En esto creo

by Carlos Fuentes

De modo paralelo a sus amplias y varias creaciones narrativas, Carlos Fuentes ha ido construyendo una extensa y fundacional obra de ensayista puro, a la vez recapitulador de su experiencia y reinterpretador del mundo circundante. En esto creo supone el compendio de una trayectoria de escritor reflexivo, y la respuesta de un teórico lúcido y combativo a las acuciantes interrogaciones de la vida contemporánea. Una original autobiografía se estructura como un diccionario de la vida con cuarenta y una voces, de la A a la Amistad, Buñuel, Cine, Quijote, Revolución, Sexo, etc....

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Memoir, Philosophy, Spanish Literature, Latin American Literature, Literature

360 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published August 1, 2002

About the author

Carlos Fuentes Macías was a Mexican writer and one of the best-known novelists and essayists of the 20th century in the Spanish-speaking world. Fuentes influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.

Fuentes was born in Panama City, Panama; his parents were Mexican. Due to his father being a diplomat, during his childhood he lived in Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, Washington, Santiago, and Buenos Aires. In his adolescence, he returned to Mexico, where he lived until 1965. He was married to film star Rita Macedo from 1959 till 1973, although he was an habitual philanderer and allegedly, his affairs - which he claimed include film actresses such as Jeanne Moreau and Jean Seberg - brought her to despair. The couple ended their relationship amid scandal when Fuentes eloped with a very pregnant and then-unknown journalist named Silvia Lemus. They were eventually married.

Following in the footsteps of his parents, he also became a diplomat in 1965 and served in London, Paris (as ambassador), and other capitals. In 1978 he resigned as ambassador to France in protest over the appointment of Gustavo Diaz Ordaz, former president of Mexico, as ambassador to Spain. He also taught courses at Brown, Princeton, Harvard, Penn, George Mason, Columbia and Cambridge.

---
کارلوس فوئنتس در ۱۱ نوامبر ۱۹۲۸ در پاناماسیتی به دنیا آمد. مادرش برتا ماسیاس ریواس و پدرش رافائل فوئنتس بوئه‌تیگر است. پدر وی از دیپلمات‌های مشهور مکزیک است. وی سفیر مکزیک در هلند، پاناما، پرتغال و ایتالیا بود.

دوران کودکی‌اش در واشنتگتن دی.سی. و سانتیاگوی شیلی گذشت. فوئنتس در دانشگاه مکزیک و ژنو در رشتهٔ حقوق تحصیل کرد. او به زبان‌های انگلیسی و فرانسه تسلط کامل دارد.

آثار
* مرگ آرتمیوکروز، ۱۹۶۲
* آئورا، ۱۹۶۲
* زمین ما،‌ ۱۹۷۵
* گرینگوی پیر، ۱۹۸۵
* ملکهٔ عروسک‌ها
* آسوده خاصر، ترجمهٔ محمدامین لاهیجی.
* مرگ آرتمیو کروز، ترجمهٔ مهدی سحابی.
* آئورا، ترجمهٔ عبدالله کوثری.
* سرهیدا.
* خودم با دیگران (به تازگی با نام از چشم فوئنتس) ترجمهٔ عبدالله کوثری.


---
Carlos Fuentes Macías fue un escritor mexicano y uno de los novelistas y ensayistas más conocidos en el mundo de habla española. Fuentes influyó en la literatura contemporánea de América Latina, y sus obras han sido ampliamente traducidas al inglés y otros idiomas.

Fuentes nació en la ciudad de Panamá, Panamá, sus padres eran mexicanos. Debido a su padre era un diplomático, durante su infancia vivió en Montevideo, Río de Janeiro, Washington, Santiago y Buenos Aires. En su adolescencia regresó a México, donde vivió hasta 1965. Estuvo casado con la estrella de cine Rita Macedo de 1959 hasta 1973, aunque era un mujeriego habitual y, al parecer, sus asuntos - que se ha cobrado incluyen actrices como Jeanne Moreau y Jean Seberg, su llevados a la desesperación. La pareja terminó su relación en medio del escándalo, cuando Fuentes se fugó con un periodista muy embarazada y entonces desconocido de nombre Silvia Lemus. Se casaron finalmente.

