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Literature, Arts, and Society
Martínez Mediero's New Play Makes Use of Portugal's Recent
Political History Manuel Martínez Mediero has made a career of writing consciousness-raising plays that deal directly with poignant and often disturbing social and political situations. Notable among these, are Jacinta se marchó a la guerra (1967), El último gallinero (1969), El convidado (1970), Las hermanas de Búfalo Bill (1971), Las planchadoras (1971), El bebé furioso (1974), El día que se decubrió el pastel (1976), Lisístrata (1980), Juana del amor hermoso (1982) and Madrecita del alma querida (1986). Commonplace as well is the playwright's fascinating use of XVI and XVII century Spanish history to parallel specific situations of the present, central to the construct of his dramatic context. This may involve a general historical fact, such as in Lisístrata where Martínez Mediero makes use of the vastness of the Spanish Empire so often associated with Charles I and the independence of the Protestant Netherlands which took place under Philip II to promote his views on Spain's traditionally male dominated society, or more specific circumstances, such as in Juana del amor hermoso where particular aspects of Juana la Loca's personal and political life are essential to the play's development and theme. Contrary to his predominant use of the past, Martínez Mediero has seen fit, in his most recent play, to rely on more recent historical material. The play is titled Las largas vacaciones de Oliveira Salazar and its protagonist is Antonio de Oliveira Salazar (1889-1970), who ruled Portugal as a dictator from 1932 to 1968. Although Portugal enjoyed moderate prosperity under Salazar's rule, his regime was totalitarian in nature. In 1933 he established Portugal as a corporate state with a one party government and he maintained his position by suppressing trade unions, the press, and all political opposition with the aid of his security police. In addition to resisted social and political change at home, he rested rising nationalism in Portuguese territories in Africa. He was also a strong supporter of General Francisco Franco in the Spanish civil war and in the years thereafter. It is, therefore, no surprise to find Franco among the characters of the play. Las vacaciones de Oliveira Salazar may be de scribed simply as an historical play that faithfully depicts aspects of Salazar's political life. It is worth while noting that the change in national setting as well as historical time frame is accompanied by a more direct style on the part of the playwright. Where in the past Martínez Mediero relied heavily on allegory, there is no effort in this play to mask the identities of his characters or the thrust of his criticism. The theme of the play is vintage Martínez Mediero. That is to say, in this play as in virtually all his work, the playwright focuses on the personal and social liberties of the individual. Thus personalities of contemporary history like Salazar -and Franco-, for whom freedom was unquestionably ominous, serve Martínez Mediero well as dramatic pretexts for a theme that rings more ever more universal with the passing of time. More important however, there is a change to be noted with regard to point of view in the play as it pertains to the theme. While in the past Martínez Mediero concerned himself primarily with the effects of oppression on the victims from the standpoint of the victim, here there is a definite attempt to present the theme from the perspective of the oppressor. John P. Gabriele The College of Wooster K.
Kobayashi's Interest in Catalonian Literature Professor Samuel H. Elbert of the University of Hawaii at Manoa called to my attention a remarkable article, which shows an interest in Japan in Catalan. In number 31 of the Revista de Catalunya (June 1989) was published in Catalan «La tanka catalana i la tanka japonesa», by a Japanese Romance philologist, Kozue Kobayashi, who studied in Catalonia. He discusses the pioneering tanks writer in Catalan, Carles Riba, and indicates the various sources of Riba's knowledge of the form in Japanese literature, also dealing interestingly with other more recent writers of the tanks in Catalonia. It might not be a bad idea, in this era, for members of the AATSP to think about the part Catalán deserves in the future among its members; the association might become an AATSPC. And this contemporary interest of a Japanese scholar in Catalán is a heartening signal for anyone interested in peninsular or comparative literature. Edgar C. Knowlton, Jr. University of Hawaii Honolulu, Hawaii Exitosa
presentación de
México-USA El dramaturgo
mexicano Felipe Santander estrenó su obra teatral
México-USA, espectáculo
en dos actos, el día 22 de febrero de 1990 en el teatro Ocampo de
Cuernavaca, México. Este teatro es
El mayor problema actual del hemisferio occidental son las drogas y la violencia. México-USA as una obra de denuncia social que está basada en fuentes históricas e información que han hecho público diversos medios masivos de comunicación de Estados Unidos y México en torno a las cuestiones del narcotráfico, el escándalo Irán-contras y la política mundial, particularmente en Centro américa, por lo que resulta una crítica valiente y oportuna. También aborda el problema de la discriminación contra los indocumentados y latinoamericanos en general. Según Santander, «siempre escribo lo que me preocupa, hoy son las drogas, el problema de los chicanos y la rígida actitud de Estados Unidos hacia América Latina». Entre ficción y realidad la obra muestra la historia de un crimen en la que se ven involucrados varios personajes, siendo la joven Ruth Gordon el enlace entre todas las situaciones que se presentan. El montaje de la pieza constituyó una innovación en el arte escénico. En esta obra resaltan los más versátiles y novedosos recursos escenográficos tales como el «videotape» en forma simultánea con la actuación. El título, México-USA, es sugestivo pero sólo se trata de un pueblo que se llama México. Escrita y dirigida por Santander, la obra se desarrolla entre los años de 1984 y 1986 en un poblado llamado «México» en el estado norteamericano de Missouri y en Chicago, Illinois; y en los países latinoamericanos de Colombia, Panamá y Costa Rica. Con el montaje exitoso de México-USA de un dramaturgo importante como Felipe Santander que ha escrito obras como Y, El milagro, El extensionista y Los dos hermanos y quien fundó en octubre de 1989 el Centro de Arte Dramático y Estudios, se espera mucho en un futuro de él y de sus estudiantes en la sede del CADE en Cuernavaca. Lee A. Daniel Texas Christian University Encuentran
La Celestina de Sor Juana La segunda Celestina, pieza teatral que dejó inconclusa el poeta hispanomexicano Agustín de Salazar y Torres en 1675, fue terminada por Juan de Vera Tassis y también por Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. De una comedia de más de 3.000 versos, la contribución de Sor Juana consta de un poco más de mil versos. El punto en que Salazar dejó la obra fue en el verso 212 del acto III. La conjetura y el misterio, siempre un aspecto místico de Sor Juana, continúa aun con este hallazgo tan inesperado y monumental. El dramaturgo e investigador Guillermo Schmidhuber descubrió el final perdido de La segunda Celestina de Sor Juana en la biblioteca de la Universidad de Pennsylvania en 1989 y afirma que la obra es de una Sor Juana que tendría unos veintiséis o veintisiete años cuando la escribió. Schmidhuber también sugiere que probablemente Sor Juana no se limitó a escribir el foral sino que cambió un poco la parte que había dejado escrita Salazar. Antes, y por caminos distintos, el filólogo Antonio Alatorre hizo su hallazgo a fines de 1985 en la Biblioteca Nacional de España en Madrid. Al contrario de lo que opina Schmidhuber, Alatorre cree que Sor Juana compuso el final de la comedia cuando tenía treinta y cinco años. Entonces, ¿cuál es la verdadera fecha de la contribución de Sor Juana? ¿Es 1676 ó 1683 y más, cuántos versos de la comedia son de Sor Juana? Este drama, hasta recientemente perdido, es conocido por varios nombres tales como El encanto es la hermosura, El hechizo sin hechizo, La gran comedia de la segunda Celestina o simplemente La segunda Celestina. Conocido entre sorjuanistas por comentarios breves de Castorena y Ursúa en el prólogo de la Fama y obras póstumas (Madrid,1700) de Salceda en el prólogo del tomo 4 de las Obras (1957) y aun Sor Juana en el Sainete segundo de Los empeños de una casa, estrenada en México el 4 de octubre de 1683. También Ramón de Mesonero Romanos menciona una terminación distinta [la de Sor Juana] a la de Vera Tassis de la comedia La segunda Celestina de Agustín de Salazar y Torres. Sea lo que sea, en cuanto al título, la fecha de composición y el número de versos que compuso Sor Juana, el hallazgo de Schmidhuber, «La gran comedia de la segunda Celestina, Fiesta para los años de la Reyna nuestra señora, año de 1676, de Don Agustín de Salazar», correrá por librerías a finales de junio publicado en la editorial Vuelta, con prólogo de Octavio Paz. Alatorre, por su parte, trabaja en la anotación y presentación de la obra, que será editada por El Colegio de México. [Proceso, 11 de junio de 1990.] Lee A. Daniel Texas Christian University Two Mexican Feminist Writers Two exceptionally successful novels by Mexican women are worthy of note for readers interested in recent Mexican fiction and perhaps for teachers preparing course reading lists. These are Arráncame la vida, by Ángeles Mastretta (México: Océana, 1985) and Como agua para chocolate, by Laura Esquivel (México: Planeta Mexicana, 1989). Arráncame la vida, which has
also been published by
Cal y Arena and has gone through as
many as thirteen editions, is the story of a fifteen year-old girl from Puebla,
Catalina Guzmán, who marries a general during the late 1920s. The first
person narrator of the novel, Catalina elicits the reader's sympathy as she
chronicles not only the sordid political climate of the 1930s and 1940s, but
also her own life of boredom, resentment and
