La Jornada: Nearly 50 thousand people offered their voice and gave life to Pedro Páramo

Guadalajara, Jal., As “a song of love for the land”, but also a claim for it, “which is still so hurt”, Juan Carlos Rulfo described the work Pedro Paramo, written by his father, Juan Rulfo, at the beginning of the reading marathon of that novel that, on the occasion of World Book Day, brought together at least 50 thousand people who offered their voice in different venues in the state of Jalisco.

“I call on you to hug each other, to love each other, to not think that the good is outside, but that it is in you, here. I hope you take it to your hearts,” he expressed before public officials, universities and students.

“I would be satisfied”

At the headquarters of the reading aloud marathon, on the esplanade of the rectory building of the University of Guadalajara (UdeG), hundreds of people read in relays Pedro Paramo, What Pablo Rulfo, also the son of the Jalisco author, stated would have moved his father as much as him, and “he could, surely, be satisfied to be here with you, in his beloved state that influenced the creation of his work.”

The reading was opened by the writer and translator Anisuz Zaman, who recently translated Pedro Paramo into the Bengali language (also known as Bangla), after successfully making the translation of One hundred years of loneliness, by Gabriel García Márquez, into the language of that densely populated Asian country.

“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to translate this great book of so few pages, but which is so enormous. The honor goes to me and the Bangla language, which is spoken by more than 200 million people,” said Zaman, born in Bangladesh and living in Mexico for years.

The president of the Guadalajara International Book Fair (FIL), Trinidad Padilla López, linked the reading aloud marathon to the beginning of the celebrations for the 40 years of the literary event, which also coincide with the four decades since Rulfo’s death.

“Read today Pedro Paramo It transcends the literary exercise to become an act of memory. More than writing a novel, Rulfo captured the soul of Mexico: its silence, resentments and hopes,” he said during the opening of the marathon.

Marisol Schulz, director of the FIL, thanked the RM label for the donation of the books that were given – along with a red rose – to the marathon participants, and recalled that there are a large number of venues that served as a setting to evoke Rulf’s work.

The second location of the reading aloud marathon was the Juan José Arreola Public Library of the State of Jalisco, where copies were also given to visitors, in what was called Río de Libros, and which included the screening of films and the creation of object art, activities that will remain open for a week.

Another venue was the patio of the UdeG Museum of Arts, where the Adopt a Book activity was held, in which visitors could find titles of poetry, novels, photography and appreciate exhibitions.