Siguiendo los pasos de sus padres, también se convirtió en un diplomático en 1965 y sirvió en Londres, París (como embajador), y otras capitales. En 1978 renunció al cargo de embajador en Francia en protesta por el nombramiento de Gustavo Díaz Ordaz, ex presidente de México, como embajador en España.

Reviews

[Sofia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Δυσκολεύτηκα πολύ να το παρακολουθήσω κι ακόμα περισσότερο να το τελειώσω. Δεν μου ταίραξε από την αρχή αυτή η φόρμα

[Giuseppe Sirugo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Escuchar el nombre de Carlos Fuentes (Panamá, 11 de noviembre de 1928 - Ciudad de México, 15 de mayo de 2012) recuerdo los años de 2002 a 2004. Una persona amiga que era ligada a sus orígenes de Mexico. Un antiguo escritor que a pesar si fuera por estudio, necesidades de vida, habilidades de enseñanza, tuvo que emigrar y logró formalmente a encontrar el temperamento adecuado en un país donde la cultura y las tradiciones están unidas solo por el idioma.

Al igual que muchos narradores, le fascinó William Faulkner, y ocasionalmente sin emulación se refiere a la forma con la que Faulkner generaliza: aunque en su razonamiento solía ser controvertido, una característica que es bastante frecuente entre los escritores, Fuentes no era un gran pensador. Muy diferente de un estilo prosastico como lo de Jorge Luis Borges. Probablemente en el mundo de la literatura quiso orientar de manera diferente: en ese sentido, a pesar de la cultura y del tiempo que podría haber pasado por iniciativa propia en escribir un libro si tuviera que tocar temas filosóficos o políticos iba a disminuir sus capacidades.
En este lbro deja claro que se mantuvo muy apegado a las raíces nativas: de un primer enfoque, ya es el título del libro que quiere resumir lo que habría escrito. Es decir la retórica de lo que más 'creía'. Los temas de los capítulos mencionados se derivan de una doctrina que sin resentimiento ni cinismo evoca un conocimiento literal sincero y rico.

Deseando ser elocuentes, tendríamos que recordar el diccionario literal singular y los más de dos siglos y medio que nos separan de esto. El hecho que Voltaire escribió el primer diccionario filosófico fue una idea atractiva. Muchos autores se sintieron atraídos por eso tipo novedad. Les fascinó la idea de poder ordenar alfabéticamente sus obsesiones, a pesar que podrían haber atribuido solo un matiz distinto a los términos o, en el peor de los casos, caer en la banalidad: de esta remota ideología Carlos Fuentees con "En esto creo" quiso hacer su debut, al caso, sin diversificar los términos y posiblemente pasar por convencional. Él con una observación burlona construyó una serie de ensayos cortos, también en orden alfabético, pero lo hizo para establecer el "Credo" satírico del autor. Al limitarse de dettalles de contenidos políticos o filosóficos quería crear una colección de palabras donde los argumentos partieran de una reminiscencia autobiográfica para alcanzar luego a una reflexión artística y moral.
En algunas ocasiones, Carlos Fuentes metafóricamente no negó que de propia mano hizo literatura a la misma velocidad que una ametralladora podría disparar, casi siempre sin variaciones sobre la técnica. Y con este libro quiere confirmar que la eficiencia de todo está tanto ligada a una profesionalidad literal: el autor mexicano tenía diferentes intereses y mucha práctica para exponerlos, los resultados públicos del libro han mostrado que tuvo poca suerte con lo que debería haber sido una prosa destinada a distribuir conceptos de una ideología personal.
El libro En esto creo con poco más de 310 páginas incluye una serie de palabras alfabéticas con las que Fuentes se ha inspirado explicando el propio concepto de vida, algunos de estos términos que recopiló son:

AMISTAD: lo que no tenemos que encontrar en los amigos
AMOR: el amor quiere ser, durante el mayor tiempo posible, un placer total
BUÑUEL: Conocí a Buñuel durante el rodaje de película.
DIOS: en conclusión, ¿crees en dios?
IBEROAMÉRICA: Creo en América Latina. El Atlántico para mi es solo un puente
IZQUIERDA: la izquierda está justo después de los terribles fracasos, oportunismo, traición, pasividad
KAFKA: ¿Has leído en Kafka ?, me pregunta Milan Kundera. ... si no lo has leído en alemán, significa que aún no lo has leído
LECTURA: un libro, esto también está en el comercio
MUERTE: toda una vida no es suficiente para cumplir todas las promesas de nuestra personalidad
NOVELA: no hay novela sin historia
QUIJOTE: Don Quijote es el primer cuento moderno
SEXO: erotismo, al principio con las chicas, en Washington con dos compañeros de clase, poco a poco fui descubriendo una maravillosa oscuridad que privilegiaron
TIEMPO: no se puede tener un presente vivo si hay un pasado muerto. El pasado esta fuera de la ventana
XENOFOBIA: estamos sujetos a la prueba de otras personas. Vemos, sin embargo, también somos observados
YO: "El yo es detestable". Rimbaud supo cómo hacerse anhelar o detestar en medida igual, se amaba y se odiaba simultáneamente