Como agua para chocolate, like many Latin American and U.S. novels of recent years, is laced with episodes of magical realism that never would have been written without the precedent of Cien años de soledad. Set in northern Mexico during the Revolution of 1910, this best seller depicts a family consisting of Mamá Elena (a tyrannical widow) and her daughters Tita, Rosaura and Gertrudis. Because she is the younger, Tita, the protagonist, is condemned by Mamá Elena to remain an old maid in order to care for her mother in the latter's old age -this despite an ardent suitor, Pedro, who finally marries Rosaura with the idea of living in the same household with Tita. This situation engenders a series of complications, both hilarious and tragic, that are ultimately resolved by the deaths of Mamá Elena and Rosaura. But what makes Como agua para chocolate so popular among Mexican readers is more than likely its fusion of everyday life with magical episodes such as the return of Mamá Elena from the dead to haunt Tita for her «sins»; the «pelea de gallinas», the force of which lifted Tita «varios metros del piso, le dio tres vueltas infernales entre la furia de los picotazos para después lanzarla con ímpetu hasta el extremo opuesto del patio, en donde cayó como costal de papas »; the death of Rosaura after a series of fantastically loud and long «ventosidades» the odor of which fingers for hours after her demise; and the spectacular, apocalyptic sexual encounter that illuminates the final pages and determines the fate of the couple. Both of these best sellers exude overtones indicative of the current feminist movement in the Hispanic World. George McMurray Colorado State University Tres
nuevos libros para Manuel Mejía Vallejo El escritor antioqueño parece incansable. Apenas se le concede el Premio «Rómulo Gallegos» por su novela La casa de las dos palmas (véase Hispania 72.2 [1989]: 456), cuando aparecen tres nuevos frutos de su pluma. Colombia campesina pretende ser «otro llamado a la conciencia nacional, otra invitación al regreso por caminos injustamente olvidados, donde las tradiciones mejores... van cayendo en un desolado olvido.» Dotado del texto sensible de Mejía Vallejo y de preciosas ilustraciones, Colombia campesina rinde homenaje al hombre del campo y a su aporte imprescindible al mosaico cultural de la nación. El autor mismo califica el libro de «visión ligeramente distinta de Colombia, entrañable en el recuerdo.» El año que viene vuelvo luce otra bella colección de fotografías artísticas que acompaña el texto imaginativo de Mejía Vallejo. Comentando un rito tradicional que celebra la despedida del año viejo, Manuel Mejía y el fotógrafo Carlos Lersundy se unen para explorar los variantes de una expresión típica en cada región del territorio nacional. El acto de quemar, el 31 de diciembre a media noche, unos muñecos hechos de ropa vieja, rellenos de paja y pólvora, abraza un hondo significado humano, sirviendo de símbolo de lo que se debe quemar de nuestra existencia. Tal acto ocupa un puesto central dentro de la temporada, «magia y encanto, fuego y humo, contento y ceniza tanto en el adiós como en la bienvenida.» Frente a la variedad de peleles en distintas partes del país, reconoce Manuel: «Los he conocido flacos y alargados como una figura mística de El Greco, y prepotentes en su gordura como si Fernando Botero los hubiera construido» (12). No obstante el ritmo nutrido de su labor novelística que le ha ganado tres premios prestigiosos en 1963, 1973 y 1989, Mejía Vallejo se niega a abandonar el género del cuento. «El cuento es como un puño cerrado», dice, «no lo abandono ni dejo de practicarlo». Lo evidencian los sesenta y nueve cuentos que integran el tomo titulado Otras historias de Balandú, lanzado en Bogotá hace poco. «Resultado de un largo trabajo literario,... algunos de sus cuentos llevan quince años en el cajón: otros, cuatro meses. Hay unas pocas historias largas; otras, redondas, de dos o tres párrafos, son como contundentes poemas en prosa» (El Tiempo, 4 de mayo de 1990). Kurt L. Levy (Emeritus) University of Toronto II
Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro (Bogotá) Between April 6 and 15
of 1990, the capital city of Colombia was transformed with the eternal magic of
the theatre through the II Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro. In this land of
contrasts, with black Mercedes on the one hand and a grinding poverty on the
other, Bogotá was filled with laughter and sadness, with the pathos and
tension that
The artists themselves came from all corners of the globe -from nearly every country in Latin America, from the U.S. and Canada, from Japan and India, from France, Germany, England, Italy, Spain and Switzerland, from the newly- liberated countries of Hungary and Bulgaria, even from the U.S.S.R, and of course in great numbers from Colombia itself. They came to this city with fear of car bombs and sidewalk bandits to enjoy one of the most lavish and spectacular theatre festivals of all time. Fanny Mickey and Ramiro Osorio, the organizing duo, were publicly acclaimed for their superb efforts, although the post-festival news re ports already indicate that the next festival in 1992 may not reach the proportions of either the First or Second Festival. The groups represented all kinds of theatre -traditional, experimental, popular- and they brought to Bogota a flamboyance that permeated the foundations of this long-established city. Without doubt the most controversial and most discussed play of the festival was Jean Genet's The Maids (Las criadas), performed by Moscow's Teatro Satyricon in Russian but available in Spanish through the miracle of a tiny headset. Genet specified that his play is to be performed by men, and this version did not disappoint. The extravagant costumes, the exaggerated dance, the swirling and twirling of the capes and skirts, left no doubt that this group was engaging in a very different kind of dance/drama from what we are accustomed to seeing from the U.S.S.R. Other notable foreign productions included the Berliner Ensemble which brought a very polished if unemotional Three-Penny Opera with a huge cast and an especially rich visual effect. Carbone 14 from Canada entertained with a lively spectacle titled El dormitorio which takes place in a boarding school where the children's games, sometimes playful, sometimes erotic, go sour after the announcement that John Kennedy has been assassinated. Terror and misery of the Third Reich, performed by the National Lithuanian Theatre, was also a marvel of plastic images and an effective statement about an ugly period in 20th-century history. From the Spanish-speaking world Mexico and Costa Rica deserved special recognition for highly competent and lively productions. The Compañía Nacional de Teatro of Mexico staged Magaña's text of Los enemigos as freely adapted by Alejandro Luna and Lorena Maza. Based on the Rabinal Achí the play emphasized the fatal tension between the two young warriors through a series of daring effects, including a battle with bows and arrows in the cavernous space upstage, and a pool downstage in which the young maiden who was at the center of the controversy could bathe. The stylized images succeeded in capturing both the seriousness of the conflict as well as the human aspects of this first American tragedy. Similar in size and scope was the Costa Rican extravaganza, La tragicomedia del Serenísimo Principe don Carlos, based on the pathetic history of Carlos, grandson of Charles V. His father Felipe II was so revulsed at the thought of this deformed and obnoxious offspring ascending to the throne of Spain that he sought a drastic solution. Lavishly staged with elegant costumes, the production revealed the esperpentic dichotomy of both a glorious and a troubled time in Spain's history. From Venezuela came the Grupo Theja's version of Autorretrato de artista con barba y pumpa in a stunning production with layers of visual imagery separated by tulle. Director José Simón Escalona matched author José Ignacio Gabrujas's talent in re-creating aspects of the life and madness of painter Armando Reverón. Uruguay was represented by a picture-perfect staging of Florencio Sánchez's En familia, and Chile's entry was Teatro Imagen's Cartas de Jenny, based on actual letters of an overly protective and possessive mother. Yuyachkani of Perú has a formidable reputation throughout Latin America for its work in popular and social protest theatre which has been helped along by Eugenio Barba and others, but their version of Contra el viento appeared simplistic and naive. Brazil has often taken these festivals by storm with such provocative stagings as Macunaíma or Ubú. The production this year was lively and creative, but fell far short of these high expectations. The Circo Grafitti, directed by Gabriel Villeta, brought a short and colorful piece called Voce vai ver o que voce vai ver, based on 33 versions of a simple exercise by Raymond Queneau. The versatile stage set -an elaborate street car/bus- provided great flexibility for an energetic performance which, ultimately, lacked the vitality of earlier shows. The Colombian productions varied greatly in quality, purpose
and style. The daunted La Candelaria's
The Festival in total was a tribute to the tremendous energy of Fanny Mikey and Ramiro Osorio who brought superb organizational skills to the selection of groups and logistics of the festival; to the government, the corporations and the people of Colombia who recognized the importance of the theatre arts through their generous support; to the actors and directors, along with their technical crews, who brought 35 groups from 28 countries to join with the 33 Colombian groups (plus eight puppet shows); and to the public who attended faithfully and in great numbers during these ten days to make the Festival an unforgettable experience. George Woodyard University of Kansas Guatemala:
Premio Nacional de Literatura The Premio Nacional de Literatura in Guatemala will go this year to Otto Raúl Gonzalez (1921), who, though primarily a poet, is also recognized for his work in prose. His lyrical publications include: A fuego lento (1946), Sombras era (1948), Viento claro (1953), El bosque (1955), Hombre en la luna (1960), Para quienes gusten oír caer la lluvia sobre el tejado (1962), Cuchillo de caza (1964), Diez colores nuevos (1967), Oratorio del maíz (1970), La siesta del gorila (1973), and Mi mejor obra (1973). Most of this production appeared in collected form in Poesía Fundamental (Guatemala: Universidad de San Carlos, 1973). Marta Regina Rosales de Fahsen, who in 1981 presented her thesis for the «licenciatura» in literature at the Universidad Rafael Landívar entitled Aproximación a la poesía de Otto Raid González, and currently heads the Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, announced that for the first time along with the usual honors bestowed on the winner, a cash prize of 7,000 quetzales ($1,647) will go to the poet. Judy Berry-Bravo Wichita State University Literacy
