“It is time to put aside ‘the halo of idealization’ that some books have had for decades,” said the Spanish writer, author of ‘El infinito en un junco’
the spanish writer Irene Vallejo encouraged readers this Saturday to revisit the classics of literature from a critical and new look that allows us to understand the reasons why some cultures committed barbaric acts.
At a press conference at the Mexican International Book Fair (FIL) of Guadalajara, which began this day, the author stated that it is time to “talk& rdquor; with certain works to understand where certain ideas that still prevail in the world come from.
“(Reread) from a new perspective, trying to take a closer stance towards those classicsfrom a more critical and closer look, being able to lower them from the pedestal and conversing with them, being aware of the barbaric aspects of those cultures, such as imperialism, the cult of war, the treatment of women & rdquor ;, he stated.
Vallejo (Zaragoza, 1979) assured that it is time to put aside “the halo of idealization & rdquor; that some books have had for decades to delve into historical reality and “deep contradictions & rdquor; in which they were written.
The author is one of the special guests at FIL where will present his multi-seller book “The infinite in a reed & rdquor ;, In addition to being in charge of opening the Literary Salon together with the Argentine writer Alberto Manguel and receiving the Carlos Fuentes medal.
The Spanish received this Friday the news of having been the winner of the IX Pedro Henríquez Ureña International Essay Award awarded by the Mexican Academy of Language, a recognition that is received with special affection for bearing the name of one of the promoters of education and humanism in Latin America together with Alfonso Reyes.
The essayist assured that the success of her book, translated into twenty languages in just two yearshas surprised him because he thought that readers would not welcome a work of this nature.
He revealed that the text would be the farewell to his career as a writer, because he had to deal with the illness of his newborn sonbut it has been the trigger to reinforce the idea that the essay is a key to try to understand the complexity that the world is going through.
“I thought that with the essay it would be more difficult to reach readers, because it does not have that preponderance in the market, but I also think that in times of strong uncertainty like the one we are experiencing and of increasing complexity we look for explanations of reality in the essay and integrate them into a discourse& rdquor ;, assured.
The FIL begins this Saturday hoping to bring together at least 800,000 people around 620 book presentations3,000 literary, academic and scientific activities and the assistance of 600 authors from 45 countries.