literature

The process itself, of putting one word together with another to structure a thought in a way that makes it communicable, shouldn't hurt. The art of writing is a pleasure and that is why those of us who write are always involved in this, either writing as such or thinking about what to write or remembering what we already wrote. It is a pleasure and, consequently, it develops a need, a drive, a form of falling in love...

Once again this Colombian novelist surprises with a new published work, in addition to the surprise deliveries of his novels around the world, to which we are accustomed and evidenced in: 'A novel for each school', a plausible initiative that I hope others will imitate. or support it. This time the turn was for 'Saved Stories'. Subcontinental social fiction novel that uncovers, using the brush of literary transfiguration, figure of its creation, the political, social, cultural and economic life of an entire country, today, any on the face of the terrestrial globe, every day more boiling and 'infected with social nostalgia', as this author often cites.

Inspiration is talked over and over again. What if it's a crush, like Cupid's. What if it is a flash, some muses, some magicians, a miracle, a door, an ancestor, a mischievous spirit that suddenly opens the way for us to a beautiful text or gives us a key or a map or a compass towards a subject that lends itself to our literary adventures. In the context of writing our story, that inspiration would tell us where to start or which characters are key or which places to recreate or what treasure is in our memory that serves as the foundation for the narrative...

Eager to polish a story, we proceed to replace common places with other, more creative and personal ways of saying things. Now, it is necessary to think (besides being original) what that "common phrase" or commonplace really affects. Sometimes it is because sincerity is lacking where the matter of being believed is essential, as in a testimony or in an autobiography, because there specificity is the greatest contribution...

Two specific dates are recorded in the enclosure that keeps his home (1928-2023), this data allows us to calculate the years lived, far from being able to glimpse the planting and harvest that was taking place over more than nine decades of existence. .

There is something I want to complement, brother, before starting with mine. It is in relation to what you said in one of your previous stories. Not only time is, today, our greatest and most expensive asset. Perhaps just as valuable, perhaps more, are our experiences. As well as the infinity of contributions that we have made in silence to this beautiful country... and in the tumultuous time when we did it: the last quarter of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st.

In the shared territory of the language, there are not only words, the structures that give them meaning, local expressions, grammatical and orthographic conventions, etc. There is also a drinking fountain, a source of ready-made phrases or expressions that we call commonplaces. They come from interesting or effective findings that some author gave to humanity and humanity, grateful, wanted to show their admiration by repeating that phrase and embellishing or improving their literature with it. That author could be a poet, a novelist, an orator, a philosopher...

Traveling to the sea on a Tuesday is something strange, of course it is not normal. But that happened. We decided to venture to the beaches of Poneloya, to be more precise, to the mouth. The intense heat of Holy Week forced us and we all somehow agreed. And we set sail.

I asked a friend who is a great conversationalist why she didn't write those colorful and interesting stories that she told with such grace and enthusiasm. He replied that without the nourishment of the immediate reaction of his audience, he could not fabricate stories and that he had tried but that the result was frustrating. “My written stories -he lamented- seem rigid and bland to me; they are no longer living words”.

They say that many who have shouted eureka! finding something they desperately sought, they achieved it in the humbling, everyday act of taking a shower or soaking in a bathtub. The explanation is that when we let go of the state of despair, the mind is released and finds itself without effort, that is, in freedom.