and the Freedom to Read in Cuba Since the Castro Revolution in 1959, literacy has increased greatly in Cuba. Scholar-researcher Anthony Kerrigan (once a Communist himself) in 1986 asked the question which followed naturally: «What do literate Cubans read?» It will surprise few, and certainly not Mr. Kerrigan (who was brought up in Cuba), to learn that his observations very soon forced him to rephrase his question and ask: «What are literate Cubans allowed to read?» Recalling his earlier experience in Franco Spain with official censorship and the banning of many Spanish and foreign books, Mr. Kerrigan visited Havana bookstores and found that the works of many world authors, including those that had once been honored guests in Cuba, were unavailable and hence non-existent to millions of literate Cubans. Noting that neither Nobel Prize winner Saul Bellow nor Argentina's Jorge Luis Borges appeared on any bookshelves, Mr. Kerrigan continued his investigations and found that Borges and Bellow «were accompanied in their non-existence by a veritable host of other world luminaries -so many, in fact, that a full list would be tedious.» It is not tedious, however, to mention a few of the widely-known writers on the Revolution's «hit list»: Simone de Beauvoir, Jean-Paul Sartre, Ernesto Cardenal, Miguel de Cervantes (none of his works, not even Don Quijote!), Mario Vargas Llosa, Octavio Paz, Milan Kundera, Vaclav Havel, nor books by such expatriate Cubans as Herberto Padilla, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Reinaldo Arenas, Severo Sarduy, etc. In short, practically all reading material available to Cubans which Mr. Kerrigan could find: books, magazines, and newspapers, is dominated by Marxist dogma and hews to the party-line. Readers who are limited to such narrow, censored fare will become increasingly isolated and out-of touch with the reality of a world which is reacting to the dissolution of Communist control in central Europe, the decline of Russian power, the waning of the Cold War, and the rise of new democratic governments in several regions of the globe. At the very least, it is clear that such a deprivation will become increasingly dangerous to the future peace and well-being of the Cuban nation. [Anthony Kerrigan, «Literacy, Yes, Books, No: A Personal Report from Cuba», Censorship and Culture in Cuba, Cuban American Foundation, Washington, DC, 1990.] Robert G. Mead, Jr. University of Connecticut, Emeritus
Desde los
Buenos Aires culturales Durante el mes de julio, tan caluroso y multicromático en el hemisferio norte y tan frío y gris en el sur -por lo menos lo que le toca a Buenos Aires-, se cumplieron los cien años de la histórica Revolución del Parque. En su suplemento dominical «Las palabras y las cosas» (22 julio 1990) titulado «Argentina del '90 al '90: cien años de crisis» el diario Sur nos azota con este aspecto crudo de la realidad argentina. Contiene cinco artículos contundentes, tres sobre la crisis de 1890 y dos sobre la crisis de 1990. Aquéllos tratan «la primera crisis importante que debió afrontar el orden conservador de 1890. Por primera vez se escuchó aquello de "acabar con la corrupción": por primera vez un movimiento cívico-militar derrocó a un presidente constitucional;» éstos, para rematar la oprimente actualidad del tema, tratan el Dick Tracy y la Gotham City porteños. Veámoslo. Aludiendo a la obra de García Márquez, Oscar Taffetani titula su artículo sobre el efecto nostálgico de la película Dick Tracy en el espectador argentino, «Nuestra crisis ya no tiene quien la escriba.» Taffetani afirma que la película produce nostalgia «de una época en que se creía que quedaban policías buenos y honrados, capaces de obviar ciertas rígidas leyes para ayudar al débil y para hacer que se cumplieran las grandes leyes humanas, ésas que no necesitan escribirse. En la Chicago y en la Nueva York de Dick Tracy, como en la Buenos Aires de 1890 y en la Buenos Aires de 1990, hay corruptos y coimeros; hay rateros y desocupados en los suburbios; hay crimen organizado, de imprevisibles ramificaciones; y hay, también, pequeños actos de solidaridad y resistencia o pequeñas historias de amor protagonizadas por los débiles, por las víctimas naturales de esa jungla de asfalto en donde rige la ley de la selva. » La nota termina con una posdata sobre la tira cómica que la ilustra: «Se ha querido ilustrar esta nota con cuadros de una historieta argentina titulada La Triple B o Continuará o La historieta de nunca acabar, dibujada por Félix Saborido y con guión de Carlos Albiac. El lector advertirá allí un raro contraste, una cierta tensión entre el dibujo empleado (que copia el estilo de Chester Gould en Dick Tracy) y los textos, que plantean una trama policial en la Buenos Aires del "Proceso" y utilizan un lenguaje porteño. Por alguna razón el editor Andrés Cascioli y el director de la revista Fierro, Juan Sasturain, levantaron la tira después del tercer capítulo. Por algo habrá sido. Algo habrán hecho...» En su nota «Violencia en el Acceso Sudeste de Ciudad Gótica», Luis Gruss nos recuerda las palabras del alcalde Borg: «"En toda la nación el nombre de Ciudad Gótica es sinónimo de delito. Nuestras calles están infestadas de delincuencia y nuestros oficiales no tienen ayuda. Como alcalde, les prometo que eliminaremos la fuente de corrupción". Mientras tanto», sigue Gruss, «en Buenos Aires, las órdenes se precipitaban en un clima de histeria generalizada: "Rodeen inmediatamente la villa [villa miseria = shanty town]. Detengan a todos los sospechosos. Hay que terminar con esto". El ministro Carlos Álvarez, de la gobernación bonaerense, pedía un lexotanil [un tranquilizante] a su secretaria y no podía parar de hablar, a poco de liberarse de un asalto: "Hay que terminar con esta gente, con estos salvajes; tenemos que limpiar de malandras este lugar." Este lugar estaba de antes, claro, envuelto en sombras. Ahora fue iluminado por la noticia y descrito con adjetivos aterradores. Las villas Azul e Itatí, separadas por el Acceso Sudeste, constituyen, según los flamantes observadores, un laberinto impenetrable, una favela sin puertas por la cual resulta imposible transitar, un tren fantasma donde conviven trabajadores, desocupados y gente al margen, como se la suele llamar. Un ministro casi fue asaltado allí, luego las víctimas fueron unos periodistas radicales. La policía concretó una super razzia al estilo de SWAT, con centenares de efectivos y algún helicóptero para reforzar el espectáculo. Habitan el lugar alrededor de 50 mil sospechosos, de esos que también se ven por otras partes del conurbano: en la Avenida 9 de Julio, en los cafés del centro -disfrazados de chicos- y en los alrededores de Ciudad Gótica.»» Las ondas expansivas de la crisis siguen repercutiendo cada vez más, no sólo en la vida socio-política sino también en la vida cultural. Pero la gente encuentra formas de resistencia, formas de poder seguir duchándose culturalmente. En cuanto al mundo teatral, ya sabemos de las cuantiosas actividades que se están realizando por todo el país en los teatros independientes en un esfuerzo monumental para salvarlos. Respecto al libro, antiguo orgullo argentino, Vicente Muleiro lo describe muy bien en su nota «El saldo de lectura» (Sur, «Cultura, arte, espectáculo», 15 de mayo de 1990): Julio fue un mes triste para los argentinos; fallecieron tres escritores notables, cada uno con sus aportes significantes: Silvina Bullrich (el día 2), Matilde Herrera (el día 15) y Manuel Puig (el día 22). Matilde Herrera fue, tal vez, la escritora más elocuente de los horrores sufridos por el pueblo argentino durante la última dictadura militar. Su amigo, el respetado periodista Horacio Verbitsky, esbozó una evocación de esta mujer tan excepcional, publicada en el diario Página 12 (17 de julio de 1990). Aunque sabíamos de las enfermedades de Silvina Bullrich y Matilde Herrera las noticias necrológicas sobre ellas nos sorprendieron por temidas e indeseadas, por no querer creer; la noticia de la muerte de Manuel Puig nos golpeó duramente, pues nadie esperaba noticias suyas que no trataran alguna nueva obra suya. Cuando recogimos el diario del 23 de julio, la reacción de todos fue «¡No puede ser!» Poesía. El fervor poético de estos meses nos hace reflexionar acerca de la queja «en la Argentina nadie lee poesía excepto los poetas.» Aquí pasa algo. Un vistazo revela la presencia de editoriales de poesía (Último Reino, Libros de Tierra Firme, Botella al Mar), revistas de poesía (Diario de Poesía, Último Reino, La Danza del Ratón, 18 Whiskeys), una biblioteca de poesía (Biblioteca Municipal de Poesía «Raúl González Tuñón»), una flamante Asociación de Poetas Argentinos (A.P.O.A.) y eventos múltiples. La poeta Agustina Roca organizó el «I Ciclo de Poesía Argentina Actual» que funcionó todos los lunes desde el 21 de mayo al 30 de julio en el Centro de Estudios Brasileños. Las actividades de estos lunes poéticos fueron: Edgar Bayley: entre la vigilia y el sueño; Mujer y poesía, con Diana Bellessi; Alberto Girri: vida y poesía, cuestiones y razones; Homenaje a Susana Thénon; Presencia de Horacio Salas; Joaquín Giannuzzi: poesía y realidad; Olga Orozco: el tiempo y la memoria; Función de los talleres de escritura; La poesía de los más jóvenes; La poética de Juan Gelman. Otra actividad poética disfrutada por los porteños fue «Poesía de Turno», organizada por la editorial Último Reino y coordinada por Fernando Noy. Todos los miércoles, entre el 6 de junio y el 29 de agosto unos 65 poetas leyeron sus versos en el bar Oliverio (por Oliverio Girondo, naturalmente). No fueron simples recitales, sin embargo; participaron músicos y actores en la creación de un clima irreverente, «rompiendo con la solemnidad de los recitales», según Víctor Redondo, poeta y uno de los directores de la revista y editorial Último Reino. La lista de eventos no termina ahí. Hubo recitales en el Foro Gandhi («Antología Viviente»), el club El Viejo Almacén («Poesía Abierta»), el Centro Cultural General San Martín y el I.C.I. (Instituto de Cooperación Iberoamericana). Además, el Encuentro Internacional de Poesía Joven en Santiago de Chile contó con una delegación de jóvenes poetas argentinos. Resumiendo, el gris no es tan determinante. El acoso económico sobre las manifestaciones culturales no cesa; pero, los artistas, a pesar de todo, siguen teniendo una creativa y desbordante iniciativa. Lea Fletcher Buenos Aires, Argentina Noticias desde Chile
Marco Antonio de la Parra: «El
personaje de mi novela soy yo.» Con una presentación teatral
