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Frédéric Beigbeder: "Mine is going to be one of the last mortal generations on the planet, which is an honor, but also shit."

2020-04-05T17:06:52.488Z


The eternal enfant terrible of French letters publishes in Spanish Una vida sin fin´, his great twilight work, more than 300 pages dedicated to death and immortality


Frédéric Beigbeder is remembered with 30 years peering into the vertigo of life, "sleeping with beautiful models, trying all drugs, squeezing the night", giving up his brilliant career as a publicist and writing visceral novels, such as Love lasts three years or 1 3.99 euros, which made a lot of noise and raised him to the young Turkish throne of French letters.

This is 25 years ago, a quarter of a century that this Parisian of Bearnese origin has passed in a breath. "I was an unhappy narcissist", he tells us today at the French Institute in Barcelona, ​​to which he has come to present the Spanish edition of Una vida sin fin (Anagrama), his great twilight novel, more than 300 pages dedicated to death . “If I could talk to the 30-year-old Fred, I would tell him to calm down, to love himself a little more, that life is a long-distance race and that you don't get anywhere by running away from yourself. I would also tell him to mistreat the body that we share a little less and that it is the tool that I need now to continue living and writing ”.

A life without end starts from one of those irrevocable certainties that at 30 years of age we do not take ourselves seriously: we will all die someday. The novel began to germinate four years ago, when his youngest daughter disarmed him with a point-blank question: Dad, will you and I also die? “I tell it in the novel and it happened as it is. I lied like a scoundrel, I gave him an answer that is the height of immaturity. I told her that although it is true that people have been dying since the beginning of time, she and I would live forever. ”

“All conceivable moral barriers will be crossed, of course. As disgustingly rich people have always done. ”

In a sense, his book is an attempt to justify that lie, not entirely pious. “The conversation with my daughter sparked my interest in what I call the science of immortality. Blood transfusions, DNA sequences, stem cells, transhumanism… I identified up to eight fields of scientific knowledge in which immortality or, at least, a life much longer than the current one, seems like a plausible horizon right now ”. A non-fiction science novel, with snippets of autobiography and journalistic chronicle, Una vida sin fin narrates a half-year journey through places like Jerusalem, New York or Geneva, where he goes to meet the gurus of immortality, scientists able to reprogram our cells, implant a new stomach made with a 3D printer or make use of artificial intelligence to transform us into an unusual fusion of man and machine.

“I proposed to them to become characters in a novel in exchange for sharing their knowledge with a complete layman like me. Many of them, I suppose the craziest and most curious, agreed to enter the game because they feel like Christopher Columbus must have felt: they have discovered America, they have peered into an amazing new reality and they need to share their discovery with the rest of the world "

Before, Frédéric Beigbeder used to wear sunglasses to hide hangovers. You don't need it anymore. (Photo: Adrià Cañameras)

After interviewing them, Beigbeder came to a disturbing conclusion: "I am going to be late for my appointment with immortality", he lets down with corrosive humor, "those who arrive in good health by 2050 will live to be 300 years old or never They will die, but mine, that of those born in the sixties, is going to be one of the last mortal generations on the planet, which is an honor, but also shit. ”

The novel was an editorial success in France, but its author regrets that it hardly generated a real debate. "I suppose my reputation as a kamikaze writer makes it difficult for me to be taken seriously," he jokes, "but sooner or later we will have to provide an answer to the ethical, scientific, and political questions I raise."

“Now I live in the country, near Biarritz, in a rural house with a garden. I have opted for a family life, away from noise and in contact with nature ”.

For example, if blood transfusion rejuvenation therapies make young people's blood a valuable commodity, there is no doubt that elderly billionaires will be willing to spend real fortunes hoarding it. "And they will cross all conceivable moral barriers, of course," adds Beigbeder, "as disgustingly rich people have always done."

Although the main debate may be whether it is worth pursuing individual immortality through science when it is the future of the entire human race and planet Earth that is in danger. "Many of my interlocutors insisted on this question", concedes the writer, "we are embarking on a frantic pulse to see who survives who, if the planet is capable of getting rid of us or if we end up destroying it and we emigrate to another galaxy taking our instincts with us predator".

Since writing An Endless Life, Beigbeder has undergone profound life changes. “Now I live in the fields, near Biarritz, in a rural house with a garden where I grow my own strawberries. I will soon have my own citrus orchard. I have opted for a family life, away from noise and in contact with nature ”.

He does not regret the hedonism of his wild years ("the only form of remorse I know of is a hangover," he tells us), but he has come to conclusions that not long ago would have seemed unacceptable to him: "The Jipis were right. It's been 60 years since they raised the need to lead a simpler and more authentic life. ”

"To the Beigbeder of 25 years ago I would also say that the challenge is not to live forever, but to live fully and grow old in a dignified way"

He has embraced a new political philosophy that he defines humorously and openly as green fascism: “There are so many things that I would ban! I have always stood for freedom, but a time has come when our everyday choices lead to disaster. Why are the water bottles they just brought us made of plastic? In 2020! As consumers, we can do political activism and punish companies that behave irresponsibly through the shopping cart, but I am not naive: I have been an advertising creative, I know perfectly well how they manipulate us and that we are too psychologically fragile to resist the compulsion to consume and earn money. The change in habits that we need must be enforced by law or it will never happen ”. These are the conclusions of a man who has three children and, therefore, feels the responsibility to work for the future: "I simply cannot afford to be pessimistic."

Perhaps his children will come to know immortality, but he senses that the price to pay will be "stop being fully human to become something else." Not worth it? To the Beigbeder of 25 years ago I would also say "that the challenge is not to live forever, but to live fully and grow old in a dignified way." What stem cells cannot do for you, perhaps "love, family, activism, philosophy ..." can do. Or literature, that pocket immortality. "Although I am not really looking forward to that either," jokingly concludes Beigbeder, "I would be happy if my books survived me for 20 years."

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2020-04-05

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