The UACM will dedicate a cultural day to the poet Enrique González Rojo Arthur

When I am in poetry, I suddenly feel nostalgic for philosophy, and when I write philosophy, I suddenly feel attracted to poetry. This oscillation between one discipline and another is constant.said Enrique González Rojo Arthur, poet, philosopher, activist and professor, who would turn 96 this October 5 (1928-2021).

Born in Mexico City in 1928, the author of Four elegies, Lysistrata y To spell infinity He grew up in a family of intellectuals, as he was the grandson of the poet and diplomat Enrique González Martínez (1871-1952) and son of the author Enrique González Rojo (1899-1939), who was part of Los Contemporáneos. His grandfather’s education instilled in González Rojo Arthur a love and great pleasure for culture.

On the occasion of the commemoration of his birth, the Autonomous University of Mexico City (UACM) will carry out today the Day from the city to the periphery: Poetry, philosophy and political thought, in the main classroom of the Del Valle campus (San Lorenzo 290, Del Valle Sur neighborhood).

At 12 noon, and from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m., participants, poets, critics and students will address various facets of the work of Enrique González Rojo Arthur, literary and philosophical, as well as his political militancy and his philosophical thought.

Adriana Tafoya, Ricardo Bautista, Andrés Cisneros, Luis Hernández Navarro, Hans Giébe, Graciela González Phillips, Gabriela Torres Ramírez, Raúl Romero Gallardo, Arturo Alvar, Bernardo González Rodarte, Carlos Omar García and David Martínez Olguín are some of the participants of the day , where there will also be the musical intervention of Guillermo González Phillips, son of González Rojo Arthur.

On the woman’s side

The poet and general director of the poetry publishing house Verso Destierro, Adriana Tafoya, highlighted in an interview with The Day that the latest texts by Enrique González Rojo Arthur have a marked “position in favor of the feminine and of women, in particular I see this and it is much more evident both in The dragon’s fangs as in your other novel, what is Lysistrata.

The teacher takes a position in these texts, where, apart from being in favor of the feminine, he talks about this militant woman who can have influence in society; That is very valuable and encouraging.

Tafoya will participate in the Day from the city to the periphery with the text The fangs of Lysistrata; In addition, he will read some fragments of To spell infinity, “where this infinity is very important versus eternity”, and the novel Lysístrata.

One of the main quests in González Rojo Arthur’s writing was “the tremendous task of spelling infinity. Spell it, yes, because my pen, incapable both of ignoring it and of knowing it, can only stammer it (…) I am interested, consequently, not only in alluding to the infinite, but in embodying it, turning it into action. My poetry does not only aim to have a contemplative and theoretical attitude,” according to the prologue of The ancient story of the beginning.

About the novele Uprisings in heaven and on Earth, of the Rojo collection, the essayist and teacher Manolo Mugica has commented that González Rojo Arthur He discusses the core issues of his feelings and thoughts: the class struggle; the management of power and the compromises that derive from it; the mechanisms of favoritism; the concerns, repercussions and even excuses that a work can cause.

In 2022, in the posthumous tribute paid to her father, Graciela González Phillips detailed that poetry, philosophy, teaching, and left-wing political participation were the four pillars that sustained González Rojo Arthur’s life.

Academic career

The thinker, poet and activist for more than three decades was a professor at the College of Sciences and Humanities and at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, as well as at the Autonomous Metropolitan, Michoacana universities of San Nicolás de Hidalgo and Autonomous Chapingo.

Coordinated literature and music workshops. He was the author of more than a dozen books on philosophy. In his final years he dedicated himself to writing, giving lectures and reading aloud his poems.

His most extensive work was poetry, with more than 20 books published, in addition to writing short stories, novels, essays and autobiography. As a young man he was part of the Poeticism movement, alongside Arturo González Cosío, Eduardo Lizalde and Marco Antonio Montes de Oca, and was a partner in struggle with José Revueltas.

In 2015, Enrique González Rojo Arthur handed over to the UACM the collection gathered by the González Rojo family since the end of the 19th century, with more than 12 thousand books and magazines.

It gives me great satisfaction to hand over the library that has been in the possession of three generations of poets. I do it encouraged, because this house of studies embodies an advanced, democratic and inclusive educational project, and because I am convinced that it will be very useful for teachers, students and anyone who wants to consult it. (The Day, 4/10/15).”