y gran despliegue periodístico, el dramaturgo
Dos «Nouvelles» de José Donoso. Con una preocupación obsesiva por la palabra, el lenguaje, los personajes reales y los novelescos, José Donoso entrega su último libro hecho de dos novelas cortas; Taratura y Naturaleza Muerta con Cachimba, interesantes ambas por su típica exploración de lo marginal al borde mismo de lo fantasmagórico [Revista de Libros. El Mercurio de Santiago de Chile. 15 de abril de 1990]. Carlos Fuentes sufre mal de México. Entre los epítetos con que la prensa y el chismerío local califican a Fuentes está el de «aristócrata burgués cuyo estilo de vida no concuerda con sus ideas políticas» y el de «rábano, porque es rojo por fuera y blanco por dentro.» Ninguno de estos comentarios detiene, sin embargo al autor, que prepara una serie de documentales sobre la cultura hispánica para la televisión inglesa; un ensayo sobre la narrativa sudamericana y una novela, El Campo, que narra una extraña historia de amor [Revista de Libros. El Mercurio de Santiago de Chile. 29 de abril de 1990]. Uslar Pietri recibirá en octubre el Premio Príncipe de Asturias. Coincidiendo con la entrega del premio -que consta de 47.000 dólares-, en octubre aparecerá publicada su última obra, Visita en el tiempo, novela histórica sobre don Juan de Austria [Revista de Libros. El Mercurio de Santiago de Chile. 6 de mayo de 1990]. La poesía de los poetas. Próxima a llegar a nuestro país se encuentra la revista española Poesía con un número monográfico dedicado al poeta chileno Vicente Huidobro. El texto, de 408 páginas, fue editado en 1989 por el Ministro de Cultura de España y por la Comisión Española Quinto Centenario. La obra de Huidobro es más trascendente que la de Neruda y mucho más audaz que la de Gabriela Mistral. La documentación que avala la paternidad de Huidobro del Creacionismo es apabullante [El Mercurio de Santiago de Chile. 13 de mayo de 1990]. Baja interés por El general en su laberinto. Por lo menos la mitad de la edición de 700.000 ejemplares de El general no tiene quien le escriba, de Gabriel García Márquez, Nobel de Literatura 1982, permanecen aún sin venderse en Colombia, sostiene el diario El Siglo de Bogotá. Revela también algunas cifras de venta de este autor, precisando que la novela menos vendida ha sido El otoño del patriarca, y la más sencilla de colocar, Crónica de una muerte anunciada, de la cual se han imprimido hasta la fecha 1.5 millón de ejemplares. Cien años de soledad se ha traducido a 23 idiomas con un total de dos millones de ejemplares. De La hojarasca se han publicado 1.3 millón de ejemplares. Le sigue El amor en los tiempos de cólera con 1.200.000 de ejemplares [Revista de Libros. El Mercurio de Santiago de Chile. 24 de junio de 1990]. Espacio Editorial Iberoamericano. Por iniciativa del CELCIT, trece revistas de teatro de España, Norteamérica y América Latina han creado un Espacio Editorial Iberoamericano que permitirá la puesta al día y el intercambio permanente de información teatral teórica y práctica, a través de la coordinación, convenios, canje, etc. entre 13 publicaciones especializadas a saber: Primer acto, El Público, y Asociación de Directores de Escena de España, Tramoya y Máscara de México; Actuemos de Colombia; Conjunto y Tablas de Cuba; Latin American Theater Review, Diógenes y Gestos de Estados Unidos; Espacio de Argentina y Apuntes de Chile. El convenio contempla además la publicación de un número en conjunto, una vez al año. Este año le corresponde editarlo a la revista colombiana Actuemos. El tema: «El teatro contemporáneo enfrentado a los cambios políticos y sociales del fin del siglo.» Nuevo tomo en publicación hemisférica. El Inventario del Teatro Hispanoamericano, publicación conocida como Escenario de dos mundos, prepara el tercer tomo de su obra, dedicado a la última década teatral; será lanzado en 1992 y complementado con una Antología del teatro latinoamericano contemporáneo. Premios Ollantay 1990. Durante el VII Festival Internacional de Caracas se entregaron los premios Ollantay de este año. De Chile fueron distinguidos el Teatro Imagen que dirige Gustavo Meza y en el rubro publicaciones teatrales la revista Apuntes de la Escuela de Teatro de la Universidad Católica que dirige María de la Luz Hurtado. [ICTUS Informa. Santiago, Chile. Marzo-abril mayo, 1990]. Chile con Carnage. Many Chileans not fortunate enough to escape General Augusto Pinochet's 16-year regime were condemned to fight a cold war. «Internal Exile», a series of films at the Museum of Modern Art and videos at Exit Art, features both documentary and satirical narrative films from Chile that explore the sublimated psyche of a violently repressed people. In semidocumentary fashion, Pablo Perelman's Latent Image (1987) and Tatiana Gaviola's Angels (1988) portray the queasy fear of capture and the reality of torture by Pinochet's thugs. Gonzalo Justiniano's Children of the Cold War (1985) spoofs the complicity of the petit bourgeoisie in the economic fiasco that ultimately brought Pinochet down. Rodrigo Ortuzar's Yesterday's Dream (1989) is a somnambulant meditation on Chile's suffering. Three short films, Juan Carlos Bustamante's Lizard's Tales are passion plays set in the countryside. The program was sponsored by Third World Newsreel [The Village Voice. New York. May 1990]. Inés Dölz-Blackburn University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
First Meeting of Portuguese Intellectuals and
Artists in Brazil On May 21, 1990 there took place an exposition of newspapers, journals, photographs and other documents at the Faculdade De Comunicação Cásper Libero in São Paulo, the first day of the I Encontro De Intelectuais e Artistas Portugueses, do Brasil. On May 26 and 27 at the Museu Da Literatura De São Paulo programs were held, with contributions from such Portuguese residents in Brazil as João Alves das Neves, who presided, João Barcellos, Dalila T. Veras, Francisco Rocha, Alípio Marcelino, A. S. Amora, Francisco Igreja, Carlos K. Couto, Bárbara Virginia, Adelino S. Abreu, Ricardo Ribeiro de Paula, Fernando Durão, Kilza S. C. Lima, and by lecturers from outside Brazil: Professors Salvato Trigo of the University of Oporto, who spoke on «A cultura portuguesa no mundo» and E. C. Knowlton of the University of Hawaii, who spoke on the Portuguese of Hawaii. On May 26 participants attended a play, «Valéria e a Vida» by Sidónio Muralha, performed by the Grupo de Teatro da Casa de Portugal directed by Fernando Muralha, and on May 27 they attended Luiza Sawaya's recital from nineteenth century cancioneiros with piano accompanist, Marina Brandão. The participants signed a manifesto in which they lamented the lack of recognition accorded Portuguese intellectuals and artists in Brazil, and pointed out the urgent need for an inventory of Portuguese works of art in Brazil, neglected on both sides of the Atlantic; the stimulation of cultural events contributing to the identification of these artistic and cultural figures; the initiation of the study of the works of such Portuguese living in Brazil; the assurance that official include such intellectuals and artists in decisions related to Portuguese art, culture, and language in Brazil; the assurance that folklore be presented responsibly, in accordance with the findings of historical research oriented by specialists; the identification of the role played by the Portuguese in Brazil, a task requiring the help of specialists thoroughly familiar with the artistic and cultural panorama of the diaspora, since very often such activity is carried out by individuals not members of Luso-Brazilian cultural organizations; the restoration of the postal agreement between Portugal and Brazil to facilitate less expensive interchange by correspondence. Further, they proposed to unite for a continuation of this activity in a second Encontro, wishing to be numbered among those working for a courageous policy toward the general interests of Lusitanian Culture and Art. The manifesto was to be presented to the President of Portugal on his forthcoming trip to Brazil, and I have been told that the proceedings are to be published through help from the Gulbenkian Foundation. Participants were friendly and the occasion was notable for cheerful harmony. Edgar C. Knowlton, Jr. Honolulu, Hawaii Gold
Museum in Peru a Cache of Incan Treasures LIMA, Peru -Spanish conquistadors made off with most of the Inca empire's treasures, but visitors to Lima's famous Gold Museum can catch a glimpse of ancient Peru's wealth. Peru's gold was so legendary that in colonial times the phrase «vale un Perú» -it's worth a Perú- described great wealth. The Gold Museum has the largest private collection of pre-Columbian gold in Latin America. It belongs to Miguel Mújica, a 79-year-old industrialist who began collecting 40 years ago. Open for 25 years, it now has some 10,000 works of gold, alloyed gold, precious stones and ceramics. The cache represents what little remains from successive civilizations that populated Peru's coastal oases from before the time of Christ until the Spanish invasion -cultures with names like Moche, Nazca and Chimu. Little gold is left from the latter Inca empire, that was centered high in the Andes and stretched from Ecuador to northern Chile until it was conquered in 1532. More than 100 people a day, mostly foreigners, troop through the museum in the basement of a building on Mújica's suburban estate. The visitor is first dazzled by the abundance of gold lining the walls. Closer inspection finds the pieces depict a people whose lives were dominated by violence and servitude. There are figurines of laughing warriors and blank-faced kings, gloves worn by the dead, funeral masks and tumis -odds-haped ceremonial knives with handles shaped like chubby gods. There is clothing woven with gold, a blanket made with overlapping sheets of gold, heavy golden disks worn as earrings and a cumbersome necklace of 21 golden owl heads. «They worked very well in gold and silver, and in gold and platinum alloys, which to this day no one understands how they were achieved», says Victoria Mújica, museum director and the collector's daughter. Most of the artifacts are from tombs of Indian rulers. The tombs were discovered in temples thousands of years old along Peru's north coast. Since the Spanish colonial era, the temples, called «huacas» in the Quechua language of the Incas, have provided a livelihood for looters. «The Spanish considered the huacas as mines to be exploited», says Juan Gunther, a Lima architect and expert on huacas. «For all the riches a Spaniard could find, he paid the king a fifth, just like a mine.» In the last 30 years, laws have been enacted to protect the
