Celebrating Sergio Galindo is, above all, introducing him to young people: researcher

“Celebrating Sergio Galindo is, above all, presenting him to young people,” says José Luis Martínez Morales, who in the context of the centenary of the writer’s birth (September 2, 1926) presented yesterday The imprint of his voice: Meetings with Sergio Galindo, at the International Book Fair (FIL) of the Mining Palace.

“I am convinced that it is worth it for young people to learn about Galindo’s work, but we must bring them closer to texts that dialogue with their experience. Why do high school kids identify with Camerina Rabasa, protagonist of Rice powder? For that imaginary love, outside of reality, that she feels,” explains the researcher.

The volume brings together interviews given to newspapers by one of the fundamental narrators of Mexican literature of the 20th century, as well as a conference held in Bellas Artes, personal letters addressed to his relatives and epistolary exchanges with writers of his time.

“It is not a simple set of interviews, but an assembled text, stitched together from those conversations,” he explains. “Between text and text I incorporate my own comments that function as seams; I stitch together the materials so that an idea of ​​Sergio Galindo’s voice is formed.”

Throughout his chapters, Martínez Morales addresses different facets of Galindo: as a son, husband and father, as well as a writer and key figure in the cultural positions he held. In addition, it includes the reflections he made about his work.

In the first section, Sergio Galindo Márquez: Rehearsing a (self) portrait, A kind of chronicle of the life of the writer of Xalapa origin is offered, from his formative years and his first works, to his marriage and family life. The tensions he had with his father stand out, who had a hard time accepting that he dedicated himself to literature.

The second chapter, You will know him by his letters, presents the content of the letters he sent to his father during a trip to Paris that he made between 1951 and 1952. “Like many authors and artists of the 19th century, he had that romantic idea of ​​Paris as the City of Light. He made the trip by boat – and also by train – with practically very few resources and with the support of his family,” says Martínez Morales.

In Editorial navigation log: Fragments Included is the correspondence that Galindo addressed to the writers he published, especially those edited by the Universidad Veracruzana. This section highlights episodes that reveal the human dimension of the narrators of the time, such as the divorce between Octavio Paz and Elena Garro, or the occasion when Vicente Leñero came to his house and, out of courtesy, assured that some very spicy stuffed chiles were delicious, which resulted in him being served more.

“Those data that might seem inconsequential, in the literary world also become literature. Publish the corpus complete with letters, as it is, would seem bland to me, without much meaning; On the other hand, selecting and selecting certain details is more meaningful to me. I had fun doing it and I hope readers also enjoy those findings,” he emphasizes.

In Mexico City 1984-1985 The content comes from letters that Ángela, Galindo’s wife, delivered to Martínez Morales and that were part of the exchange he had with his friends and children. Through these documents, the researcher learned about more human aspects of the author: his relationship with his children and friends, as well as the enthusiasm he received from submitting his novel to the competition. Otilia Rauda.

The imprint of his voice: Meetings with Sergio Galindo, with a prologue by Luis Arturo Ramos and an epilogue by Agustín del Moral, it is considered by its author a tribute to the Xalapa author.

“It can be read as an autobiography, in quotes, because it is built with texts that rescue his voice through interviews and letters. The only thing I did was stitch together all that material,” he concludes.