We need the shadows to see the light

I grew up with a Catholic upbringing and in my childhood I always had the idea that going to heaven did not mean meeting god but having a point from which one could see everything about people, enter into all secrets, have total knowledge of the world.

More than meeting god is a bit of becoming god...

Yes, a god without the powers of god. One who understands everything but can do nothing. The protagonist sees his daughter live, sees that what he thought was his best friend sometimes speaks ill of him, knows everything but can no longer act. He sees the dangers threatening his daughter, who falls in love with a jerk, but can do nothing....

When he finally knows everything, he is paralysed ... Is there a metaphorical meaning in this?

Yes, there is this idea that our life is one of darkness and ignorance and that perfect knowledge would lead to stillness. We are made to live among mysteries, we need the shadows to see the light. Under such a terrible floodlight we would be terrified, paralysed. Curiosity is the engine of humanity.

Who is Albert Moindre, a man without qualities?

Yes, nice definition, a man without qualities. Moindre means in narrow French, minor, of no great openness. Not mediocre but without qualities, an ordinary man, without too many characteristics. I was interested in him as a corpse, we all look alike when we're dead. One with a life like everyone else. But in the end it turns out that he was one of the rare engineers who knew how to build a transhipment bridge, and this speciality makes him somewhat indispensable. Every human being has a role to play and when he disappears, something is lost. I have written another book Sans l'orang-outan, where I imagine the catastrophic consequences of the disappearance of this ape, I imagine that he is indipensable to the chain of life, and that if he disappears nothing works in the world any more. I try in this way to talk about mourning: even if every life is replaceable every life is important and when someone dies it is a point of view that dies, it is an impoverishment of the sensitive world. Moindre realises this in his observatory in the sky, even with a certain vanity, he realises that he was a bit important, he misses his daughter, for example. For once I wanted to give the dead man's point of view on the tragedy of mourning.

Humour is a recurring ingredient in your books, why?

It's a characteristic of mine, I always try to arouse the humorous effect, which for me has all the qualities. It can express anger, indignation, it is a weapon to fight, and also to witness emotions: with a bit of irony you can show affection for someone. The most beautiful declarations of love are those with a bit of humour, which allows one to escape from the repertoire of classic phrases, to make banal situations unique.