En conclusión este libro por Fuentes fue un proyecto serio. Quería demostrar que era capaz de mantener la distancia entre todos los autores que en la antigüedad impresionaron un diccionario o algo similar. Tal vez el libro se puede considerar tópico cuando hay ideas comunes: al usar un análisis paralelo, puede detectar un juicio altruista que se ha diversificado de otro guión. En este sentido, el escritor mexicano se refiere al capítulo de ideas del pesimista, irónico y divertido Gustave Flaubert. De lo contrario, el mismo libro también se puede apreciar como un vocabulario separado, y la idea escrita resalta la capacidad de un ejercicio agradable y satírico.

[Jay Green · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bought this in a second-hand store so not too much money wasted. I'd forgotten how tiresomely liberal-elitist Fuentes can be, although I say that as an avowed anarchist-communist. The mandarin tone, the unnecessarily obtuse language, the attempt to (re)claim Bunuel for religiosity. Ugh. I enjoyed Myself with Others very much but found The Old Gringo and Artemio Cruz both slow and opaque; they should have been a warning. Fuentes is no philosopher, and as a raconteur he'd soon have you snoozing over the cafetiere. Anecdotes should be crisp and evocative, so unless Fuentes is trying to evoke semi-consciousness, this is a fail.

[Gilda Bonelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sentire menzionare il nome di Carlos Fuentes (Panamá, 11 novembre 1928 – Città del Messico, 15 maggio 2012) rimembro gli anni dal 2002 al 2004. E alla mente mi affiora un soggetto radicato alle proprie origini messicane. Un ex scrittore che nonostante per studio, esigenze di vita, capacità didattiche, ecc, abbia dovuto emigrare e formalmente riuscì a trovare il giusto temperamento in un paese dove cultura e tradizioni sono unite dal solo idioma.
Come molti narratori era affascinato da William Faulkner e occasionalmente senza emulazione ne fa riferimento per la maniera con la quale costui generalizza: sebbene nei ragionamenti ha teso con l’essere controverso, caratteristica che è alquanto frequente fra gli scrittori, Fuentes non fu un grande pensatore ed era anche molto differente da uno stile prosastico tipo quello di Jorge Luis Borges. Probabilmente nel mondo della letteratura si è voluto orientare diversamente, perché malgrado la cultura e il tempo che di propria iniziativa avrebbe potuto impiegare per scrivere un libro se doveva toccare argomenti filosofici o politici tendeva a frenare. Negli argomenti ha sempre ricercato una visuale chiara, però nei contesti mai volle essere un giudice puntiglioso, particolare che per esempio uno scrittore viscerale come Roberto Bolaño attingeva sovente a fare. Questo libro, dopo tanti anni che Fuentes ha svolto costantemente e in modo invariabile la sua mansione, fa chiarezza che lo scrittore rimase molto legato alle radici native: in un primo approccio è già il titolo del libro che vuole riassumere ciò che avrebbe intrapreso, ossia la retorica di quello che maggiormente ha creduto. I temi dei capitoli menzionati sono ricavati da una dottrina, che priva di risentimento o cinismo evoca una sincera e ricca conoscenza letterale.
Nei romanzi di solito la narrazione sussegue in maniera costante, mantiene quasi sempre lo stesso ritmo. Raramente quella relativa cadenza che si assimila mentre lo si legge è indebolita o lungo la stesura scritta affievolisce di umore. Inoltre, sarà che il formato dei singoli volumi dello scrittore sono un poco più grandi se messi a confronto dei romanzi moderni, però fanno sì che i libri di Fuentes ai lettori maggiormente accaniti l’abuso e l’interpretazione di questo tipo di lettura possa trarre una riflessione inconscia, certamente suscitata dal tanto lavoro che c‘è appresso a ogni storia. E tale impressione potrà risultare come una benevola ripercussione interna che al lettore incallito è manifesta da una sensazione ipnotizzante: per l’appunto, la conferma di quella che è una buona letteratura latinoamericana.

