Books

NAPOLEON SON

“You are not what you are because of what you write, but because of what you have read.” Jorge Luis Borges

As far as books are concerned, in this time in which we have lived: “…A new title is published every half minute, one hundred and twenty every hour, two thousand eight hundred every day and eighty-six thousand per month. An average reader manages to read in his entire life what the publishing market produces in a single working day…”, Irene Vallejo categorically states in her magnificent essay El infinity in a reed that masterfully illustrates the wealth that modern man has. within your reach to gain knowledge that for much of its history was denied to the bulk of humanity and that today, thanks to the book, is within the reach of the majority.

Hence, due to the growing number of attendees at each of its thirty-seven editions, close to a million people, as well as its large and varied offering of reading material The Guadalajara International Book Fair, better known for its initials FIL, constitutes the largest book market in the world in our language and is a celebration for the satisfaction and pride of Mexicans who are fond of that solitary activity.

The event is celebrating 37 years of being founded at the initiative of Raúl Padilla López; Jalisco politician who was very controversial during his lifetime due to his activism in favor of very questionable causes in the university environment. Even today, he does not enjoy the esteem of the Fourth T and others, a feeling of animosity that they spread towards the FIL, as was seen in the comment made by the president in his morning conference when he described it as a conclave of the “right” that brings together the most conservative national and international intellectual pens.

The truth is that the presidential charge against Héctor Aguilar Camín, Enrique Krauze and Mario Vargas Llosa does not diminish their quality as the great writers they are nor does it diminish their popularity among their followers who are outside their respective ideological preferences. Nor has the constant public of the FIL with other important writers related to different political orientations, whom the head of the Executive cited as being to his liking, among them, José Saramago. Personally, I believe that many of the narrators affiliated with the “left”, whatever the term means today and who I would dare to assure have the presidential esteem, have contributed to projecting the aggrandizement of the fair, such is the case of Gabriel García Marquez, Carlos Monsiváis and Elena Poniatowska who have also been distinguished attendees at the discredited “conservative bastion” for the group that today heads the government in Mexico.

The existence of interest groups in culture is undeniable, whose influence permeates almost all areas of Mexican society and of course, the Guadalajara International Book Fair is no exception, but to say that it is an event in which conspiracies are truly absurd, to say the least, especially when no evidence has been presented to support such an argument.

In my opinion, there is no doubt that events like this benefit the country and should be supported by all Mexicans.

“Read and you will lead, do not read and you will be led”
Saint Teresa of Jesus.”

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