relics, but archaeologists say the government doesn't have enough money to
guard the sites, estimated at 30,000. «Most of the pieces leave Peru for
countries where the market is much better for gold», says Victoria
Mújica. Peru's gold has a history of leaving the country. Since 1532,
When Pizarro kidnapped the Incan ruler Atahualpa, he demanded as ransom a roomful of gold and two of silver. Atahualpa's subjects complied with more than sixtons of gold and 13 tons of silver. Atahualpa was killed anyway, and Pizarro moved on to Cuzco, the capital of the Incan empire, where he found even greater treasure. One of Pizarro's men, Pedro de Cieza de León, described the scene on entering the Inca's shrine to the sun: «In the Garden of the Sun everything was made of gold and precious stones -clods of dirt, the ground, the snails and lizards, the grass and plants, the trees with their fruits of gold and silver, butterflies of delicate, sweeping gold work, the great cornfield with leaves, ears and cobs of gold, 20 golden life-size llamas with their young, and shepherds with their staffs, all molded in gold.» [The Hartford Courant, 6/17/90] Richard A. Picerno Central Connecticut State University Museo
Pablo Neruda The Fundación Pablo Neruda in Santiago, Chile recently announced that the Nobel poet's home on the Pacific Ocean has been opened as a museum. After a complete renovation of the site, the Museo Pablo Neruda is accepting visitors, but only on a limited basis. The Fundación operates tours from the capital to Isla Negra some eighty miles away, six times daily from Monday through Friday. Reservations are advisable since each group will be comprised of only eight visitors. Judy Berry-Bravo Wichita State University Churchill and Spain from a Perspective of
Fifty Years In the waning years of the twentieth century when Spain has been accepted as a full partner of the United Nations, of the European Common Market, and of NATO, Churchill's views of Spain in the crucial years of 1936 to 1945 prove most revealing. This is especially true of his reflections on the importance of Spanish non-intervention to the Allied cause during the Second World War. Churchill was appalled by the wave of anarchy and atrocities that culminated in the brutal murder of Monarchist leader José Calvo Sotelo in 1936. He made his feelings very clear when he was presented to the Spanish Republic's Ambassador to London, Pablo de Azcárate. Churchill refused to shake the Spaniard's hand and turned away, livid with anger, muttering, «Blood, blood, blood.» In 1938, however, Churchill had become some what more sympathetic to the Republic and during a dinner at the Soviet Embassy was even persuaded to have an amicable conversation with this same Azcárate. This softening of Churchill's attitude has been attributed to the influence of his son-in-law, Duncan Sandys. Anglo-Spanish relations became very tense after the deliberate bombing of a number of British ships in Spanish ports by Italian aircraft based in Majorca. At this point of time almost all sea borne trade with Republican Spain was carried by British vessels. Churchill denounced these bombings in Parliament: «I think it can be safely said to General Franco, "If there is any more of this we shall arrest one of your ships on the open sea."» Writing in The Gathering Storm, Churchill comments on the Spanish struggle:
That Churchill sympathized with Franco seems obvious from a conversation with the Soviet Ambassador to England, Ivan Maisky, in 1939:
Churchill was aware and appreciative of the importance of Spain's neutrality. Addressing Parliament in May, 1944, he stated:
About his personal feelings toward Franco, Churchill commented to Roosevelt on June 4,1944: «I do not care about Franco but I do not wish to have the Iberian Peninsula hostile to the British after the war... I do not know whether there is more freedom in Stalinist Russia than in Franco's Spain. I have no intention to seek a quarrel with either.» Confident that Spain would resist the Germans, Churchill wrote to Lord Ismay on April 18, 1943, that «plans should be brought up to date for an Anglo-American intervention.» So contingency plans had been prepared to earmark six Allied divisions to help Spain if Hitler attacked. In 1943, Allied bungling caused friction in the relations between Churchill and Roosevelt over what has been termed the «Wolfram Crisis.» The whole situation could have been prevented by consultation with their ambassadors in Madrid, the American Hayes and the British Hoare. Throughout the war Spain had maintained a strict neutrality
in trade. Franco would do business with any country except the Soviet Union.
Goods and raw materials went to the highest bidder. The Americans decided that
they were paying too high a price for a precious war material, wolfram, just to
keep it from being sold to the Germans. Britain had only a minor interest in
wolfram; in fact, they reminded Washington that Germans were also buying it
from Portugal. In spite of Hoare's pleas and warnings that in dealing with the
Spaniards «direct threats and particularly direct public threats were
at all costs to be avoided», Washington decided to cut off all oil
supplies to Spain as long as a single ton of wolfram was sold to Germany.
Unfortunately, the matter was leaked to the press both in the United States and
in Great Britain. It became immediate front page news and stirred up a strong
wave of anti-Spanish sentiment in both countries.
Of the Allied leaders, Franco considered Churchill the most reasonable and the most likely to accept his presence on the international scene without hostility. Churchill's speech in May, 1944, praising Spanish non-intervention inspired Franco to write him a letter in October, 1944, which was delivered through the Duke of Alba. Franco complained about his bad treatment in the British press and media and warned that Europe was about to face her most dangerous enemy, Communist Russia, and he advocated his country as the one that, with Britain, could best battle the enemy. In 1944 Churchill was still deeply involved with the war effort. He had no choice but to remind Franco of the Anglo-Russian Alliance and of Franco's breaches of neutrality in favor of the Axis powers. He agreed that future Anglo-Spanish friend ship was to be desired but warned Franco bluntly that Spain would not likely be invited to participate in peace settlements or to join future world organizations. Predictably, Spain was excluded from the United Nations until 1955. In the House of Commons on December 10, 1948, Churchill summed up the Spanish situation well, though he personally had never been to Spain:
In conclusion, there was an important relation ship between Churchill and Spain which history never fully seems to capture. If by any imaginative projection, Churchill could address the Cortes in contemporary, democratic Spain, his message to King Juan Carlos I and the brave, ever-resilient Spanish people might very well be a familiar one:
Works cited Bolloten, Burnett. The Spanish Revolution: The Left and the Struggle for Power During the Civil War. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1978. Churchill, Winston S. The Second World War. 6 vols. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1948-53. Gilbert, Martin. Winston S. Churchill. Vol. VI. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1983. Hills, George. Franco: The Man and His Nation. New York: Macmillan Company, 1967. Maisky, Ivan. Spanish Notebooks. London: Hutchinson and Co., Ltd., 1966. Parliamentary Debates. Vol. 337. 21 June 1938. Premier Papers. 3/468, Folios 27-28. 23 November 1940. Thomas, Hugh. The Spanish Civil War. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1961. Sister Marie G. Scanlon, S.S.J. Archbishop Ryan High School, Philadelphia El Instituto Cervantes fomentará el
español en el mundo Con la creación del Instituto Cervantes, España funda una institución similar a las de otros países europeos tales como la Alliance Française y el Goethe Institut. El 11 de mayo de 1990, el Consejo de Ministros acordó remitir el proyecto de ley a las Cortes. El Instituto Cervantes está adscrito al ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores y coordinará las actuaciones de Asuntos Exteriores, Educación y Ciencia, Cultura, y Economía y Hacienda. Su misión será «la promoción y difusión del español.» El español es lengua oficial de 21 países y es hablado por 320 millones de personas. Hay mucha demanda de instrucción del idioma español en Estados Unidos, Europa y Japón, e interesa también en otras zonas de Asia y en África. El Instituto Cervantes unificará los centros de enseñanza del español en el extranjero ahora de pendientes de Asuntos Exteriores y de Educación y Ciencia. Luis Yáñez, el secretario español de Estado para la Cooperación Internacional, y Graeme Davies, el rector de la universidad de Liverpool, firmaron en abril un convenio para establecer en dicha ciudad el primer centro de la red internacional del Instituto. En el centro de Liverpool se enseñará lengua y cultura española. Se proporcionarán diplomas de español para alumnos extranjeros en conformidad con el Programa Lingua, de la Comunidad Europea. Dentro del programa Erasmus se calificará a los aspirantes a estudiar en las universidades españolas. Aunque el 80% de los estudiantes españoles estudian inglés, sólo el 2.5% de los británicos aprenden español. La situación es muy diferente en Estados Unidos donde hay zonas bilingües y el español crece junto con la comunidad hispana. A pesar de la extensión del español en Estados Unidos, según el reportero Miguel Bayón, «ni en Florida, California o Harlem los hispanos hablan una lengua homologable en cualquier rincón de España o en los informativos que actualmente emite Televisión Española.» Lo que, en las palabras de Bayón, «constituye un desafío para una iniciativa como el Instituto Cervantes, que tendrá que competir con el Spanglish y otros híbridos» [El País, 14 de mayo de 1990] Karen Steadman Gonzales High School, Gonzales, CA
Remarks by the President of the
United States on the Enterprise for Americas Address