Volendo essere eloquenti, ci sarebbe da rimembrare il singolare dizionario letterale e l'oltre due secoli e mezzo che ci separano da questo. Il fatto che Voltaire scrisse il primo dizionario filosofico fu un'idea allettante. Molti autori furono attratti da ciò, sono stati affascinati dall'idea di poter ordinare alfabeticamente le proprie ossessioni, nonostante che ai termini avrebbero potuto attribuire solo una sfumatura distinta o nella peggiore dell’ipotesi cascare sulla banalità: se pur parimenti a codesta ideologia remota, di un medesimo genere En esto creo ebbe voluto essere il debutto di Carlos Fuentees, al caso però senza diversificare termini o eventualmente passare per convenzionale. Lui con un’osservazione derisoria costruì una serie di saggi brevi, anch'essi in ordine alfabetico, ma lo fece al fine di stabilire il satirico "Credo" dell'autore. Limitandosi con l’approfondire contenuti politici o filosofici, ha voluto creare una raccolta di vocaboli dove gli argomenti cominciano da una reminiscenza autobiografica per giungere poi a una riflessione artistica e morale.
In qualche occasione, Carlos Fuentes metaforicamente non ha negato che di propria mano ha fatto della letteratura alla stessa velocità che potrebbe sparare i colpi una mitragliatrice, tuttavia quasi sempre privo di variazioni nella tecnica. E con questo libro avrebbe voluto confermare nuovamente che l’efficienza di ogni cosa è alquanto legata a una professionalità letterale: benché l‘autore messicano avesse differenti interessi e molta pratica per esporli, i risultati pubblici del libro mostrarono che ci fu poca fortuna con quella che sarebbe dovuta essere una prosa atta a distribuire i concetti di un’ideologia personale. Se lo si osserva esteriormente, si comprende da sé che fu distante da un mondo digitale. Nel ragionato era proiettato con l'auspicio corrente, non eccessivamente controverso, intenso nel contemplato ma alla volta nemmeno assillante col discorso scritto. Esponendo gli argomenti con notevole contenuto autobiografico, indubitabilmente suscitato dalla caratteristica di una persona genuina. La regola vale anche per il libro attuale che non può essere inteso tipo enallage! En esto creo, con poco più di 310 pagine, include una serie di parole alfabetiche sulle quali Fuentes ha ritrovato ispirazione nel spiegarle secondo un proprio concetto di vita vissuta, fra alcuni di questi termini che raccolse sono inclusi:

AMISTAD: quello che non abbiamo lo troviamo negli amici
AMOR: l'amore vuole essere, per il maggior tempo possibile, pieno piacere
BUÑUEL: ho conosciuto a Buñuel durante le riprese del film
DIO: in conclusione, credi in dio?
IBEROAMÉRICA: credo nell'America Latina. L'Atlantico per me è solo un ponte
IZQUIERDA: la sinistra, ha ragione dopo i terribili fallimenti, l'opportunismo, il tradimento, la passività
KAFKA: hai letto a Kafka?, mi chiede Milan Kundera. ...se non l'hai letto in tedesco significa non averlo ancora letto
LECTURA: un libro, anche questo sta nel commercio
MUERTE: non basta una vita per portare a termine tutte le promesse della nostra personalità
NOVELA: non c'è una novella senza una storia
QUIJOTE: Don Chisciotte è la prima novella moderna
SEXO: l'erotismo, in principio con le bambine, a Washington con due compagne di classe, poco alla volta sono andato a scoprire una meravigliosa oscurità che loro privilegiavano
TIEMPO: non si può avere del presente vivo con un passato morto. Il passato è fuori dalla finestra
XENOFOBIA: siamo soggetti alla prova di altre persone. Vediamo però siamo anche osservati
YO: “L'io è detestabile”. Rimbaud è colui che ha saputo farsi anelare o detestare in ugual misura, si è amato e odiò se stesso contemporaneamente

Concludendo, il libro: En este creo per Fuentes fu un progetto serio. Ha voluto mostrare che riusciva a mantenere invariata la distanza fra tutti gli autori che nell'antichità impressero un dizionario o qualcosa di analogo. Magari il libro ritenerlo topico dove ci siano idee comuni, poiché utilizzando un'analisi parallela può rilevare un giudizio altruistico che è stato diversificato da eventuali copioni: in questo senso, lo scrittore messicano si riferisce al capitolo delle idee e il divertimento del pessimista e ironico Gustave Flaubert. Diversamente, lo stesso libro lo si potrà apprezzare anche come vocabolario a sé. E l’idea che è stata scritta evidenzia l’abilità di un esercizio gradevole e satirico.

