|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ARTS
WEEKLY/LITERATURE-VENEZUELA:
One Million
Quixotes
Humberto
Márquez
CARACAS, (IPS) - Hundreds
of thousands of Venezuelans have
been lining up around the
country for a free copy of what
is considered the all-time
greatest work of literature in
the Spanish language, ”Don
Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes
Saavedra, on the 400th
anniversary of its first
publication.
”I've never read this book, but
I'm certainly going to read it
now,” remarked Gladys Viña, a
64- year-old homemaker from the
working-class Caracas
neighbourhood of El Observatorio,
contentedly hugging her new copy
of the literary masterpiece.
”I really like the explanations
at the bottom of every page. It
will be great for doing school
work,” noted Irene, 11, a
sixth-grade student lining up in
Simón Bolívar Square - named
after Venezuela's national hero
and founding father - to have
her book signed by Culture
Minister Francisco Sesto.
As the tropical sun beat down on
the downtown Caracas square,
Sesto patiently signed hundreds
of copies of ”Don Quixote” with
his nickname, ”Farruco”. The
books are being distributed free
of charge by the government of
President Hugo Chávez.
”The way I see it, they want to
get the autograph of someone who
didn't write the book but in
some way symbolises this gesture
made by the government to help
satisfy the population's
cultural needs,” Sesto commented
to IPS as he signed a book for
Alejandro Rodríguez, a 47-
year-old engineer.
For his part, Rodríguez told IPS
that ”actually, for me this
autograph is like a souvenir of
this day. We lined up here to
get a copy of a book that I
myself read in school, but in
bits and pieces, and really
quickly. Now I plan to reread it
at a more leisurely pace.”
More Venezuelans than ever will
be able to read ”Don Quixote”
for the first time thanks to the
massive literacy campaign
undertaken by the Chávez
government in mid-2003, aimed at
teaching basic reading and
writing skills to over one and a
half million people. Prior to
the campaign, it was estimated
that around 12 percent of adults
in this country of 24 million
were illiterate.
The decision to pass out
hundreds of thousands of free
copies of ”Don Quixote” was
announced on Apr. 23, the date
officially designated as Spanish
Language Day to commemorate the
death in 1616 of the novel's
author, Cervantes.
Young workers from the Ministry
of Culture, wearing T-shirts
emblazoned with the words ”One
Million Quixotes for Venezuela”,
handed out the books as part of
this initiative dubbed
”Operation Dulcinea” (named
after Don Quixote's lady love).
To join in the celebration of
the novel's 400th anniversary,
the Venezuelan government
ordered one million copies of a
pocket-sized edition of the book
from the Spanish publishing
company Alfaguara.
”Around 300,000 copies were
handed out in Bolívar Square in
Caracas and in the capitals of
the country's 23 states, and the
rest will be distributed to
public school libraries,”
explained Sesto.
In addition, 70,000 copies are
being printed in English, so
that Venezuela can provide 5,000
copies each to its
English-speaking neighbouring
countries in the Caribbean.
Another 5,000 copies will be
printed in French to donate to
Haiti.
The cost of each book, fully
covered by the Venezuelan
government, is 1.67 dollars,
Sesto noted.
The edition of ”Don Quixote”
published for this initiative is
illustrated with 19th-century
engravings by Gustave Doré, and
includes explanatory footnotes
for young readers and others
unfamiliar with the Spanish
language as it was spoken in the
17th century and the socio-
cultural context of the era.
The introduction was written by
Portuguese author José Saramago,
a Nobel Literature laureate, who
remarks that ”curiosity moved
Alonso Quijano (the ordinary man
who transforms himself into the
extraordinary Don Quixote in the
novel) to read, reading led him
to imagine, and now, free of the
ties of habit and routine, he is
able to travel the roads of all
the world.”
Saramago's preface is
accompanied by a note from Sesto
to young readers, in which he
quotes a statement reputedly
made by Simón Bolívar just
before his death: ”Jesus Christ,
Don Quixote and I, the three
biggest fools in history.”
Sesto maintains that these three
figures each had the touch of
insanity needed to devote one's
life to fighting injustice.
Through the distribution of one
million copies of ”Don Quixote”,
”one out of every five families
in Venezuela will be able to
read this novel,” the culture
minister highlighted during a
recent appearance on ”Aló
presidente”, the weekly radio
and television programme hosted
every Sunday by Chávez.
Inspired by the enthusiastic
response to this initiative, the
Venezuelan leader has now called
for the publication of one
million copies of another
masterpiece of world literature,
the novel ”Les Miserables” by
19th-century French writer
Victor Hugo.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
