Merida, Mexico, Mar 12 (efe_epa).- Fifty years after its first edition appeared, the groundbreaking novel "Moriras Lejos" (You Will Die Far Away) is back in bookstores to celebrate the life and works of one of Mexico's most complete men of letters during the second half of the 20th century.
Until a few weeks ago, this novel by famed author Jose Emilio Pacheco had to be hunted down in one bookstore after another to find old copies or photocopies," said Mexican essayist Eduardo Antonio Parra, as he presented the new edition together with writer Jose Ramon Ruisanchez at the 2017 Yucatan International Book Fair (FIL).
The novel by Pacheco (1939-2014) was first published in 1967. After a few more editions when it became part of the Public Education Secretariat's venerable series "Mexican Reading," it went out of circulation for more than 20 years, until the Era publishing house decided to bring it back again.
To an audience of around 100 people at the FIL, Parra hailed the new edition and said that, together with the 1981 work "Las Batallas en el Desierto" (Battles in the Desert), it puts within readers' reach the very essence of Pacheco's writing.
He said that these two short novels are considered masterworks by critics and readers alike.
"With these two publications we can say that what is essential in the work of the most complete man of letters in the second half of the 20th century is now within the reach of everyone," said Parra, who remembers Pacheco as a "multidisciplinary" writer.
The novel "Las Batallas en el Desierto," together with "Pedro Paramo" by Juan Rulfo and "Aura" by Carlos Fuentes, constitute Mexico's best-known novel trio, he said.
For his part, Mexican author Jose Ramon Ruisanchez hailed the return of Pacheco's book, 50 years after what was "a miraculous, effervescent year."
He remembers 1967 as the last time snow fell on Mexico City and also for a marvelous book, "100 Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
"I don't think it was a coincidence. There are years when everything comes together and everything we hoped for begins to blossom," said Ruisanchez, a novelist with studies in Spanish language and literature at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).
The president of the Era publishing house, Marcelo Uribe, in charge of the new edition, recalled Pacheco as an author who loved rewriting what he had already published, such as his short stories and poems.
Uribe said Pacheco once asked his publisher to take his book "Inventario" out of circulation because he wanted to make some changes.
"I'm glad he didn't...because he went ahead and wrote other things," he said, like "Moriras Lejos."
Pachecho wrote novels, poetry, literary criticism, essays, short stories and translations, and finally his name became attached to the Jose Emilio Pacheco Excellence in Letters Prize, which this year went to Mexican writer Cristina Rivera Garza.
The 6th Yucatan International Book Fair offers some 1,200 activities up to March 19, including book presentations, literary discussions, movies, concerts and stage plays.
source: www.noticias.alianzanews.com