[David Sasaki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I left my Kindle on the plane and it was never found. Very annoying. So three-quarters the way through Jonathan Franzen's Freedom I scanned my grandmother's bookshelf and settled on Carlos Fuentes' This I Believe, a collection of thirty or so essays arranged alphabetically.

The essays cover everything from love to Buñuel, from civil society to sex. I hate to admit impatience with such a well regarded intellectual just months after his death, but there are times when you feel like you're the audience of a chatty grandfather, determined to prove that not only has he read and remembered all the Western classics of literature and criticism, but that he has integrated them into his own many theories of everything. And sometimes you want to sigh and say, good for you granpa.

But Fuentes does deserve the recognition he amassed throughout his life, even when his expounding becomes tedious. His is a brilliant mind and he used it his entire life to read, analyze, and write. His most personal essays are the best -- meditations on friendship, family, and sex.

When Fuentes passed away NPR re-played a 1987 interview from his appearance on Fresh Air. Just like this book, he is eager to share his many opinions and reflections on just about every topic imaginable. I realized that at least two generations of Americans (my grandmother's, my mother's) have been introduced to Mexico and Mexican thought via the country's two great intellectual ambassadors, Carlos Fuentes and Octavio Paz. I wondered what would have come of Fuentes were he born 25 years ago. Would he have a blog? Tumblr? Twitter account? Would he read more literature from Africa and South Asia? Would he read all the same old classics -- Balzac, Kafka, Proust, Faulkner -- or would he jump from one blog post to the next?

Over the past few months there has been no shortage of debate among Mexico's intellectuals about the value of citizen and social media in the public sphere. It makes sense that "public voices" feel threatened by more public voices, but it seems almost certain that Mexico will never again have literary ambassadors of the same profile as Fuentes and Paz. The stature of Enrique Krauze, Hector Aguilar Camin, and Jorge Castañeda pale in comparison, and I think that is a very good thing.

[Tei Amador · Rating 3 out of 5]

A los 16 años probablemente me hubiera encantado.
Hoy por hoy, no puedo evitar pensar que las ideas de Fuentes sobre política y economía, y sobre todo las relacionadas a Dios, son, cuando menos, ingenuas.

[Diego · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una especie de Autobiografía de Fuentes, donde nos cuenta su abecedario personal, como bien dice el titulo en qué cree, en la política lo económico lo social, en el arte, cine pintura y literatura, explora con su gran cultura y elocuencia a grandes Filosofos y Novelistas, pasa de Platon a Wittgenstein dando vueltas por Nietzsche quien parece ser una gran influencia en el, de Sofocles a Kundera deteniéndose continuamente a hablar de Balzac o Borges, nos narra sus experiencias personales también, la amistad, el amor, los celos.

Es una obra de gran calidad sobre todo para el lector critico y de bagaje cultural amplio.

[Bookmarks Magazine]

While critics praised the depth and breadth of Fuentes's thinking, most acknowledged that This I Believe is a work for the serious reader, someone who has already considered deeply philosophical issues. At all turns, Fuentes challenges his readers__not only with personal inquiries into marriage, but also with forays into political topics including globalization and civic society. Many reviewers cited the essay titled "Urbanities," which recalls the distinctive roles cities played in Fuentes's life (his father was a diplomat; he served as Mexican ambassador to France), as the loveliest in the volume. A few quibbled over some grandiloquent language and historical errors. Yet all agree that This I Believe is an intelligent, engaging work that warmly invites readers into Fuentes's personal world of ideas.
Copyright 2005 Phillips & Nelson Media, Inc.

This is an excerpt from a review published in Bookmarks magazine.

[Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

See my blog post:

http://gypsylibrarian.blogspot.com/20...

