"Books can kill you!
(And beware of
writers)
It’s often said that
books can save us. The words ‘this book saved my life’ cross the lips of many
of us. But allow me to disagree. It wasn’t the book, the movie, the song or
theater play – art isn’t usually referred to as a lifesaver – but rather the
person uttering the words who saved himself or herself. Just like someone who
gives you a good piece of advice is not the main reason for the success or
failure of your future actions, they just show us the path to take, the books,
some books, simply play this role - which is no mean feat.
Other people and
certain animals, buoys, life jackets and parachutes, can save us, but not
books. They are not thrown into the water to prevent us from drowning; they
don’t enter a burning building to rescue us from the fire; nor do they perform
a surgical operation to save us from a disease. Try jumping out of a plane with
a copy of Don Quixote in your hand – you’ll
come face to face with Cervantes within minutes. You just can’t ask that much
from a book. In fact, we are the ones doing the saving and we have been doing
so for centuries.
Books can kill us
however. No word of a lie! Or rather, books can trigger a process in which they
act as the catalyst for a reaction, the outcome of which is the death of the
author or the reader. Through drowning, fires, and more recently, firearms or
sharp objects, books have been responsible for the death of many humans.
It could be argued,
once again, that the responsibility is not theirs seeing as other people killed
or intend to kill the author, the translator or the reader of the cursed book. This
might be the case. But that doesn’t stop these objects from being very
dangerous.
The Index
Librorum Prohibitorum was the first list of banned books – by the Catholic
Church. Reading or owning a book on the list could be punished with death.
Scientists such as Galileo, Bruno, Copernicus, or thinkers such as Erasmus,
Spinoza, Machiavelli, and Locke, were placed on the list.
Giordano Bruno – who
claimed that the universe was infinite – was condemned to the stake for his
discoveries and his blasphemous books. Galileo had better luck, although he had
to renounce his book Dialogo sopra i due
sistemi del mondo massimi, which held that the Earth revolved around the
Sun
At that time, even the
Bible itself, if translated from Latin or Greek, became a dangerous book.
William Tyndale was burned alive in the 16th century for having the
holy work translated into English – a scene depicted in Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall – at the instigation of Thomas
More – someone who was also obsessed with writing books.
In today’s world,
Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic
Verses, is seen as the greatest victim of his books. Even without reading
the work the Ayatollah Khomeini decided that it insulted his religion and issued
a fatwa against Rushdie in which he was sentenced to death for blasphemy. The
fatwa has not been carried out however, and although the writer may never again
feel totally safe anywhere, he is still alive. Unlike his Japanese translator
Igarashi Hitoshi who was murdered. His Italian translator and Norwegian
publisher have also suffered attacks.
So, dear reader,
always be wary of books and also of writers – those guys think they’re so
smart. They can cause you endless problems. How can you trust someone who is
always inventing stories and things that have never existed? How can you be
friends with someone who causes you misfortune or takes inspiration in your
flaws to create a miserable character? Take the case of Proust who ridiculed
everyone’s relationships in Remembrance
of Things Past or of Dostoyevsky, who was imprisoned, and only then wrote his
best books.
And who can guarantee
that when the writer kills off his characters he is not revealing a secret
desire? If – as some art historians claim –Picasso’s etchings in which Minotaurs
are depicted raping women represent the unconscious wishes of the Spanish painter,
why can the same not be said of authors of books in which characters die or
suffer atrocities?
My novel The Tragedy of Fidel Castro is not
destined to kill anyone however – I wouldn’t advise you to take it to Cuba
though, for now – and only one character dies who hasn’t been alive for a long
time. This is therefore one of the few books you can read in safety – provided
you don’t approach its author."
If you found his post intriguing, you might want to check out his novel, The Tragedy of Fidel Castro...
"The Tragedy of Fidel Castro is a political and religious satire where Jesus comes to Earth to prevent a war, Fidel Castro writes his memoirs and makes a pact with the Devil, whores and farmers refuse Marxism, monks start a revolution in a monastery, and, in the end, a true miracle happens. Because of the European crisis, protesters occupying Wall Street, India and China’s rise and the North Korea's problems, I think this book – which debates Capitalism and Socialism – addresses issues of critical interest in discussions on the problems of today's world. The target audiences are readers who like historical and literary fiction and also those who are interested in politics.But people interested in religious subjects will also be drawn to the book (the miracle of Fátima in 1917 in which the Virgin Mary predicted the end of Communism).
The book was considered book of the year in Portugal in 2009 by the magazine Os meus Livros. The literary agencies Kontext (Scandinavia), Ilene Kreshka (Germany), Nova Litera (Russia), Book Seventeen Agency (South Korea), Nabu (Italy), The Book Publishers Association of Israel e Partha Malik (Índia) are looking for a publisher. Please see the synopsis below and more information in my webpage.In attachment: press release. Thank you for your attention. Sincerely, João Cerqueira Viana do Castelo Portugalwww.joaocerqueira.com http://www.amazon.com/Tragedy-Fidel-Castro-Joao-Cerqueira/dp/1938416163/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1355946698&sr=8-3&keywords=jo%C3%A3o+cerqueira
Synopsis God receives a request for help from Fatima because a war between Fidel Castro and JFK is about to start. Worried, God asks his son Jesus to return to Earth and difuse the conflict. Meanwhile, JFK and his counselor are about to interrogate a captured Fidel Castro’s spy (Varadero). Following a testy Communism versus Capitalism debate, JFK set him free and Varadero returns to Cuba. However, his faith in Fidel Castro is shaken and the spy begins to suspect that he is supporting the wrong side. In Cuba, Fidel Castro faces protests on the streets and realizes that he is about to be overthrown. Suspecting Varadero betrayed him, Fidel imprisons the spy as he previously did with the revolutionary hero Camilo Ochoa[1]. Desperate, he decides to invade JFK’s country as a way to divert people's attention from his own problems. Fidel’s' army invades part of JFK’s country but cannot conveniently convince the inhabitants of the advantages of Marxism. Whilst peasants refuse a land reform, whores prefer free enterprise. Castro is then forced to ask Varadero for advice. Varadero seizes the opportunity accusing him of having betrayed the revolution and responsible for Cuba’s misery. Disturbed and distressed, Fidel isolates himself in unknown territory and following a fall which leaves him amnesiac. He is found by monks who take him to a solitary convent where mad people are ministered by the Church. Once inside he see’s the fools are enslaved, Castro starts a revolution against the friars. The course of events reignites his memory. By this time, Christ has arrived on Earth accompanied by Fatima, who is convinced she can create a miracle to avoid the ultimate battle between JFK and Fidel Castro. Back with his army, Fidel Castro receives a visit from the Devil and makes a pact: he sells his soul in exchange for being remembered as a hero who fought for a better world. In the future, nobody will call him dictator. Finally the two armies meet in battle, but JFK proposes to fight Fidel Castro in a duel to avoid wholesale carnage. Fatima, Christ and Varadero watch the duel behind a bush. After a violent struggle, JFK overthrows Castro with a stone. [1] Combination of Camilo Cienfuegos and General Arnaldo Ochoa, sentenced to death in 1989."
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