Latin American literature is not going through its best moment, but young people must be trusted to make it stand out again, according to the opinion of some poets who participated in Honduras in the first “International Festival of Poetry, Song and Narrative Tegus does sing”.
“I think we have to recover a bit the air and winds of that time of the 70s and 80s of the last century. Pablo Neruda used to say that every 100 years a Simón Bolívar is born,” Cuban poet and anthropologist Miguel Barnet told EFE. on the current moment of Latin American literature.
He added that not in every decade is there a great profusion or emergence of artists, but he believes that there are currently “important writers” in Colombia, Cuba, Honduras and Peru, among other countries, “who have a lot of strength.”
“Literature is something that does not die, it is always an urgent need. The sensitive man expresses himself through letters, through words and I believe that, although we are not in a moment of glory, we are at a moment in which it can be create a literary boom,” said Barnet, author of seven novels, about fifteen books of poems, two of essays and one of Cuban fables for children.
The author of “Biography of a Maroon”, a native of Havana, where he was born 83 years ago, reiterated that “young people must be trusted” and hopes that “modern technology such as the Internet, YouTube and all those things that have emerged never put out the pristine fire of literature”.
The first “International Festival of Poetry, Song and Narrative Tegus does sing” It was inaugurated on Tuesday and will end this Friday.
The poets Marilyn Bobes and Lázaro Castillo also attend for Cuba.
LITERATURE SHOULD NOT BE UNDERESTIMATED WITH VISUAL Trinkets
The Honduran poet Livio Ramírez (80) also believes that Latin American literature is not at its best, but believes that there should be an attitude to improve on the part of writers committed to the cause.
“I worry that true literature is underappreciated based on these visual trinkets. there is, like the Internet and, above all, I am concerned that young people are unconsciously victims of a process of disidentity, of loss of their historical reason for being”, stressed the Honduran professional, who studied law in Mexico.
Ramírez, a diplomat and former director of Culture of his country, is of the opinion that the situation of Latin American literature “is not to be alarmed, but rather to give a categorical response, which occurs in a State with very clear identity policies , with a university situated in reality”.
The Honduran intellectual He published his first book at the age of 17 and then moved to Mexico.where he was part of the workshops of the National Autonomous University (UNAM) and was linked to the student movement of Tlatelolco.
Among other publications, Ramírez is co-author, with three other Mexican writers, of the book “Contradictory News”, with which he began his writing career.
His work, which includes 18 books of poetry and 40 anthologies of literature essays on historical subjects, has been recognized in Switzerland and Spain, countries where he also served as a diplomat.
In addition, he has written about the Honduran heroes Francisco Morazán and José Cecilio del Valle, about whom he is about to publish a research paper.
The Honduran festival, which has also been taken to the cities of Comayagua, La Paz, Talanga and Cantarranas, is accompanied by poets from Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, the Netherlands and Nicaragua.
