Interview with Alain Elkann
Image provided by Alain Elkann. All rights reserved.
This exclusive interview with author, intellectual and journalist Alain
Elkann was conducted in New York City by Nicola Linza and Cristoffer Neljesjö
during January 2017.
What encouraged you to become a writer?
Reading books and biographies of writers, I felt I belong to their family. When I was a young student and considering becoming a writer, I was thinking of James Joyce, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Kafka – that maybe one day I could be a writer myself. And I never changed my mind.
You've written a book in collaboration with HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal about Islam, how did that idea come about?
The idea originated from two earlier books, one I wrote with His Eminence Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini about being a Christian and a second I wrote with Chief Rabbi Elio Toaff about being a Jew. It happened by chance when I was in Amman, Jordan and was introduced to Prince El Hassan bin Talal in the Royal Palace and we became friends. He shared more or less the same ideas as Cardinal Martini and Rabbi Toaff that even if you are a Jew, Catholic or Muslim you have to build bridges of peace, understanding, friendship and respect with the other religions, and he devoted his life to that. As his family is the direct descendant of the Prophet Mohammad I asked if he wanted to write a book about being a Muslim together with me. And we did, so now there is this trilogy of books about the three monotheistic religions.
Explain in your opinion why all Jews should have a strong connection to Israel?
I think that Israel is an amazing, extraordinary and historical event in the history of Jews.
Jews were sent into exile after 70 A.D. and went to places like North
Africa, Spain and the Mediterranean; these Jews were called Sefarad meaning
Spanish. Others went to places around the Rhine River, Germany, Switzerland,
Poland, Russia, Romania, and everywhere else - they were called Ashkenazi which
means German. So Jews were in the Diaspora, many then immigrated to the United
States especially during the persecution in Europe and after the war the state
of Israel was created. It is sort of a miracle that Jews have a homeland again.
Today there are the Israelis who lives in Israel, many Jews went to live
there from all over the world where they made Aliyah which means they became
Israelis. Others live in Europe or America and even if they are French Jews,
English Jews, South American Jews they have a strong link with the Jews who lives
in Israel. It sounds like a contradiction but it is not. Some Jews took the
challenge to move to a Jewish State and others decided to stay where they had
been raised. But no matter where they live they all have a strong link with
each other because after all they are all Jewish.
If you could interview anyone who ever lived, who would it be and why?
I would like to interview Jesus, Buddha, politicians like Augustus and Caesar, philosophers like Socrates and Aristotle, soldiers like Napoleon, scientists like Einstein, artists like Picasso but also Leonardo da Vinci and Caravaggio, writers like Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, James Joyce, Dostoyevsky, I would have loved to interview Tolstoy, Gandhi, Lawrence of Arabia, Winston Churchill. But nowadays I’d love to interview the Queen of England.
Why? Because they are people who had an enormous impact on the history of
the world.
Is there an author of the moment you would say you consider particularly brilliant and why?
I love the Israeli writer Aaron Appelfeld who I believe is very poetic. He somehow transferred Middle-European vision of the world and memory into the Hebrew modern language. In my opinion he is probably the most important Israeli writer still alive.
Do you have a particular vision for Fondazione CittàItalia?
The foundation was created by Giuseppe De Rita in Italy and they have done great things. And if I’m not wrong they gave money to create technological platforms to make it possible for blind people to see a work of art. CittàItalia has provided this technology in various places so now blind people can see the masterpieces such as The Last Supper by Leonardo.
What are you most proud of in your career?
My children and my grandchildren.
What is your opinion on Contemporary art?
I think Contemporary art is always extremely interesting, it was probably as interesting in the 17th century when Caravaggio did what he did, it brought something new and completely different. And I think this century has produced an enormous brake in art to the past, from figurative art, abstract art, conceptual art, pop art, surrealist art and there have been very important movements up until today. And I think Contemporary art is the mirror of what is going on in the world.
If you could have your portrait done by any artist living or dead, who would it be and why?
Velasquez would have been quite good, Rembrandt would have been good too, or van Gogh.
The above interview with Alain Elkann 2017 © Manner of Man Magazine. All rights reserved. Reproduction is strictly prohibited without written permission from the publisher.
