The subversive power of the body: from ancient Greece to Putin's Russia

BarcelonaWhy not transform stigma into triumph? How can we turn the body into a weapon of resistance? How can we grow old in a society based on appearances? Novelist and cultural critic Fernanda Eberstadt (New York, 1960) attempts to answer these and many other questions in Bite your friends (Bite your friends in the Spanish edition of Gatopardo (Ediciones). And she does so by drawing inspiration from the Greek philosopher Diogenes, the Christian martyrs Saints Perpetua and Felicidad, the French philosopher Michel Foucault, and the Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, among others. There is another protagonist who opens and closes the book, Fernanda's mother: Isabel Nash Eberstadt, journalist, writer, and muse of Andy Warhol.

"We're living in a terrible time. I think we have to be very brave, especially in the United States, because the far right won an election; the people voted for them. Standing up to this requires a lot of courage. That's why the examples of all these heroes are so important," says Eberstadt. The heroes are seemingly vulnerable people like her friend Stephen Varble, who died of AIDS in 1984. Varble practiced what the author describes as "sewer art": he dressed up in materials he found in the trash. "People who have nothing, no power, the only thing they can use is their bodies. This is their tool. These are people who occupy public space in protest, which is increasingly dangerous because repression is more ferocious. However, they cannot be silenced because their actions can spread through social media," explains the author. They are not afraid of making fools of themselves or ridiculing those in power. "Satire, humor, is the best weapon against tyrants. Neither Putin nor Trump tolerate being ridiculed. They're like a balloon; prick it a little and it deflates," he says.

Diogenes

"He had no shame; he was open, transparent, unafraid of making a fool of himself. He ridiculed power, the hypocrisy of a power that, behind closed doors, presumed to be virtuous. We can learn from him to avoid hypocrisy," Eberstadt says. "We live in very conservative times, where values are patriotism. We need nothing," she adds. Diogenes of Sinope, who lived in Ancient Greece between 400 BC and 323 BC, during the time of Alexander the Great, broke many conventions. Founder of the Cynic school, he believed it was necessary to lead a life in harmony with nature, with autonomy of thought and an absolute disregard for goods and riches. He lived in an earthen vat, owning only the tunic he wore. He defined himself as a citizen of the cosmos. "He was a homeless man on the margins. The most important lesson he teaches us is that tyrants can't stand being mocked," the writer says.

Perpetua and Felicidad

"They preferred to die rather than acknowledge the official Roman gods," Eberstadt says. They were brought into the arena of the amphitheater naked, covered only by a transparent net. Perpetua was an upper-class mother who had recently given birth to a baby. Felicity was a pregnant slave. Perpetua kept a diary that ended with this sentence: "That's what I did until the day before the games. From then on, if anyone wants to write, let them."

Michel Foucault

Of the French philosopher Michel Foucault (Poitiers, 1926 - Paris, 1984), Eberstadt highlights that he often reflected on how the mechanisms of power monitor and correct any deviation. "He himself was both inside and outside the system. He was a great expert in different forms of imprisonment; he was destined for a life of exile: he was too weird, too gay, too self-destructive to fit in," the author notes.

Pier Paolo Pasolini

The Italian writer and filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini (Bologna, 1922 - Ostia, 1975) was a victim in many ways, says Eberstadt: "He was judged many times, both for his work and for his sexual orientation. defend." The Italian filmmaker answered questions from Italian journalist Furio Colombo on November 1, 1975, hours before he was murdered. Pasolini asserted that if you always hit the same nail you can manage to tear down anything: "On a small scale, a good example is the radicals, four cats who manage to stir the conscience of a country. On a large scale, however, the example is given to us by history. Rejection has always been an essential act. The saints, the hermits, but the saints, the hermits, said no."

Isabel Nash Eberstadt, the mother

The novelist never had an easy relationship with her mother. "She always heard me as if I were her creation. She wanted me to be wild, radical, dark, solitary, to experiment with everything. I had to fulfill her dreams, her fantasies. To escape, I left New York and went to live in London. Making the book helped me understand her, and she became a convert." The author was angry because she felt she had been exposed to so much and not protected. She was also angry that her mother abandoned her calling as a writer to be a muse. "She preferred the social life to that of an artist," says Ebertstadt. "Now I've come to terms with everything she did and understand it as an act of generosity toward other artists she supported financially and emotionally."