The East Room The White House The president: Thank you all very much for coming to the White House. And it is my pleasure to welcome so many distinguished guests with such strong interests in the vital Latin American and Caribbean region. In the past 12 months every one of us, from the men in the White House to the man on the street, has been fascinated by the tremendous changes, the positive changes taking place around the world. Freedom has made great gains, not just in Eastern Europe, but right here in the Americas. And we've seen a resurgence of democratic rule, a rising tide of democracy never before witnessed in the history of this beloved hemisphere. And with one exception, Cuba, the transition to democracy is moving towards completion And we can all sense the excitement that the day is not far off when Cuba joins the ranks of world democracies and makes the Americas fully free. With one exception, that's the case. But the political transformation sweeping the rest of Latin America and the Caribbean has its parallel in the economic sphere. Throughout the region nations are turning away from the statist economic policies that stifle growth and are now looking to the power of the free market to help this hemisphere realize its untapped potential for progress. A new leader ship has emerged backed by the strength of the people's mandate. Leadership that understands that the future of Latin America lies with free government and free markets. In the words of Colombia's courageous leader, Virgilio Barco-President Barco: «The long-running match between Karl Marx and Adam Smith is finally coming to an end» with the «recognition that open economies with access to markets can lead to social progress.» For the United States, these are welcome developments. Developments that we're eager to support. But we recognize that each nation in the region must make its own choices. There is no blueprint, no one size fits all approach to reform. The primary responsibility for achieving economic growth lies with each individual country. Our challenge in this country is to respond in ways that support the positive changes now taking place in the hemisphere. We must forge a genuine partner ship for free market reform. Back in February, I met in Cartagena with heads of the three Andean nations. And I came away from that meeting convinced that the U.S. must review its approach not only to that region, but to Latin America and the Caribbean as a whole. And I asked Treasury Secretary Brady to lead a review of U.S. economic policy towards this vital region, to make a fresh assessment, if you will, of the problems and opportunities we'll encounter in the decade ahead. And that review is now complete, and the results are in. And the need for new economic initiatives is clear and compelling. All signs point to the fact that we must shift the focus of our economic interaction towards a new economic partnership because prosperity in our hemisphere depends on trade, not aid. And I've asked you here today to share with you some of the ideas, some of the ways we can build a broad-based partnership for the '90s -to announce the new Enterprise for the Americas Initiative that creates incentives to reinforce Latin America's growing recognition that free market reform is the key to sustained growth and political stability. The three pillars of our new Initiative are trade, investment and debt. To expand trade, I propose that we begin the process of creating a hemisphere wide free trade zone; to increase investment that we adopt measures to create a new flow of capital into the region; and to further ease the debt -the burden of debt- a new approach to debt in the region with important benefits for our environment. Let's begin with trade. In the 1980s, trade within our hemisphere trailed the overall pace of growth in world trade. One principal reason for that, over restrictive trade barriers that wall off the economies of our region from each other, and from the United States, at great cost to us all. These barriers are the legacy of the misguided notion that a nation's economy needs protection in order to thrive. The great economic lesson of this century is that protectionism still stifles progress and free markets breed prosperity. To this end, we've formulated a three-point trade plan to encourage the emerging trend toward free market reform, and that are now gathering forces in the Americas. First, as we enter the final months of the current Uruguay round of the world trade talks, I pledge close cooperation with the nations of this hemisphere. The successful completion of the Uruguay round remains the most effective way of promoting long-term trade growth in Latin America and the increased integration of Latin nations into the over all global trading system. Our aim in the Uruguay round is free and fair trade. And through these talks we are seeking to strengthen existing trade rules and to expand them to areas that do not now have agreed rules of fair play. And to show our commitment to our neighbors in Latin America and the Caribbean, we will seek deeper tariff reductions in this round on products of special interest to them. Second, we must build on the trend we see toward free
markets, and make our ultimate aim a free trade system that links all of the
Americas: North, Central and South. And we look forward to the day when not
only are the Americas the first
I'm announcing today that the U. S. stands ready to enter into free trade agreements with other markets in Latin America and the Caribbean, particularly with groups of countries that have associated for purposes of trade liberalization. And the first step in this process is the now-announced free trade agreement with Mexico. We must all recognize that we won't bring down barriers to free trade overnight; changes so far-reaching may take years of preparation and tough negotiations. But the payoff in terms of prosperity is worth every effort. And now is the time to make a comprehensive free trade zone for the Americas our long-term goal. And third, I understand that some countries aren't yet ready to take that dramatic step to a full free trade agreement. And that's why we're prepared to negotiate with any interested nation in the region bilateral framework agreements to open markets and develop closer trade ties. Such agreements already exist with Mexico and Bolivia. Framework agreements will enable us to move for ward on a step-by-step basis to eliminate counter productive barriers to trade and towards our ultimate goal of free trade. And that's a prescription for greater growth and a higher standard of living in Latin America; and right here at home, new markets for American products and more jobs for American workers. Promoting free trade is just one of three key elements in our new Enterprise for the Americas Initiative. And the second, our second pillar is in creased investment. The competition for capital today is fierce. And the key -the key to increased investment is to be competitive, to turn around the conditions that have discouraged both foreign and domestic investment. Reduce the regulatory burden. Clear away the thicket of bureaucratic barriers that choke off Latin America's aspiring entrepreneurs. In one large Latin city, for instance, it takes almost 300 days to cut through the red tape to open a small garment shop. In another country, the average overseas caller has to make five phone calls to get through; and the wait for a new telephone line can be as long as five years -and that's got to change. Investment reform is essential to make it easier to start new business ventures and make it possible for international investors to participate and profit in Latin American markets. In order to create incentives for investment reform, the United States is prepared to take the following steps: First, the United States will work with the Inter-American Development Bank to create a new lending program for nations that take significant steps to re move impediments to international investment. The World Bank could also contribute to this effort. And second, we propose the creation of a new investment fund for the Americas. This fund, ad ministered by the IDB, could provide up to $300 million a year in grants in response to market oriented investment reforms in progress in privatization. The U.S. intends to contribute $100 million to the fund, and we will seek matching contributions from Europe and Japan. But in order to create an attractive climate for new investment, we must build on our successful efforts to ease the debt burden. That's the third pillar of this new Enterprise for the Americas Initiative. Many nations have already undertaken painful economic reforms for the sake of future growth. But the investment climate remains clouded, weighted down by the heavy debt burden. Under the Brady Plan, we are making significant progress. The agreements reached with Mexico and Costa Rica and Venezuela are already having a positive impact on investment in those countries. Mexico, to take just one example, has already seen a reversal of the destructive capital flight that drained so many Latin American nations of precious investment resources. That's critical. If we restore confidence, capital will follow. As one means of expanding our debt strategy we propose that the IDB add its efforts and resources to those of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to support commercial bank debt reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean and, as in the case of World Bank and IMF, IDB funds should be directly linked to economic reform. While the Brady Plan has helped nations reduce commercial bank debt for nations with high levels of official debt -debt owed to governments rather than private financial institutions- the burden remains heavy. And today, across Latin America, official debt owed to the U.S. government amounts to nearly $12 billion, with $7 billion of that amount in concessional loans. And in many cases, the heaviest official debt burdens fall on some of the region's smallest nations. Countries like Honduras and El Salvador and Jamaica. That's a problem we must address today. As the key component in addressing the regions debt problem, I am proposing a major new initiative to reduce Latin America and the Caribbeans' official debt to the United States for countries that adopt strong economic and investment reform programs with the support of international institutions. Our debt reduction program will deal separately with concessional and commercial types of loans. On the concessional debt, loans made from aid or food for peace accounts, we will propose substantial debt reductions for the most heavily burdened countries. And we will also sell a portion of out standing commercial loans to facilitate these debt for -equity and debt-for-nature swaps in countries that have set up such programs.
