CARTAGENA, Colombia – French author Marc Levy said on Friday at the Hay Festival of in Cartagena de Indias that in his novels he tries to put common people like himself in extraordinary situations.

In a conversation with writer Felipe Restrepo Pombo, Levy said that by extraordinary situations he did not necessarily mean grand scenarios, but anything that differs from the common, or ordinary.

One of the most popular authors in France, Levy said he likes to see how the situation changes and affects the life of those (common) people.

He added that after all these years he realized that there was a common thread in his work, which was the search for his identity and it is something which can be found in many of his novels: people who reconsider their own identity.

Therefore, according to the author, the incidents which happen to his characters are different in every novel, changing his or her perception and also their perceptions of others.

Levy said that a novel has to have an objective and a commitment, having taken firm positions in some of his characters.

He concluded that it was also important to express counter-arguments to avoid the trap of giving lessons through a novel, because when one gives lessons, one loses humility and a part of his or her freedom because of being confined to a certain reasoning, and instead of sharing a point of view or an idea and letting it be felt, we are just giving a lesson.