last work of fiction, appeared in Argentina and Australia before the UK or US. The symbolism of publishing in the South, not in the North, is a statement of principle by the creator who read a lot of poetry in his youth. Spanish and fell in love with Pablo Neruda’s lyrics. Coetzee understands the Spanish language but cannot speak it at the moment.

In accordance with the thinking of the South African, who abhors the Anglo-Saxon cultural imperialism that decides from the northern hemisphere what will be read in the world, García Montero opted for Spanish, which is “the language of alternative globalization”. For the director Cervantes, Spanish must be a language in which it makes sense to speak democracy, solidarity or commitment». According to García Montero, the attitude towards one’s own language must be critical, without any traces of colonial remains: “From the Instituto Cervantes, we work in favor of Spanish being the language of an alternative, humane, democratic globalization full of respect, attentive to diversity, the defense of human rights, the fight against inequality . For director Cervantes, Coetzee is one of the great writers of universal and contemporary literature.

The ceremony was also attended by the President of the Board of Directors of the Prado Museum, Javier Solana; deputy director of Prado, Andrés Úbeda; and editor of a British magazine granted Valerie Miles. “Our guest arranged a wonderful conference for us two days ago. He still has to leave us the text of his feelings about life in Prado,” said Solana, who assured that this initiative tries to combine the beauty of letters with the beauty of language.