Writing in another language

I

 

For writers language is a specific issue, what I mean is that for a writer language becomes one of the most important materials. It is necessary for him to think about what kind of linguistic structure he wants to develop; there are certain codes, certain ways to talk about different topics. In a sense language is destiny and a specific horizon for the work of a writer, it defines in many aspects the origin, purpose and meaning of what is written. Most of the time this kind of meditations happen within an enclosed language, e.g. Spanish or English. In my case, because of a historical situation (I live in the North of Mexico, in a very Anglo-American influenced city) I have been thinking in the possibility of writing, expressing, and constructing not only in my mother dialect, but also in a foreign one.

Obviously this implies many contradictions. The most important, and one we cannot bounce, is Imperialism. Why should a Mexican write in the language of the oppressor (do not forget Donald Trump)? Well, I think that he should do it, if he can, precisely because of that. Writing most of the time, especially in the modern era, is criticism and dialogism. It seems not intelligent to avoid the possibility to have the interaction between two cultures and traditions. What I plan in the next months, maybe years, is to have this possibility, to develop the capacity to talk not only to my people (actually I do not know if they exist) but also to other people with a different, sometimes opposite, ideological horizon, and with this maybe to the world itself. I know that this sounds naïve in some perspectives, but I am not doing it without any previous reflection. I think this is a door that is open mainly because of the Internet. Maybe a new era in literature and writing has started, maybe not, and this will only work as an exercise.

Right now I do not know what the result will be, but I want to try it.

 

 

 

 

 

II

 

 

  As I previously said, I am Mexican. In Mexico the main language is Spanish. We have a tradition, a canon in this language. To name some writers and novels I mention Juan Rulfo, and his great novel Pedro Paramo; José Revueltas, and his novel El apando; Carlos Fuentes, and his novel La muerte de Artemio Cruz. These writers are set in the Mexican Canon, and most of the writers, nowadays, would like to be set in this genealogy. Many every day write thinking in this idea. Once, when I went to Mexico City, I also thought that I could be included in this list, that I could be published in one of the most traditional publishing houses as Fondo de Cultura Económica or Ediciones ERA. Every year that passes I understand or believe that this is almost impossible, but no only because I may be a bad writer, but because I notice that the editors in this moment are not interested in new texts, they are not interested in new voices. The Mexican canon has become a monolith, something that cannot be changed and is static. I do not see new writers, I just see new editions of previous generations. Furthermore, I may say that I only see the new editions of the original Mexican canon generation, they only publish the texts that are authorized by this idea of the Mexican canon.

There are many reasons why this is happening. There are many theories. Some say, for example Heriberto Yepez, and I think that they say truth, that the Mexican canon was established not by the Mexican readers but by the government. If you want to be part of this canon first you have to be related in some way with the government. I think that there is truth in this idea because in Mexico there are very few readers. A very small percentage of the population buy books and have interest for this cultural manifestations. In a country without readers suddenly the idea of writing seems not realistic, not necessary. Who would read all those novels, all that poetry? Who would buy it or consume it? The answer looks pessimistic, but in a way realistic: no body. But how come there you have excellent novelist? Because they were patronaged by the government in a way or another, some through direct scholarships, others with jobs or awards.

The problem or the solution is that nowadays this structure cannot be supported anymore, because in one point the system, the structure collapsed. This kind of relationship between writers and government is not healthy for the literature. The first generation of the established structure (let say those writers from the fifties) had something to say, they really needed this patronage from the power, and we could say that the process was virtuous in a manner, but the latter support, to the next generations, was not based on the quality of the writer but on his previous relationship with the power. Some were friends, some others were relatives, and some others just knew the language, the style of the politics and could be included. An intelligent reader could notice it by reviewing the important writers of the next generations, every ten years the quality goes down. In the 60’s we have a good generation, but not as good of that of the 50’s. In the 70’s there isn’t a memorable writer. I do not see someone from the 80’s, 90’s, and this two decades of the XXI century.

The writer has been separated from the public (may be there never was a public), the current system was made to do this, the government pays for the pressing but the books stay in the storage, no one can really read them, or they just stay in the capital city (Mexico), but they are not distributed to the general public around the country (Tierra adentro)(There is a government program called like this, that was planned to publish only authors from the different states of the country, but in this time it mostly publishes writers from the capital). What is worse is that the criteria to select new authors (in the current system) has nothing to be with literature (there are some exceptions) and this has collapsed the Mexican canon. It does not represent the Mexican literature anymore (that is why Yepez affirms this, that the Mexican literature as a canon is finished). It does not represent the cultural horizon. If this is the circumstance then why to continue writing in that direction, why not to change, and explore other horizons, why not to try to develop other canon. This is one of the reason I will start to write in both languages.

To finish this first English post, I will say that I understand that right now my English is poor, but I will also say that my culture is poor (in the North of Mexico it is impossible to have a classical education). The only particular value I have is that I can communicate with two different cultural horizons. In this moment of history that is a gift, something I cannot ignore. With the time I consider I would be able to be clearer in this beautiful language. The language of Pound, Faulkner, Eliot, Shakespeare, Shelley, Bacon, Yeats, Hemingway, Poe, Donne, Strand, and more. 

July 2016