Nelleke Noordervliet: 'Attack life while you can.' (podcast)

At At the end of the day, Nelleke Noordervliet's new novel[ref]Nelleke Noordervliet (b. 1945) made her debut in 1987 with the novel Tine or the valleys where life dwells. She then wrote many novels, novellas, stories, essays, plays and columns. She also holds various administrative positions in the cultural sector[/ref], seventy-something Katharina Mercedes Donker is speaking. This ex-minister and author of two bestsellers on politics and the role of women, is asked to collaborate on her own biography. She doesn't want to. She has a number of unruly conversations with her would-be biographer, but memories increasingly intrude on her. What does she necessarily not want to tell the biographer? What is too personal? What is too painful?

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Excerpts from the podcast:

'I started with the ending; an idea about a love triangle between a mother Katharina, a daughter Hanna, and the mother's friend Patricia. But that turned out to be at the wrong end of the story. It didn't work out. I couldn't figure it out and threw it away in despair. But it kept itching. Then I came up with the idea of making Katharina a Dutch celebrity who is retired. She was asked to collaborate on her biography. That way, I could let the story of that love triangle slip into the narrative through a different perspective and it worked. '

Why won't she collaborate on the biography?
'In modern times, the line between private and public persona is totally blurred and that is always to the detriment of someone's private life. I made Katherina, in disgust of that biography, think about what she would necessarily never tell a biographer.'

Clever! Because that's how readers find out about all these stories anyway.
'Yes, I thought so myself. Because then I wouldn't have to tell Katharina's political life in extenso. It does come up here and there because your professional and private life get mixed up.'

Rage, rage

The motto is Dylan Thomas: 'Old age should burn and rave at close of day', which your title is also based on. What does it stand for?
'It comes from a poem about the death of his father Do not go gentle into that good night, Rage, rage against the dying of the light. I always loved that because we assume that as people get older, they become milder and gradually let go of life and are ready to go. You are forced to start 'enjoying' your retirement, our 'golden years', and that annoys me immensely. As long as you can and want to and it is given to you physically and mentally, you must attack life and attack death. Stay alert, let me put it this way.'

Does she look like you?
'She has traits of me. I made her slightly older but not very much. I've also been in politics, albeit I made it to councillor for the Labour Party of Monster municipality in Westland and never went further. I do know the party inside out, but it is not a key novel.'

The book begins with death. A dead man in the snow. It is a writer who once described exactly such a scene. Is that a writer's fear? That what you write will come true, is an evil prophecy?
'I am not consciously afraid of that and this writer would probably like nothing better than to die this way. In his writings, it is more of a wishing death than anything else. I used that image at the beginning to trigger an association. And that happens to Katharina too. It is the madeleine, Proust's biscuit with which the past is opened.'

About this podcast

In book podcast The story writers come and talk about their books. The interviews are nice and long, about 45 minutes so there is plenty of time to go deeper into the content. Both fiction and non-fiction and more or less weekly. Also with famous and less famous Dutch and Flemish writers. You can support this podcast with a donation.