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes my heart swell with an insurmountable amount of happiness that only childhood birthdays, lovers' vacations and nostalgic Sunday mornings can bring.

[Agustín Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

La mejor manera de conocer a Fuentes, de su puño y letra, sobre qué es lo que pensaba, sentía y creía de los temas más importantes de la vida. Un libro imperdible.

[Farhan Khalid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amour

A couple begins to know each other

Everything is surprise

Sometimes love yearns to recover the wonder of its earliest moment but inevitably comes to realize the second time around the wonder is nothing more than nostalgia

There is always someone who will say that the greatest moment of love is separation

Extreme attention is the creative faculty, and its condition is love

How can one single person assume responsibility for everyone?

This is the central theme of all Dostoevsky’s novels

Critics reply: start with one human beings, the closest person to you

Balzac I will have carried a whole society in my head

His reality includes the the reality of the imagination

His obsession is money as well as terror and illusion

The novelist of energy and will

The possession of things is a central theme for the social Balzac

But the loss of things is the central theme of the mythic Balzac

Beauty belongs exclusively to the person that perceives it

Beauty cannot exist without the gaze

It is natural for the artist to favor the gaze

A great artist invites us not only to gaze but to engage the imagination

Cecilia’s birth was a musical event

The moment Cecilia emerged and cried out for the first time

I was hearing a proclamation of nature, the newest, but also the most ancient

Music of necessity and desire

Christ

Jesus’s greatness lies in his temporality

His obscure, mysterious life is what makes him eternal

The very metaphor of the Resurrection is a way of telling us that we are obliged to complete life, not just continue it

A person is not God, but God can be a person and that is why million of men and women believe in Jesus

Cinema

Of all the art forms of the twentieth century, none is quite strangely reflective of its age as cinema

The paradox of Latin America is that we have a strong culture and weak institutions

Death is an endless moment

One life is not enough

Many existences are required to create the character of a single person

The most privileged positions in our modern economy are occupied by those who create and produce information

Education

University and totalitarianism are incompatible

University [reflection, research and critical thinking]

Totalitarianism [intolerance, lies and violence]

Classic wisdom tells us that true unity emerges from diversity

Nobody can lose knowledge if it is shared

Cultures influence one another

Cultures perish in isolation and flourish in communication

Freedom is the quest for freedom

Three chairs of Thoreau

One for solitude, the second for friendship, the third for society

Terrorism knows no country

Terrorism has no flag. No face

Terrorism is a universal fact

We are living in a world of mutant reality and uncertain legality

Excuse me, but I seriously doubt that Gods reads literature

Evils knows itself to be Evil but it also knows Goodness

God never allows himself to be seen.

That is why he demands faith

I believe in God, because if God exists, I come out winning

And if he doesn’t exist, I don’t lose a thing

Nietzsche Happiness and history rarely coincide

Happiness is as fleeting as a bolt of lightning

Tragedy is the "law of time"

We are tragic because we are not perfect

For me the Atlantic is not an abyss but a bridge

Oceans of encounters

Prophecies are fulfilled. The other arrives.

We are not alone in the world

Conquest of America The idols behind the altars

American Baroque is the art of the Counter-Conquest

It fills the gaping voids of the new world utopia

We saw how tradition could nourish creation and creation nourish tradition

Kafka demonstrate the imbalance that exists between real power and the myth of power

K imagines a power system that is proportional to the force of its absence

The law is mad but it is the law

There is no such thing as innocent desire because desire implies not only possessing the object of desire but transforming it as well

Roger Caillois: The first half of the nineteenth century belonged to European literature

The second half belonged to the Russians

The first half of the twentieth century belonged to the North Americans

The second half belonged to the Latin Americans

At the dawn of the twenty-first century, we can speak of a universal novel

Two things that are essential to the [modern] novel: Imagination and language

If i don’t put this word down on paper, nobody else will

If i don’t utter this word, the word will fall into silence (or gossip and fury)

The novel creates a new kind of time for readers

In the novel, past becomes memory and the future, desire

Reader who, by reading, remembers and desires

Without respect for the diversity that is based upon identity, liberty cannot exist in Latin America

Dostoevsky said that Don Quixote is “the saddest book ever written, for it is the story of an illusion lost”

Lasting reality is based firmly on the imagination

The book tells us that our lives are a repertory of possibilities that transform desire into experience and experience into destiny

The books tells us that the Other exists

The books is the education of the senses through language

Rimbaud we must change life; Marx: we must change the world

A body of words crying out for the closeness of another body of words: Are these words real? Are they a lie?