These actions will be taken on a case-by-case basis. One measure of prosperity in the most important long-term investment any nation can make is environmental well-being. As part of our Enterprise for the Americas Initiative, we will take action to strengthen environmental policies in this hemisphere. Debt-for-nature swaps are one example -patterned after the innovative agreements reached by some Latin American nations and their commercial creditors. We will also call for the creation of environmental trusts, where interest payments owed on restructured U.S. debt will be paid in local currency and set aside to fund environmental projects in the debtor countries. These innovative agreements offer a powerful new tool for preserving the natural wonders of this hemisphere that we share. From the vistas of the unspoiled Arctic, to the beauties of the barrier reef off Belize, to the rich rain forests of the Amazons, we must protect this living legacy that we hold in trust. For an increasing number of our neighbors, the need for free market reform is clear. These nations need economic breathing room to enact bold reforms. And this official debt initiative is one answer. A way out from under the crushing burden of debt that slows the process of reform. I know there is some concern that the revolutionary changes we've witnessed this past year in Eastern Europe will shift our attention away from Latin America. But I want to assure all of you here today, as I've assured many democratic leaders in Central and South America and the Caribbean, and Mexico, the United States will not lose sight of the tremendous challenges and opportunities right here in our own hemisphere. And indeed, as we talk with the leaders of the G-24 about the emerging democracies in Europe -I've been talking to them also about their supporting democracy and economic freedom in Central America. Our aim is a closer partnership between the Americas and our friends in Europe and in Asia. Two years from now, our hemisphere will celebrate the 500th anniversary of an epic event, Columbus's discovery of America, our New World. And we trace our origins, our shared history to the time of Columbus's voyage and the courageous quest for the advancement of man. Today, the bonds of our common heritage are strengthened by the love of freedom and a common commitment to democracy. Our challenge, the challenge in this new era of the Americas is to secure this shared dream and all its fruits for all the people of the Americas-North, Central and South. The comprehensive plan that I've just outlined is proof positive the United States is serious about forging a new partnership with our Latin American and Caribbean neighbors. We're ready to play a constructive role at this critical time to make ours the first fully free hemisphere in all of history. Thank you all for coming and God bless the peoples of the Americas. Thank you very, very much, in deed. ¿Dónde fue el primer
Thanksgiving? El recién descubierto hecho de que unos colonos españoles fueran los primeros en celebrar el día de acción de gracias en suelo estadounidense, 23 años antes de que los puritanos ingleses celebrasen el suyo, promete ser un punto contencioso en los años venideros cuando el hecho esté mejor divulgado. El pensar que el primer Thanksgiving fuera en la soleada tierra texanohispana con misa católica en lugar del lúgubre Massachusetts con puritanos ingleses no puede menos que ocasionar una controversia étnicorreligiosa en este país en donde a millones les gusta imaginar que sus antepasados llegaran en el Flor de Mayo o Mayflower. En un artículo expedido por la Prensa Unida y aparecido en el Houston Chronicle (1 mayo 1989) bajo el título de «Tiny Town Claims First Thanksgiving», leemos:
David Ross Gerling Sam Houston State University Se alaba la labor de los profesores en
ABC Son muchos, miles quizá. Proceden de muy diversos países, hispanoamericanos en su mayoría: Argentina, Venezuela, Chile, Cuba, El Ecuador... Algunos, en la nostalgia de un forzado exilio. Diseminados por la inmensa geografía de los Estados Unidos. Adscritos, en sus diversos rangos académicos, a los departamentos de Lenguas Extranjeras de sus universidades y Colleges públicos o privados. Dedicados a la enseñanza de nuestro idioma, nuestra literatura, nuestra civilización. Desconocidos propagadores de la cultura española, con la que se sienten plenamente identificados, en un medio difícil y, en ocasiones, hostil. Por mis giras de conferencias sobre poesía contemporánea tengo frecuente contacto con muchos de estos profesores. Los veo en Texas, en Nevada, en Oregón, en California..., leyendo versos de San Juan de la Cruz o de José Hierro, comentando obras de Buero, novelas de Cela o de Miró, describiendo la catedral de Burgos, explicando los vericuetos del cante jondo, hablando de Velázquez, de Gaudí, del paisaje castellano, del Misterio de Elche... Desconocidos e ignorados. Porque ¿qué reciben de nosotros quienes tanto se esfuerzan por la difusión de nuestra cultura? ¿Cómo se agradece, o se reconoce, o se premia, su magnífica labor? Se me dirá que no hacen otra cosa que ganarse la vida, ejercer su profesión. Pero hacen más, mucho más. Porque sienten lo español como cosa propia y así saben transmitirlo a sus alumnos. De una forma entusiasta, viva, dinámica. Sin concesiones a la rutina o al cumplir por cumplir (impensables, por otra parte, en el sistema universitario norteamericano). Con la necesidad, y el deseo, de estar al día, mantener relaciones, recibir noticias, conocer las últimas novedades culturales y artísticas de nuestro país. Y desde aquí, el silencio. ¿Para qué preocuparse si ellos van a seguir, como siempre, dando a conocer nuestros valores, levantando vocaciones hispanistas, inculcando amor a todo lo que es y representa España? Me parece injusto, y me duele, este abandono. Como me parece injusto -y peligroso- el abandono oficial que nuestra cultura, y especialmente la literaria, tiene en el exterior. De acuerdo con las grandes exposiciones, los programas de conciertos, las muestras teatrales, los ciclos cinematográficos. Pero todo ello son acontecimientos fugaces y momentáneos: escaparates a fecha fija que pueden hacer impacto -no siempre-, pero después se olvidan. Diferente, pero más penetrante que esos «flashes» pasajeros, es la labor callada, día a día, semestre a semestre, que llevan a cabo estos profesores. Aunque su actividad no tenga una repercusión pública ni cubra objetivo político alguno; aunque no añada lauros a organizadores, directores ni coordinadores. Pero dejan una huella duradera con su cotidiano quehacer. Cuando tanto dinero se derrocha en nimiedades pseudoartísticas o en manifestaciones contraculturales en aras de una pretendida modernidad, ¿no habría forma de hacer algo serio y útil por estos profesores? Algún sistema de becas, intercambios, viajes, cursillos, reciclajes, suministro de libros, suscripciones a revistas... Sí, ya sabemos que sus Universidades, generalmente bien dotadas, les remuneran por su trabajo. Pero con ello sólo se compensa su labor docente, su continuidad. El entusiasmo, la formación de una adicta «clientela cultural» el saber sembrar un profundo interés y un admirativo aprecio por todo lo español, bien merece una atención por nuestra parte. Me parece que no la tienen, o que la tienen de una manera aislada y raquítica. Y es una lástima -también una falta de previsión- que no sepamos ser generosos con quienes tanto saben de generosidad. [Antonio Porpetta, ABC, 27 de abril de 1990] Ruth L. Bennett Queens College, CUNY José Durand (1925-1990) José Durand Flores was born in Lima, Perú, December 22, 1925, and there he died this last summer vacation, on July 1st, in his sixty-fourth year. A limeño by birth, by breeding, and in death. We were friends for thirty-six of those years, and I mourn
his death as a personal and private grief; and I also mourn his loss as a
member of his Department and his University, and as a coworker on Hispanic
letters and culture. We all are
Pepe belonged to a distinguished Peruvian family. He never made a point of it, rather -with irreverent humor-, he liked to recall one particular ancestor not so much for his being a signer of the Act of Independence of Perú in 1821, but be cause in his old age he had taken up, out of wedlock, with a beautiful young woman; or yet another, the civilian caudillo Augusto Durand, not so much for his political ideas but because on several occasions he had given the Army a run for its money. Pepe loved to embroider upon the unconventional deeds of those illustrious forebears. He received the best education available in private elementary and secondary schools in his native city. The childhood experience of his father's political exile, when the family spent some time in Spain, at Barcelona, should also be counted, I believe, as a part of an education. Later, he was awarded his diploma of Licenciado en Letras at the University of San Marcos of Lima, in 1942, and in 1949 his degree of Doctor en Filosofía at the same institution. He soon joined the academic fraternity of wandering scholars which religious, political or economic crises have revived in our century: from 1947 to 1953 he was mainly in Mexico, from 1953 to 1961 he was back in Lima, from 1961 to 1968 he resided in France, and from 1968 to 1990 in the United States. His years in Mexico were fundamental in his scholarly development. He went there to study at El Colegio de México, under the aegis of Alfonso Reyes, José Gaos, Agustín Millares Carlo, Amado Alonso, Raimundo Lida. The students were, among others, Durand himself, Margit Frenk, Ernesto Mejía Sánchez, Antonio Alatorre, all of whom were to become stars of the first magnitude in our field. It was Raimundo Lida who set Pepe to reading León Hebreo's neoplatonic Dialoghi d'Amore in the superb Spanish translation by the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega; and Durand was forever more caught in the Inca's spell. His work on Garcilaso -some forty items in Pepe's bibliography- made him (after the death of Raúl Porras Barrenechea) the leading scholar on the Inca. The collection of sixteenth- and seventeenth- century books in Pepe's private library is a bibliophile's delight, and envy. And how a man who was almost blind in one eye and quite impaired in the other could see and find a rare item among lots of plain material approached the miraculous. Let me recall a splendid example of his special kind of bibliophile's «nose.» The Gazeta de Lima was the most important and long-lived quasi-official periodical of the vice-royalty of Perú. Until recently all we knew of it were a few issues extant in the John Carter Brown Library, which published them long ago; a few more owned and published by Ella Dunbar Temple; a few again in Raúl Porras's library; some others scattered here and there. Pepe managed to discover unknown runs of full years of the Gazeta, and published in three thick volumes those for 1756-62, 1762-65, and 1793-94; a great service to history. Unfortunately he has left, prepared for publication, a number of other years, yet to be published. It is to be hoped that, in spite of the grave economic crisis in Peru, this important project may yet be completed. It was in Mexico that he began his teaching career, at Mexico City College and at the UNAM (1949-52), followed by a series of appointments, often concurrent, at the Central Normal School, at San Marcos, and at the Catholic University, in Lima (1953-60); then in France, at the Faculté des Lettres first of Aix-en-Provence and then of Toulouse (1961-67). When he was offered a professorship at the University of Michigan, we brought him to Berkeley as a visiting Professor for the Spring of 1968, between the end of his contract at Toulouse and his going to Ann Arbor. He was at Michigan from the fall of 1968 to 1975, when he came to our University as a Professor of Spanish. He also had numerous visiting appointments and a Guggenheim Fellowship. It isn't only his work on the Inca Garcilaso that brought him international recognition. He also published important studies on Gómara, Ercilla, Oña, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, on the history of ideas, on the social and cultural conditions in the Indies and in Spain. Nor did he neglect such contemporary writers as Miguel Ángel Asturias, Julio Cortázar, Octavio Paz, Augusto Monterroso, and José Emilio Pacheco. Durand was also a first-rate creative writer. His first book, Ocaso de sirenas, published in Mexico in 1950 (reprinted, much revised and augmented in 1983), is a rare combination of erudition and creativity. In it, Pepe took as his springboard pas sages from chroniclers, historians, and travelers in the Indies which dealt with the sea-cow and other similar animals sometimes mistaken for the classical Sirens. His commentaries on these tales are de lightful. His last book, Desvariante (México, 1987) constitutes his testament in creative, pure literature. It includes eleven stories, most written in Mexico in the late forties and early fifties. I am glad that he could, these last two years, read the reviews of his Desvariante, praising the book, justly judging that José Durand belongs to that group of best Spanish-American short-story writers, with Borges, Cortázar, Arreola, and Bryce Echenique. Another fulfillment of his was his close relation ship with
