Luis García Montero is responsible for the figure of Prometheus, the Titan chained by Zeus after stealing fire to give it to the human being. Over the last few years, the writer has reflected on the validity of the myth of the one who challenges the gods, the patron of culture and freedom. Some of the texts dedicated to the subject are now published in ‘Prometeo’ (Alfaguara), a volume that includes the theatrical adaptation made by García Montero for the Mérida Classical Theater Festival in 2019.
«The situation in which culture and democracy live requires vindicating criticism, but also hope. Otherwise, we will end up in cynicism. When Juan Carlos Plaza asked me for a version of Prometheus, I decided to present it as the dialogue between the young Prometheus and the old man.
It is a generational dialogue. It is good that the elderly understand the world of the young, and that the young know that life is not to be used and thrown away and that memory is what gives meaning to time”, answers García Montero about whether it is blindness and pride of Prometheus which keeps the myth current.
“Prometheus faces the gods, but also his own doubts.” Intellectuals such as Albert Camus reflected on his mistake in giving fire to human beings who use it for war. Beyond the interpretations of it, how can the study and reflection on the myth be kept alive when the classics have been banished from study programs? “We live in a society where technology prevails and the humanities are pushed aside. Who distrusts technology and science is a cretin. But the one who despises the humanities also. If science loses its social contract with the humanities, it is at the service of catastrophe. And that’s why this myth is important.
When asked if contemporary society lives with myths of poorer quality or if it is prepared to understand their contradictions, the issue of cultural war arises, which García Montero views with skepticism. “There is no culture war. Culture is an invitation to conflict. It is the exercise of reason over superstition. The war thing is something that bothers me, it seems that you have to take a side, when what exists are reflections».
The situation in Nicaragua is “horrible,” exclaims Luis García Montero to refer to the closure of the Academy of Language by the Daniel Ortega regime. «Ortega does well to close it, because he shows that culture is incompatible with the barbarism that he represents. The problem is in the consequences of that incompatibility. There was a time, however, when many like Luis García Montero believed that the revolution and literature were compatible, but something was blown up. «I was a member of the solidarity committee with Central America. I met Sergio Ramírez, Gioconda Belli and Ernesto Cardenal, who had fought against the Somoza dictatorship. At that moment I learned that the fight for social rights is incompatible with a lack of freedom. It is a pity that after overcoming the Somoza dictatorship, Ortega has ended up becoming a dictator as dangerous as the one against whom he opposed».
The 81st edition of the Madrid Book Fair organized during its last weekend a tribute to the writer Almudena Grandes, an iconic character who for years aroused the interest of hundreds of visitors on the Paseo de Coches del Retiro, who in this readers, authors, publishers and friends attended. «I thanked the Fair for the tribute to Almudena. It was very exciting. Being in a place where one has been so many times makes you understand that everyday life has to do with absences. Going to a fair without going to pick it up at a signature booth puts you in contact with loss ».
That was not the only recognition that Grandes received, with whom he was married for almost years. This week Almudena Grandes received the posthumous title of Favorite Daughter of Madrid, an act that the current mayor José Luis Martínez Almeida did not attend. «Madrid is inseparable from Almudena’s biography and I am grateful that her city has named her her favorite daughter, the first woman to receive that title in Madrid. I thank all the parliamentary groups that voted in favour. I think the important thing is the institutions, in this case, the Madrid City Council, which represents all of us who live and work in this city. Because of the emotion I feel, I prefer to avoid personal controversy.
