Miguel Ildefonso. Editorial DIN Silent , Lima 2005, 136 pp.
(Peruvian-Japanese Association Award: V National Short Story Competition 2005).
The writings collected in "El Paso" in the classic generic category of 'stories' are actually a collection of short stories or episodes, linked by a thread that weaves: descriptive look a series of physical sensations, rather than otherwise, experienced by the narrator, a character looking for something, crossing and recrossing boundaries, going or returning, or coming and going from somewhere. The book is divided into two parts. The first them, places his stories in the geographical setting of the border city of El Paso (USA), as well as places near the Mexican border, the second part sets his stories in the geography of Peru.
In the first part of "El Paso" entitled "The world from the Prince Machiavelli's" , the stories have in common the fact resemble minimum extracts from a long novel, like ' Künstlerroman' (or 'novel of formation of the artist'), where episodes seem disconnected from the overall plot that involves the formation of its central character, a wannabe writer who is as shown the character narrator at the end of the first story The Greyhound window : "And from that same place is where I write this now "or Machiavelli's The Prince (i) :" I recited to Adam, as an exercise to get beat before you write. " The central character profile common to almost every story comes with a curse over: the stigma of the desert as a brand that has accompanied him provenance Lima (data drawn from several dimensions to the character more central to a story) up along the way drab 'straight' to death, and, nevertheless, that geography is chosen for the best achievements of all prints of " El Paso " The desert rose. On the other hand, some geographical areas in the central wake some similarities with the mountainous areas of Peru. In general, raw as a reference area set by the city of El Paso, but sometimes the character is moving toward or away from it. In the stories where the setting is a bar, a cafe, a restaurant, a disco or a bus station ( The Prince, The Prince Machiavelli's (i), the 4 of El Paso, the fifth Beatle, or as hell it's called, The family bear Proud Mari Felix, a jukebox in the downtown, The Immortal , Come to Noa Noa ) descriptions are protruding objects and physical features of these places and people that attend, the narrator never stops to deepen moralistic musings, but occasionally occur in the midst of these scenarios poeticized palpable feelings of absence and the desire for something in the soul, or the ineffable feelings of aesthetic pleasure of singing, the literary event of remembrance or film. It is also setting Bus interesting figure in The Greyhound window or seed Travel rock, and even the rough version of gazebo stock for tourists Walk on the Wild Side, as antagonistic to all lyrical angle and, therefore, challenging to the poet who wants to see everything from all angles. Other recurring themes in this first part are the encounters - imaginary and real at the same time, it appears that many times the narrator any famous figure can hide behind any human being - with famous writers, singers, celebrities from the cultural, as in 's house rising sun - especially if they are artists that cliché classified as 'marginal'. Common approaches are also infallible, presented no clear definition between reality and fantasy in terms of the story - in this Hunter, Dust in the wind power machine , etc. - With women of all types: blue-eyed blonde, green eyes brown, brown, red hair, pebbles, etc. As for the final enigmatic surprising An old friend, or peculiar Yoknapatawpha. Little is the political backdrop of the American reality that becomes complicated, as the September 11 attacks ( Travel seed rock), the border trespassing ( The Rio Grande was not as great as in the movie ), or the problem of homeless ( Lou Red ). The wording of the stories, sometimes the author tries to give authenticity to the dialogue with the use of Mexican English-speaking area of \u200b\u200bEl Paso (and mothers did not, "was to fart", etc.). However, in other cases the narrator strives to equalize voices "fart (huasca, drunk) ... legs (buddies, friends) ... his flesh (his Pastaza, his chocheraza, his brother). " Moreover, many dialogs are intercepting the stories, and also surprised the height of a lyricism that is breathed in the words chosen. That poetic language that escapes the narrator reaches its climax in passages such as The Prince Machiavellis (ii) : "As we sang and she drove over a hundred, we crossed the reserves, wild horses galloping reached us We cast a look of fire through the windows on both sides of the car, and then, as if we had marked with a conviction, they went further relaxed to be reintroduced in the black desert. "
In the second part of "El Paso" , the central character in each episode and will not share the same color as the stitching thread that unites all these stories, however continues to monitor closely the Actually, that lets you be yourself through the physical encounter with other beings, real or phantom, men or women, relatives or strangers, in this world and the other, as marked Cruz, San 's back José , Light of the World or Ayahuasca. Prima as stage the urban background of Lima marginal, although not miss the cosmopolitan world of Cusco in a story. Are exceptions to this the jungles of Pucallpa ( Ayahuasca) and mountain mountains Chacayes ( Light of the World ). The bars, clubs and bars from Lima or Cusco, remain the common place at many meetings and misunderstandings ( marked Cruz, Candela Bar, Inca dandruff, bottles and babies ), as well as local folk dances ( Palace), teeming with drunks, drug addicts, gang members and prostitutes. Are also present, as artistic finish to the end of some episodes, music touches ( Inca dandruff) or dance ( San Jose's back ), which are popular and frequent cultural events in Peru and fund more activities varied. What peculiar language of this second part of "El Paso" is that certain metaphors invest their reading on their presentation in the first half. One example is the figure of the window as metaphor border between two worlds. Now, unlike the first report of the first part of the book in the window of the Hotel No Name Bar Candela the outside is the dream and the reality inside. The same applies to certain female characters in the first part of "El Paso" angels appear almost as easy to access and go no further from the truth. In the second approach women because of drunkenness "is dropping the" (Candy Bar ) or because it is part of his office, a prostitute ( Bottles and babies ) or healer ( Ayahuasca ) and go like a dream, as in Inca dandruff first and then Martina Cinthya; or state of love. And most striking feature of this part is the figure of arrival of poetry to the soul of the character narrator, as an arrival carrier negatives: alcoholism, social dissent led to violence, heartbreak and romance of a pejorative away to aspiring poet of true love and real to her person, to the beloved, to their environment ( Bear ). In the other side of the border , title of the second part, the poetic and lyrical language requires much more than in the first part of the book for descriptions and simple observations, for which many examples could be identified such as "In the fourth bottle the sun was no longer visible. Wind had left us, had given the peaceful aroma of brothels "( Bottles and babies ), or" The eucalyptus trees are moving as the wind sings in Quechua "( Light of the World ).
The titles that make up both sides of "El Paso" not hold, then a homogeneous extension or follow the pattern of the classic tale with its presentation, knot-descenlace, much less win by knockout, however, the originality of this book is that it is narrative episodes that abut a kind picture-lyrical prose, where each of these presentations poetic, with no beginning and no end of problems - and without reaching the category of open-ended stories - they leave, however, the feeling of us reached a reflection on the existence of a conflict between the artist who is looking for and the real world that surrounds him, from his observation of sensory things.
Miguel Ildefonso inaugurates a sui-generis expressive mode in Peruvian literature of recent decades, reflecting a transit efforts and virtuous, from his talent innate to the conscientious poet writer's craft.
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Munich, September 2006
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