his son, Carlos. Father and son were in tune with each other, respecting each
other's ways, thinking, and emotions; so companionable. As Carlos knows, as
Pepe's friends know, he was more than a dedicated writer, a self-demanding
scholar, an intellectual. He was fun; a lover of good conversation and good
cuisine; as happy as a percussionist
I have no hesitation in stating that José Durand's work on Hispanic letters and culture -with its bibliographic, biographic, and historical precision; its thorough erudition on texts and contexts; its critical discernment-, is a paradigm against which all of us who work in the Hispanic field might well, in our conscience, measure the quality and value of our own endeavors. This may be the most precious lesson that José Durand gave us in life and bestowed on us with his memory. [Edited text of words said at the Memorial Convocation in honor of Professor José Durand at the University of California, Berkeley, Sept. 28,1990] Luis Monguió University of California-Berkeley, Emeritus Artists and Authors
Entrevista
con José María Merino, Director del Centro de las Letras
Españolas, junio de 1989 El Centro de Las Letras Españolas, integrado en la Dirección General del Libro y Bibliotecas dentro del Ministerio de Cultura de España, fue creado por Decreto Real en 1985. Puesto que varias de las actividades relacionadas con el Centro encierran gran interés para los profesores de español en Estados Unidos, le pregunté al Director del Centro, el Sr. D. José María Merino, si me podía conceder una entrevista para explicar más en detalle la estructura del Centro de las Letras Españolas, sus competencias y sus proyectos para, entre otras cosas, difundir la literatura española en Estados Unidos y otros lugares del extranjero. El Sr. Merino, quien accedió con toda amabilidad a mi petición, me recibió en su amplio y cómodo despacho, bien provisto de libros y revistas como era de esperar, en la sede del Ministerio de Cultura, situada en la madrileña Plaza del Rey, complejo que, al combinar lo más moderno con lo antiguo, es emblemático de la actualidad cultural de la España de hoy. Destacan a la vez la vitalidad y el genio innovador que caracterizan a la creación artística contemporánea, además de -en vísperas del Quinto Centenario- el afán por reconocer, rescatar y difundir el valiosísimo legado del pasado. El Sr. Merino, quien se mostró en todo momento sumamente servicial y atento a mis preguntas y provisto de abundante documentación para ilustrar y complementar su explicación, se explayó con entusiasmo sobre las actividades que lleva a cabo el Centro señalando lo que se podían considerar como las dos vertientes principales que encabezan esas actividades -la de promoción de la creación literaria a través de la ayuda a autores y a traductores; y la de difusión de las letras españolas dentro de España como también en el extranjero. En esta última se integran dos líneas nuevas: el contacto de los lectores con autores españoles; y la difusión de libros, a través de varias publicaciones nuevas patrocinadas por el Centro de las Letras Españolas. Sigue una breve explicación de las actividades más significativas. En su función de alentar y reconocer la tarea de la creación literaria, el Centro se encarga de la convocatoria anual de premios tales como el Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas; el Premio Nacional de Literatura en las modalidades de Poesía, Narrativa y Ensayo; Premios a la Literatura Infantil y juvenil en las modalidades de Creación y de Traducción; y sin duda el más prestigioso y el más conocido fuera de España, el Premio Cervantes, iniciado en 1976. También existe el Premio Nacional de Traducción, de relativamente reciente creación (1984), en dos modalidades -la que premia la mejor traducción al castellano del año anterior y la que reconoce la obra de un traductor en su totalidad y que puede ser de una lengua extranjera al castellano, como también del castellano a una lengua extranjera. El Sr. Merino añadió que ahora existen ayudas a las editoriales extranjeras para cubrir los gastos de traducción de obras literarias o científicas de autores españoles -una novedad que encierra gran interés para los especialistas o aficionados a la literatura española en el extranjero. La difusión de la literatura española a nivel nacional e internacional se hace mediante exposiciones, publicaciones, encuentros literarios y el apoyo a instituciones. En cuanto a exposiciones, a partir de 1987 se empieza a llevar a cabo en la Biblioteca Nacional y en la fecha de la entrega del Premio Cervantes, una exposición dedicada a la vida y la obra del autor galardonado ese año con dicho Premio. En 1987 se inicia también una exposición que tendrá lugar cada otoño, también en la Biblioteca Nacional, dedicada a la vida y obra del ganador del Premio Nacional de las Letras Españolas de ese año. De las exposiciones en el extranjero destaca la titulada «Libros de España: diez años de creación y pensamiento» que tuvo lugar en el Centro Georges Pompidou de París en la primavera de 1988. La exposición, que contaba con 2,000 libros españoles, fue acompañada de un catálogo en lengua francesa con artículos sobre los fenómenos más destacados de la actividad intelectual española en el período propuesto y que versaban, entre otras cosas, sobre: literatura, arte, antropología, psicología, sociología, derecho, pensamiento económico, biología y genética. La misma exposición fue presentada en forma reducida en Moscú en otoño de 1988. Quizá una de las actividades del Centro de las Letras Españolas que encierra más interés para profesores de literatura española en el extranjero la constituyen las publicaciones que, bajo la coordinación administrativa del Centro de las Letras Españolas, coedita el Ministerio de Cultura con diversas editoriales. Han aparecido ya dos volúmenes del anuario Letras Españolas, una publicación anual coeditada con la editorial Castalia, que incluye referencias a todo libro aparecido ese año dentro del campo de las letras españolas -novela, poesía, ensayo, teatro, crítica literaria y literaturas regionales- además de artículos por especialistas en los diversos campos. El primer volumen abarca la década 1976-1986, el segundo el año 1987 y el tomo dedicado a 1988 aparecerá próximamente. Otra publicación de gran utilidad para profesores de
literatura española e hispanoamericana es la serie que se empezó
a publicar en 1987 en la Colección Ámbitos Literarios, una
coedición del Ministerio de Cultura y la Editorial Anthropos, que dedica
un tomo a cada uno de los autores galardonados con el Premio Cervantes. Cada
Otras colecciones de interés son la Colección Encuentros, coeditada con Cátedra y que publica libros que recogen contribuciones de los participantes en encuentros literarios patrocinados por la Dirección General del Libro y Bibliotecas y que versan sobre autores o hechos y fenómenos literarios. El primer volumen: Estudios sobre «Los pazos de Ulloa» reúne colaboraciones de varios especialistas sobre la famosa novela de Emita Pardo Bazán con motivo del centenario de la obra. La Colección de Poesía Bilingüe, coeditada con la Editorial Visor, surge del deseo de ampliar el número de lectores de poesía escrita en otras lenguas del Estado español. Han aparecido Hierba aquí o allá (Herbe aqui o acolá) del gallego Álvaro Casqueiro y Corazón salvaje (Salvatge cor) del catalán Carles Riba. El Sr. Merino señaló además la reciente aparición de la revista bimestral patrocinada por la Dirección General del Libro y Bibliotecas: Prólogo: Revista del lector. Como reza la autodescripción que encabeza el primer número (febrero de 1989), esta publicación «quiere servir de antecedente informativo a los libros españoles y de primer bocado a los lectores que, fuera de nuestras fronteras, aman o se interesan por los libros editados en nuestro país y por los autores que escriben en nuestra lengua.» Además de presentar artículos sobre distintos aspectos y personalidades dentro del mundo de las letras españolas, cada número incluye fragmentos de creación literaria y reseñas, además de una lista de todas las publicaciones españolas aparecidas recientemente. Para más información de cómo subscribirse a la revista se puede escribir al Director: Sr. D. Miguel Navarro/Torre de Babel, S.A./Agencia de Servicios Editoriales y Periodísticos/Bailén 39128005 Madrid. En cuanto a la difusión de personas a la que se refirió al principio de este informe, el Centro de las Letras Españolas alienta el contacto de autores con estudiantes, especialistas y demás lectores al patrocinar encuentros con escritores en centros docentes y culturales dentro de España. El Sr. Merino me habló sobre otra novedad adoptada por el Centro y cuya noticia será recibida con máximo agrado y entusiasmo por profesores y estudiantes del español en Estadas Unidos; se refirió al proyecto de mandar a escritores españoles para asistir a importantes Congresos de literatura en Estadas Unidos. Para el año 1988 se coordinó la asistencia de las autoras Lourdes Ortiz, Carmen Riera, Clara Janés y Pilar Pedraza al Congreso de la AATSP (American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese) en agosto; la de Juan Pedro Aparicio, Antonio Muñoz Molina y Julián Ríos, entre otros, al Mid-American Conference on Hispanic Literature en noviembre y la participación de Montserrat Roig, José María Guelbenzu y Álvaro Pombo, entre otros, en el Congreso de MLA (Modern Language Association) en diciembre. El Sr. Merino se despidió afirmando que aunque, debido en parte a su reciente creación, el Centro aún carece de personal, de material y de fondos necesarios, no faltan ni buenas ideas ni el afán de llevarlas a cabo con el fin de difundir las letras españolas en el mundo. Quizá el ahínco con que José María Merino se entrega a su tarea tenga sus orígenes en su propia naturaleza de escritor -además de ser poeta es autor de varias novelas, entre ellas la premiada Novela de Andrés Choz (1976), El caldero de oro (1981) y, más recientemente, La orilla oscura (1985). Cabe recordar aquí que el actual Ministro de Cultura, Jorge Semprún, nombrado hace poco más de un año, es también un destacado escritor, cuya carrera combina la faceta de novelista -es autor de obras en francés y español- con la de guionista de cine. Al tener la oportunidad de contemplar el panorama que ofrece la España de hoy y al conocer los proyectos culturales que ahí se idean y se promueven y al dialogar con las personas encargadas de dirigirlas y llevarlas a cabo, los que se esfuerzan por difundir las letras españolas fuera de España no pueden menos que sentirse alentados. Francisca González-Arias Saint Anselm College Entrevista con el poeta José Luis
Crespo José Luis Crespo, aragonés (1932). Premio Rabindranath Tagore por su libro de poemas La palabra reflejada (1984), es además autor de los siguientes poemarios: En el vientre de los peces (1983), La mirada y el vértice (1986), Tiempo horizontal (1987) y Espirales (1989). Su vocación artística se inicia con la pintura, obtuvo la Medalla de Oro Complutense (1960) y el Primer Premio del VI Certamen de la Agrupación de Acuarelistas Españoles (1979). Reside los inviernos en Madrid y el resto del año, escribiendo y pintando, en San José, Almería. La siguiente entrevista que tuvo lugar e125 de julio de 1989 en San José, se concentra en su último libro publicado, Espirales.
Gioconda Marún Fordham University 
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