350
PARTISAN REVIEW
IS:
About this humanization. Aren't the characters who come alive
the ones that slip through the author's hands -like Don Quijote–
and make him think as the character thinks instead of the other
way around? In some way Antonio Conselheiro became more hu–
man and at a certain moment no longer fit into your original mold
- the fanatic.
MVL:
That's what's interesting about a novel. The story itself gener–
ates its own power, relationships you have to respect and which
you just can't break without running the risk of killing the living
part of the story.
It
happened that way with several of the charac–
ters in
La guerra del fin del mundo.
For example, when I first con–
ceived the story, the Baron of Caiiabrava was quite schematic.
Then, suddenly, he became too complex to be just the
caudillo
landowner I had imagined. As a matter of fact, at a certain point,
because of his psychological and intellectual strength, he becomes
the character who best understands the phenomenon ofCanudos.
And that's something I hadn't foreseen, something the character
himself imposed upon me.
IS:
And where has all this religion business led you?
MVL:
Look, it was something I was curious about, a fascination,
even a kind of concern. But I don't think I'm more of a believer
now than I was before. A few years ago I was absolutely uninter–
ested in religion, but that's no longer true. I am now deeply con–
cerned with it and not only in an intellectual, but in a human way
as well. Perhaps in part it's because I've arrived at the conclusion
that man is not only history, not by a long shot.
If
someone be–
lieves his being is totally historical, there is no way he can under–
stand human behavior and, much less, social processes .
IS:
Are you an atheist?
MVL:
Not at all. I have always been an agnostic. And I say "always"
because I think I was even when I was quite young, even before I
knew what the word "agnostic" meant. I have always been dis–
turbed to the same degree by people who believe
absolutely
in the
existence of God and by people who believe
absolutely
in material–
ism, who deny the existence of God with religious fervor. I have
always instinctively rejected extremist positions. But what has
happened to me is that I now have an awareness, a greater open–
ness to religious experience, both from an intellectual and a hu–
man point of view.
IS:
Could you have a conversion?
MVL:
The problem is that belief in God is essentially an act offaith .
