Public Enemies (37 page)

What one forgets most quickly, of life and of one’s books.

Why it is important to try not to forget—and why Nietzsche was wrong in his theory of resentment.

BERNARD-HENRI LÉVY is a philosopher, journalist, activist, and filmmaker. Among his books are
American Vertigo, Barbarism with a Human Face
, and
Who Killed Daniel Pearl
? Lévy is cofounder of the antiracist group SOS Racism and has served on diplomatic missions for the French government.

MICHEL HOUELLEBECQ is the bestselling author of numerous works of poetry and fiction, including
Whatever, Lanzarote, Platform
, and
The Possibility of an Island
.

MIRIAM FRENDO has been working as a translator for eight years and divides her time between Dublin and Lucerne, Switzerland. She works from French, German, and Italian and translates academic papers and newspaper articles as well as legal texts for law firms and international institutions. She also does book translations and is currently working on two Italian historical works on the Knights Templar and the mystery of the Turin shroud, both scheduled to appear in 2011.

FRANK WYNNE is a writer and a distinguished literary translator from French and Spanish into English. Born in Sligo, Ireland, he lived in Paris in the 1980s, where he developed his passion for languages. He began working as a literary translator more than a decade ago, after he moved to London. Among the many authors he has translated are Michel Houellebecq, Yasmina Khadra, Almudena Grandes, and Tomás Eloy Martínez, and he has just finished work on the memoirs of Claude Lanzmann. His translation of Michel Houellebecq’s
The Elementary Particles
won him the 2002 IMPAC prize (jointly with the author); his translations have also won the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (2005) and the Scott Moncrieff Prize (2008). He travels widely and is currently based in London.