02.06.2021 – 19:38
Andrea Marcolongo
interviews
Your book travels through the roots of words. We live in a world where the meaning and content of words is being lost, it is changing. Are words in danger of extinction?
Andrea Marcolongo: Definitely. The interest shown in the root of words arises from the thought that lurks within them. Studying and loving words has something to do with the ability to love thought. Language as a human science changes because we ourselves change. If words are in danger, for us this should be translated as the weakness of that era. Words will never disappear, but in fact the danger lies precisely in finding the most appropriate word that corresponds to an idea, a thought. Words are like suitcases and thoughts represent what is in the suitcase.
“Our habits are manifested through our language. We who are close to the Mediterranean Sea do not think how we will produce as the Anglo-Saxons do, we think how to create “
This etymological journey leads us to ancient Rome and Greece, the common cradle of our languages. Can we preserve the mentality of a culture through language?
Andrea Marcolongo: The thought of 2000 years ago can be recovered. Through this book I have tried to recall the beauty of thinking like a Mediterranean. Traveling in the past is going to the source where the words were born. The source is pure and there you come across pure thoughts because you are in the origin.
All the customs of our culture are found in our language. Anglo-Saxon culture is in vogue, its spirit has colonized us. We should respect it but we are not. We are not the sons of a capitalist system. We do not wake up thinking about what we will produce today. We are the sons of the art and joy of living. The pandemic made things difficult for us but still that joy should be part of our lives. Our Mediterranean spirit creates more than it produces. We are irresponsible intellectuals because our pure spirit is also reflected in the way we express ourselves, think and act.
You have the word that we must go back to the time when thought and word walked in one direction and through the word the truth was reached. Is this happening now?
Andrea Marcolongo: We have an image of perfect ancient Greece, but not everyone was a philosopher and not everyone speaks badly.
Not all of us are lost. While writing books I have learned that intellectuals have responsibilities above the cultural level. Culture is a political issue, and as the level of culture decreases, so does the level of thought. I believe that people in general, like to think, I do not believe that we need to simplify culture to make it more accessible. Our brain is the same as it was 2500 years ago, and we need to master the importance of thought.
“Writing is a talent, but in a way it is also a task. “Intellectuals should not let public space be invaded by anti-values, it is their responsibility to invade it.”
I am reminded of Gianni Vattimo who thought that modernity unifies language. How can you deal with empty words that are endlessly used in the social context for example?
Andrea Marcolongo: We can not stand idly by in front of people who are embedded in the screens of phones and computers. Politicians continue their false statements and no one raises their voice. So intellectuals and culture in themselves have responsibilities.
Are you talking about the role of intellectuals, the public space is filled with less qualified actors?
Andrea Marcolongo: As I said before, writing is talent but we can not continue to write just to take pictures of us wherever we go. We who write have the duty to “occupy” that public space.
Since we are on this topic, in Spain there is always talk about the mistreatment of human beings. Because we have to fight them not only culturally but also politically?
Andrea Marcolongo: I would love to have classical languages taught in colleges, because the level of education is the main indicator for understanding the level of a country. Education has simply become a job. We are training employees but not citizens who want to think for themselves. This should in fact be the first task of politicians: improving the school system.
“Science and literature must go hand in hand. “Science discovers and literature sets ethical boundaries.”
However, today we live in a world dominated by Science. What is the role of the humanities in a technology-driven society?
Andrea Marcolongo: We have forgotten that science and literature have always been related since antiquity. Science discovers and literature sets ethical boundaries. We have built an educational system in which only scientists seem to think while people are busy with muses.
This trend does not tend to change. When the division between these two fields of knowledge materialized.
This historical fracture took shape during the Enlightenment when literature was considered fantasy. The pandemic has made us feel alone but fear on the other hand has united us. When we were no longer afraid, we felt even more alone.
Have we as a society forgotten the importance of language?
Andrea Marcolongo: Compared to our grandparents, we are not capable of understanding the political value of language. They were clear that knowing how to speak, to express oneself, was fundamental especially for democracy. Today, on the contrary, ignorance has turned into value. The more vulgar, ignorant you are, the more fashionable and accepted you are. Two generations ago, no one dared to oppose doctors, but we also saw during the pandemic how many dared to express their opinion on medical issues as if they were real doctors. They tend to impose opinions, even though they are unaware of them.
“Words are a political act. “The first thing a dictator of any period does is change his words.”
How do you define freedom?
Andrea Marcolongo: Freedom is not anarchy, freedom is not saying, “Now do what I want because I am stronger.” Freedom is the right you have to choose where you will be. To use freedom to oppose something or someone is a denial of freedom.
Freedom is the right and duty to choose. But I am frightened by the politics that comes and distorts it as it pleases. I live in France and I remember Macron saying that we are at war, when he referred to the pandemic, it is a very serious word. Using such words to evoke emotions is not necessary, but it is rather barbaric. It is like sitting down with someone instead of talking to them.
It would be good for the words to be used to get people thinking and then everyone to decide with complete freedom.
To what extent can words change the world?
Andrea Marcolongo: Words have a lot of power, words are political deeds, a fact that has been known since ancient Greece. Alexander the Great and George Orwell also in his book “1984” that every dictator when he comes to power the first thing he does is change the words. So I wrote this book because the root of words no one has the power to deform yet and words play mountains.
* Andrea Marcolongo (born 17 January 1987) is an Italian essayist and writer. She holds a degree in Ancient Literature from the University of Milan. Marcolongo writes about culture and books at the prestigious Italian “La Stampa”, “La Repubblica” and “Il Messaggero”. She is the author of two novels about her love for the Greek language, a language that is now considered “dead” but that “lives” in the minds of those who study it.
The article was translated into Albanian by Albana Murra.