Reading “The Last Days of Roger Federer”, by the British Geoff Dyer, is like getting on a roller coaster of moods.
Sometimes you laugh out loud, sometimes nostalgia invades you. Sometimes phrases appear so accurate that they shock.
This one about aging can’t be missed:
“The real interest is how things change gradually and not suddenly. So gradual that it is imperceptible. No one has said it better than George Oppen (American poet) about growing old: ‘what a strange thing that happens to a little child.’”
“The Last Days of Roger Federer” is an “unclassifiable” book, as many critics define Dyer’s work and style.
It is a string of the author’s thoughts on the end of the careers of some of the most brilliant personalities in history (Bob Dylan, Nietzsche, Beethoven, Jim Morrison, De Chirico and many others) and his own, and all the pleasures, guilts, achievements and frustrations that he has left along the way at 65 years old.
The title is a tribute to one of his great contemporary idols, tennis player Roger Federer, who retired in September 2022.
But strangely, Federer barely appears in the book.
That is why we start this interview with Dyer, which we conducted within the framework of the Hay Festival of Querétaro, which is celebrated between September 7 and 10 in that Mexican city.
Why “The Last Days of Roger Federer” if the tennis player almost does not appear in the book?
Reflecting on how races end was a theme running through my mind and this was accentuated by the biological fact that I’m no longer a 35-year-old guy.
I was aware that I was close to that stage in my life and I thought that using the name Roger Federer was a good way to condense all the arguments and themes of the book into one person.
When I started the text I wondered if Roger continued playing, not because he was going to win another Grand Slam, which seemed almost impossible, but because he really loved what he did and gave meaning to his life.
I thought he was a good emblem of the subject, even if the book was never going to be about him.
But when you wrote the book it hadn’t been retired yet. How did you experience his retirement and last game in 2022?
It was very good for me, because when he announced his withdrawal, the book was already published, and it gave it a new boost in sales (laughs).
His announcement came as a surprise, although in some ways he had almost stopped playing.
And that last doubles match he played with Nadal…
Tennis wasn’t interesting at all and the Laver Cup isn’t an interesting tournament either, but that photo of them both crying holding hands was a wonderful way to end their career.
In the book you talk about how much you cry lately. Did you also cry with that image?
Of course I cried. Although to my credit I will say that Roger’s tears also seemed to be due to that terrible pop song they played at his tribute.
I think my tears had a much deeper reason (he says, laughing).
In the book you continue to honor your reputation as an “unclassifiable” author: you talk about the end of your career, as well as about stages in your life, as well as about how to deal with books that at first seem boring…
I say this about all my books: I never feel like they fit into any category they receive.
Perhaps more than another, this is simply one of those books that is not defined by its content but by the way in which the author, in this case me, fills its pages with his consciousness.
That’s what it’s about, making my conscience interest the reader enough even if they don’t know or are interested in some of the people I write about.
And any recommendations for obsessive readers like me who can’t leave a book unfinished no matter how bad it is?
Regarding when to know whether to abandon a book, I like books that reveal themselves gradually, that surprise.
There is a tendency in publishers that I don’t like at all, which is to write introductions that prepare the reader, somewhat emulating the intentions with which the writer sold his work to the publisher. The introduction is used as a sales instrument.
I also don’t like it when in the introductions they announce what each chapter is going to be about.
It’s one of the reasons my book has such a subtle structure, so the reader has to figure out for themselves what’s going on.
When you explored all of these career endings, who do you think ended it in the funniest way and who in the most tragic way?
I would say that the most tragic end to Nietzsche’s career was that of Nietzsche, who suffered severe mental deterioration.
He ends up living as a zombie and has a kind of afterlife when in reality he is still alive. And then he becomes more complicated when facing the anti-Semitism that made him end up hating his sister. He is very unlucky.
But then “his return” was also spectacular. In some ways, his reputation has transcended that of Marx or Freud, other fathers of modern thought.
Hemingway’s life also ended terribly, not only because of his suicide, but because his decline lasted a long time.
And when I think of the best ending, that has to be Beethoven’s. Those last quartets are so musically advanced and have such great psychological depth that for me they are truly a triumph.
And for you, what do you imagine as the end of your career?
Hard to say.
In my case, the ideal end of my career would be to reach a point where I can continue saying what I want to say and, above all, without abandoning this way of life as a writer because of other people or circumstances, such as having little or no money. get a publisher to publish my books.
I want my ending to be that I just didn’t want to write anymore. The most important thing is to finish the degree independently.
One of the most comforting things about the writing life is that it is a constant test of your cognitive abilities.
It is very interesting, as one gets older, to test oneself and see if one is capable, if one has the mental power to continue.
The entire time I was analyzing this potential development in the lives of others I was aware that perhaps I was not only looking at these lives through a window, but also at my own situation through a mirror.
Your book in many moments is an ode to decadence, a state that many accept for nostalgia, beauty or wisdom, but that many others reject for being old and outdated. In which group are you?
It is surprising, but what is decadent or what is in decline can easily become a kind of inspiration, and allow us to continue.
Decay can be transformed into a kind of enabling quality.
This article is part of the Hay Festival Querétaro, a meeting of writers and thinkers that takes place from September 7 to 10, 2023. You can see all our coverage by clicking here.
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BBC-NEWS-SRC: https://www.bbc.com/mundo/articles/cv2je01zx5ro, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-09-09 12:10:07
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