It is not surprising that we like the subject of Olivier Guez’s new novel much better than that of the previous one: it was Mengele. After The disappearance of Josef Mengelewhich followed in the footsteps of the Angel of Death of Auschwitz, Guez now addresses in Mesopotamia (also in Tusquets), also from the narrative, the life of another notable historical figure, the great British adventurer Gertrude Bell (1868-1926), archaeologist, explorer, mountaineer, spy, political agent of the empire and who was decisive in the destiny of the Middle East. Guez (Strasbourg, 51 years old), a tall and circumspect man, arrives a little late for the appointment at a hotel in Barcelona because, he explains, he has been in a pool swimming, a curious introduction to talk about a woman known as “the queen of the desert” and who was a friend and colleague of Lawrence of Arabia.
Ask. Nicer than Mengele
Answer. It is easy, of course, although they both have in common having fallen into excess. The infamous SS doctor with his obsession with searching for the secret of the twins, Bell for believing he could create an empire in the Middle East.
P. Why have you chosen her as the protagonist of your book?
R. She was a sensational woman. Absolutely exceptional for its time. He had extraordinary responsibilities and an important official status, unusual at the time for someone of his sex. She was a spy, head of the intelligence services, renowned archaeologist, graduate in History at Oxford, mountaineer, traveler, crossed the Nefud desert on a camel, fell in love with the Bedouins…
P. She has been called “the female Lawrence of Arabia.”
R. In fact, it is the other way around: Lawrence is the male Gertrude Bell. She was objectively more important and politically relevant than him. The Arab revolt was not as significant as Bell’s role in drawing the new borders of the Middle East and shaping the future of the region.
P. But Lawrence, of whom you certainly paint a splendid portrait, is better known.
R. Already, it had several advantages, the first being a man. The second was that the West was searching for an individual hero after the massacres of the First World War, with millions of anonymous deaths. Also that he wrote a masterpiece, The seven pillars of wisdomwhich Bell did not do. And lastly and fundamentally, he had a film that immortalized him.
P. It took a while, but Gertrude also had her movieQueen of the desert (2015), by Werner Herzog, with Nicole Kidman. Lawrence was played by Robert Pattinson!, who must not have liked so much sun.
R. A very bad movie that doesn’t work.
P. In any case, there is no doubt that Lawrence had charisma, and she?
R. She was imposing, she was rich, she was polyglot, she had upper-class manners, and an impressive network of relationships. People saw her as someone exceptional. He was arrogant. Her enemies called her a cantankerous and eccentric spinster. She lacked a sense of humor, she was not a fun woman.
P. Neither did Lawrence, especially when he was being flogged. Did she have epic?
R. Yes, also, more velvety, less spectacular. And he lacked someone to explain it, as the journalist Lowell Thomas did with Lawrence. When Bell crossed the desert there was no one to tell the story. TE Lawrence was the object of desire of all the mythomaniacs of the 20th century, like Malraux, everyone would have wanted to be him. It was like Corto Maltese. Bell doesn’t get into that. It doesn’t make you dream like that. I’m afraid no one fantasizes about being Gertrude Bell.
P. He shared courage and courage with Lawrence.
R. Yes, and they had another thing in common: they didn’t love themselves, they didn’t have a good relationship with their bodies. They treated him like an enemy. They believed in redemption through suffering.
P. ¿Era lesbiana Miss Bell?
R. I have not found anything to prove it, not even between the lines; If I found it I would have put it in the book without a problem. It seems to me that adventure was a substitute for sexuality in Bell and Lawrence.
P. Which of the two would you go for a drink with?
R. With Gertrude Bell, I would love to hear firsthand about her adventures. I think I’d get along better than I did with Lawrence. Although if you ask me which of the two I like more…
P. Which of the two do you like more?
R. Winston Churchill, hahaha. He had a cynicism and humor that the other two lacked.
P. There is a famous photo from 1921, from the time of the Cairo Conference, in which the three of them ride camels in front of the Sphinx of Giza. Who rode that animal better, Bell or Lawrence?
R. I couldn’t say, they were both very good. And without a doubt the two better than Churchill, whom his man threw to the ground that day like a sack of potatoes.
P. Mesopotamia It is a very literary book, with beautiful passages. To what extent does he novel the life of Gertrude Bell, about which he tells many intimacies?
R. Bell’s own life is very fictional. I invent very little. Where there is part of fiction is in the decoration, in the staging, not in the essentials. My work is more of a literary technique than fiction. You already know that we French, unlike the Anglo-Saxons, like to make history a literary subject.
P. There is an allusion to Hercule Poirot in Mesopotamia.
R. I would have loved for Gertrude Bell and Agatha Christie to meet, but they did not, despite almost coinciding in archaeological excavations. That’s why I wink that the first one meets a Belgian detective on the Orient Express.