The Malta Independent on Sunday
Making the best of the pandemic
DANIEL RONDEAU,
of the Académie française, needs no introduction. He was the popular French ambassador to Malta (2008-2011) and to UNESCO (2011-2013). He has written fiction, reportage, literary criticism and political commentary. One of his many works is Malta Hanina (2012). Never mind about all his other accolades, the most important is his election to the Académie française in 2019.Every writer wants to have a seat there. Here is his take on the pandemic.
“The pandemic took us by surprise while at home in Champagne. I brought to a halt my activities in Paris at Unesco (where I represent the UN think tank). We were joined by our son and his family. I kept myself focused on the novel I was writing at the time. I also published articles about what was happening around us. The virus has been a powerful indicator of our weaknesses. The pandemic highlighted the limits of our medical, technological and economic autonomy. We then discovered that our lives could slip away from us. The advocates of globalization and the fanatics of political correctness had indeed colonized our minds. They had demanded from us the abandonment of a number of moral values and a certain indifference to our History and our times, that is to say to ourselves. I thought the virus could be a wake-up call for all European countries. The source of our freedom, whether we are French or Maltese, is our country, and our Europe, the roots of our culture and our spiritual families.
July 2020,
In aeroplanes started flying again. We decided to return, as we have done every summer for over ten years, to the Ta’ Ċenċ Hotel in Gozo. Malta has become our Mediterranean home. We can’t imagine ourselves staying away from it for very long. We usually arrive for the feast of Saint Margaret. There’s not a day which we spent differently from every other day. Breakfast under the carob tree. Reading on the terrace of our bungalow, behind a papyrus curtain. Then at noon, bathing between the cliffs and lunch in Kantra (sea urchin pasta!). Nap at the hotel. Swimming pool. A glass of champagne, dinner under the carob tree, sometimes with Maltese friends or our dear Palestinian family. “Everything’s settled here,” says Gabrielle our granddaughter, “and one is happy, cos every moment here is fun.”
August 4, 2020. It’s in Malta that I learned about the dramatic explosion that had left Beirut in mourning. The shock wave is huge. The city is destroyed by the blast. Fate adds unhappiness to a people already in pain. France stands alongside the Lebanese people. On September 1, I board the French president’s plane. Upon his arrival,
Emmanuel Macron, very committed in his support for Lebanon, paid a very symbolic visit to Fairuz. The diva of the East had a modern villa built for herself on the heights of Rabieh, at the foot of Mount Lebanon, fifty years ago. At that time, a blessed place, overlooking the coast, planted with pines and crossed by springs. Buildings and villas have swallowed up the pines, thyme and springs. Fairuz, seated on an armchair, wears a plexiglass mask attached to her spectacles (Lebanese variant of the anticovid mask), her lawyer on the right, and on her left, slightly askew on a sofa, her daughter. The President took a seat opposite her, on an armchair,
with the translator, a woman, to his right. Deep pile carpets, copper and silver trays, candelabras on all the coffee tables, two large Venetian chandeliers, paintings representing the hostess, icons. . . Nouhad Haddad alias Fairuz, which is Arabic for Turquoise, her favorite colour, the great contemporary voice of the Arab world, is a Maronite Christian, One of her most famous albums, recorded in 1962, was titled Vendredi Saint / Good Friday, where she lent her voice to the Virgin. “If you look at my face when I sing,” she once stated, “you’ll see that I’m not there. I think of art like prayer. “
March 2021. Our life is one continuous pilgrimage. It is pleasant, even for a loner, not to be always alone while on a pilgrimage. My election to the Académie française allowed me to reunite with friends and people that I admire. Almost all the writers who have accompanied me throughout my life have belonged to this club. The Académie has been a fixed point in our landscape since 1635. A magnetic pole that still electrifies those who have a passion for literature, our language and our country. The pandemic postponed my solemn reception under the dome (in principle, on the 4th of November), but my cloak and my sword are ready. My whole life is represented on my sword. The Mediterranean and Malta are present, of course. Givenchy was entrusted with my cloak. I had met the creator of this maison, Hubert de Givenchy, several times. His wedding dresses are unforgettable.
Like Christian Dior, he made French haute couture shine all over the world. Everyone remembers Audrey Hepburn’s dresses or suits. I especially admired the work, the precision, the delicacy of an extraordinary team. At Givenchy itself, as well as at the embroiderer’s, the maison Vermont, one is at every moment swathed in passion and excellence. 1600 hours of work for my cloak alone. It’s truly a tour de force. And a magnificent success. Last March, together with Noëlle, I took advantage of a beautiful spring day to take pictures for Paris Match magazine.
June 2021. The cherries are starting to ripen in our garden. I have just returned my new novel, Arrière-Pays, to my French publisher. This is the sequel to Mécaniques du chaos, which will be released in China this summer. Last year, I went to Moscow for the release of the book in Russian. But we must think of the follow-up. I am going to start a new novel which is a sequel of the two previous ones. But before getting back to work, Noëlle and I are going to regale ourselves with eight days vacation. In Gozo, of course. Our suitcases are ready.
Translated by Prof. Anthony Aquilina
Editorial Note: If you wish to contribute your own Covid diary please email mbenoit@hotmail.co.uk