At the last Frankfurt fair, one of the most sought-after books was, as every year, the catalog of the Andrew Wylie agency, where upcoming or very recent works by characters from current literature are announced. Among the titles on display, the new one by Geoff Dyer, entitled Roger Federer’s last days and already contracted for a dozen languages (in Spain by Random House Literature, his usual label).
The British Dyer is the author of several non-fiction works that have been very well received in cultural circles and have won awards such as the Windham-Campbell or the English Critics’ Circle. Among them there are But nice (about some great jazz musicians), Area (on the cult film Stalker ) or the volume of trips white sands .
The last one days of Roger Federer collects his encounters with end-of-career athletes, such as the aforementioned tennis player, and at the same time exhibits the story of the last days (or the last works) of characters he admires, such as Turner, Nietzsche, Philip Larkin or the novelist Jean Rhys, subject of a great editorial and critical relaunch when I thought that no one would remember him anymore.
François Giroud, Marguerite Duras, Philip Roth, Bertrand Russell or Jorge Luis Borges were brilliantly productive until old age
The creativity of the true veteran – and obviously the age to be one is not the same in sport as in the cultural world – is undoubtedly a major topic: essayist Edward Said was working on it when he died in 2003, and his study on the late style in music and literature it appeared posthumously.
The desire to bring together the great creators in their final stages has now also inspired French journalist Laura Adler, biographer of Hannah Arendt and former director of France Culture. At seventy, Adler wonders if old age “is a path of wisdom” and replies that in ancient times, and today in traditional Asian and African societies, the elderly “receive signs of distinction and consideration by becoming interpreters of the supernatural world. it is a fortune, an advantage for oneself, but also for the whole of society ”, he says as a model for our present.
Aware that for her “old age will come soon”, in her book the night traveler (Editorial Ariel) approaches references that have managed to maintain the creative impulse in the so-called “third chapter”, without being diminished by the “status that is attributed to us from abroad”, and which in some cases leads to “lack of trust within our possibilities. ”Like the writer and politician François Giroud, who” continued to work like a damned until the last day “(died at the age of 86), Marguerite Duras, Philip Roth, Bertrand Rusell or Jorge Luis Borges , all brilliantly productive up to age old.
Morin has decided to remain “a young old man”: “live as he wanted, fall in love at ninety-six, write a book every six months”
The sociologist Edgar Morin could not be missing, passed from theory to practice: already in 1967, in one of his first investigations, he dealt with elderly people “who had fought in the war of 1914, knew what it was like to live without water or electricity, and remembered the arrival of the first cars “.
Following his example, from a certain moment Morin – today a centenary – decided to remain “an old youth”, according to Adler: “live as he pleased, fall in love at ninety-six and marry his dulcinea, you spend part of the night reading, continuing to wearing Indian shirts, swimming in the ocean, making tasty slow-fire meals, walking the pastures route with the shepherds in early spring, entertaining your friends by making up jokes, imitating the famous, dancing the samba, writing a book every six months … “(the last, Lessons from a century of life Paido).
Óscar Tusquets presents his exhibition at the Espais Volart
Morin’s positive spirit seems to inspire even the youngest – he is only eighty years old – and the multifaceted Óscar Tusquets, author of the testimony Living isn’t that fun and getting old is a pain in the ass (Anagrama), where he defends that “as long as we have a little time and a minimum of health, we will not give up the pleasure of conversing with a wise man, the beauty of people and works, laughter with friends, dog caresses , in the shade of a trellis pergola, a sip of Château d´Yquem … “
Or to inaugurate a painting exhibition in the Vila Casas Foundation’s Espais Volart, as this talented architect and writer from Barcelona just did.
