Alfonso Reyes (1889-1959) universal thinker, bridge between Mexicans and Greek culture, creator of institutions, excellent prose writer, humanist and diplomat; but also the poet in his intimacy, who felt guilty for the death of his father, General Bernardo Reyes, the one who suffered from hunger and cold in exile, the womanizer, who didn’t write an exceptional book.
It is an ambitious biography, well documented, complete, up to date. But the most important thing is that it is not official or complacent, but critical,” says historian Javier Garciadiego about his biographical essay Only what we ignore can be foreign to us (El Colegio Nacional/ UANL), dedicated to the author of Vision of Anahuac.
After more than two decades of studying the life and work of the real storyteller, essayist and translator, Garciadiego has culled information from Reyes’ diaries, his prolific correspondence – nearly 48,000 letters – and the 34 volumes of newspaper clippings from various countries that an account of their public activities since 1906.
Although I direct the Alfonsina Chapel, I have not written a bronze and heroic biography of the character; no, it is a very critical biography. There are also elements that Reyes would not like to read, but I think it is necessary for today’s reader to know “, he comments in an interview with excelsior.
He clarifies that, despite making these criticisms, “I think that, in the final assessment, Don Alfonso is a super character; that is, a very important writer, perhaps one of the most important of the first half of the twentieth century. I said important, not the best.”
The researcher points out that Reyes was “a real man who was far ahead of his time, a universalist when nationalism still predominated in Mexico; In short, a character with many qualities, but also a human being with some limitations, with critical points, especially in his relationship with women.
The differences with his wife Manuela Mota, the amasiatos he had. The traditional thing was to say that Reyes was very flirtatious, that he liked to compliment women; but the truth was much more. I also mess with his son, very private things ”, he explains.
And he wonders “to what extent can we snoop into the bedrooms of the characters? There are those who think that the biographies of public men should be limited to the public. I believe the current reader has a right to know all aspects of Reyes,” she says.
The Doctor of History of El Colegio de México raises a stronger criticism: the lack of an illustrious book. “Why wasn’t Don Alfonso awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature? Because it was rarely translated and, therefore, little read; it did not have the necessary international dimension.
He didn’t have a hard-hitting book that identified with him, like the Pedro Paramo by Juan Rulfo or One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Reyes has written an entire work, many books; but he didn’t have a strong and distinct one. And the truth is, a lot of his writings are repetitive, same genres, same themes, same dimension,” he adds.
At the same time, the academician points out that Reyes is a very topical author. “He returned to Mexico in 1939 and found a very nationalist country. His proposal is that Mexicans can be fully Western, being nationalists, or approach Greek polytheism, Roman paganism, being Catholic. He was very bold.”
He still considers it valid because “he writes as if he were having a conversation; she doesn’t have this pedagogical spirit, she wants to listen and give her points of view about her. I think it takes a lot right now, to stop the high-sounding words from all sides, learn to listen to each other, to respect opinions and that there are fewer disqualifications ”.
Among the newspaper clippings documenting Reyes’ public life, the author points out excelsior which, he assures, punctually covered his activities. “Indeed, the last paragraph of my biography has to do with the vigil review of him, written by the chronicler Carlos Denegri. He says that the writer will not stay in his coffin, but in the most transparent region of the air, alluding to one of the famous phrases from reality”.
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