The World & I: Many critics consider your portraits of women remarkable because they are sensitive and because they are sensitive and because you, as a Jewish writer, have created both Jewish and German heroines. Women are the main characters in several your books: A Prayer for Katerina Horovitzova, The Unloved, Dita Saxova, and Indecent Dreams.
A Prayer for Katerina Horovitzova was nominated for the National Book Award -though you were ineligible because you were not yet a U.S. citizen. The Unloved and Dita Saxova won National Jewish Book Awards. Films made from A Prayer for Katerina Horovitzova and Dita Saxova won first prizes in European film festivals. Indecent Dreams was reviewed favorably on the front page of the New York Times Book Review.
Still, it seems improbable somehow that after having lived in tough circumstances in the Holocaust and afterwards, as you dealt with a Czech communist regime, you would have chosen to create Daniela in "Red Oleanders."
Arnost Lustig: In "Red Oleanders," I wanted to make the girl a little better than the boy because he is too much in love with an idea - and this idea turned out to be harmful. Any idea is partly only what you see in it. The idea is always some dream. You may not even realize that this dream cannot be called to take responsibility, while man is responsible for everything he does.
The story is based on my experience of the first time I discovered that everything is connected. Before that I thought that if you were in love, it solves everything. But love is not alone, and duty is not alone, and I was caught in a conflict. The story is not exactly what happened to me, but my conflict is at the base of it. I had discovered the difference between romantic love and the love of humanity. They are together, but they are not the same.
There is a difference between a man's love and a woman's love, and when it comes to problems, understanding another person's feelings is beyond almost anybody's grasp. You can love but, at the same time, harm the person for whom you would build a paradise if you could. In "Red Oleanders," Daniela is ready to sacrifice everything for her love for Kamil - and then there is his love for her and for an idea. She says, "Betray the idea, but don't betray me." He says, "I can't, because to betray the idea would be to betray you." It is difficult for them to discern what is responsible and what is irresponsible.
Love is also a dream - one that makes other dreams seem closer, but love is a different kind of dream that nobody can define. Only those who were in love know they were in love.
This is a sad story where love that is innocent discovers conflict. These characters are still young, so they are insecure. Everybody needs an idea, a perspective, stability in the meaning of life. Perspectives are often in conflict, and people have to make compromises. But because of the circumstances in this story, it's impossible to make the necessary compromises, so they hit the heart of the conflict.
I hope that if I were a reader, I would find in "Red Oleanders" some feelings that are impossible to
...
Read Full Article
|