Gerard de Nerval: If all the women I have loved could be encapsulated in one

The only woman that I have loved forever encapsulates all the others

The past occurs today when we remember

The future occurs today when we desire

There are two ways to perceive time

1. Time is struggle. If movement ceases, the universe collapses and time stops

2. Only that which is permanent and lasting is real

Flow, movement, and change are merely cosmetic

Literature is time’s great laboratory

Time is the image of eternity when it moves

I believe in cities. Nature makes me too anxious

America is invented (desired, discovered) by Europe

America thus becomes the contradiction of Europe, its Utopia

A city is an accidental tribe, Dostoevsky said

Nature’s beauty is so deceitful

Natural beauty can be unfaithful: The lovely mask of an original or imminent chaos

Paris It changes, but it does not hide

All of Venice is a ghost

Prague, the dead lover of Vltava

Prague, the city abandoned by its writers: Rilke, Werfel, Kundera

I write in peace because nobody calls me, nobody knows me

I look out the window

I don't go out into the relentless rain

My voyage is my desk

My tropics are my made of paper

I write and I write

Buenos Aires, a city privileged by distance and absence:

The melancholy of being unique

Mallarme: A poem neither begins not ends. It only pretends

Writing, painting, composing, thinking

These are all solitary occupations of the "I"

Imagination: Mediation between sensation and reason

Thomas Mann: A novel should weave together the thread of many human destinies in the task of crating a single idea

Jorge Semprun The life of Zurich surrounds him

[Jeaninne Escallier · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I adore Fuentes' talent, experience and knowledge certainly evidenced in his long, successful literary career, I found myself a bit bogged down by pedantic meanderings of an old man in the throes of his emotional good-byes to life. I am going through much of that myself as I age, but I keep it private. My emotional meanderings inspire me to write universal stories and complex characters. I don't think my readers want to hear my rambling thoughts just because.

However, having said all that, Fuentes was famous; I am not. There were moments in his separate chapters and litanies on the vagaries of life in general where I perked up. Aside from his chapters on Globalization and a Civil Society, I gleaned little diamonds of truth and empathy about our commonalities as human beings. His chapters on family, love, death, and friendship hit many chords in my own soul. I was particularly moved by the death of his young son who had been plagued by Hemophilia until his later 20's when life lost its luster for him. Never having had my own children, I still felt bereft for Carlos and his family, not wanting to imagine that loss and grief. But something Carlos did for his readers, which I appreciate, is how he walked us through grief and gave us the lessons we may use in our lives.

Carlos was a poet; therefore, he approached everything in his life thusly. I did feel his continual need to make us feel like poets through his analogies, beliefs, observations, and conclusions. He also gave me a taste of great writers, cinematographers, thinkers, philosophers and statesmen --- a broad view of the classics, if you will.

Is this a book you won't want to put down? Not really. Is this a book that may teach you a thing or two, or at least open the door for further exploration? Absolutely. Rest in peace Senor Fuentes, you made your mark.

[Ricardo Munguia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Este libro es una especie de diccionario-ensayo en donde el autor explora diversos conceptos, lugares o personas y comparte sus reflexiones al respecto. Una especie de antología personal sobre su forma de ver el mundo y aquello que ha influido en su forma de ser.

Para profundizar en la mente del autor, este libro nos abre una ventana y en ese sentido es interesante. Por momentos se siente medio pedante y despectivo, sobretodo cuando cita a autores que ha leído o sobre sus experiencias sexuales y gran parte de lo que aquí se escribe se ve reflejado en su obra, lo cual habla de una manera consistente de pensar del autor

También habla de espacios personales, sobre su familia, esposa e hijos. Los episodios que narra de su hijo Carlos, quien murió de complicaciones médicas un poco antes de que está obra fuera publicada quizá es lo más revelador. No ahonda mucho en el duelo, sin embargo se puede notar la tristeza cuando se refiere a él. En terminas generales este libro aporta contexto a la obra del autor y datos biográficos interesantes para aquellos que quieren leer y entender su obra. Pero creo que es interesante solo para aquellos quienes tienen ese interés por conocer al autor detrás de la obra.

[Tako Giorgadze · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a compilations of essays about art and literature, philosophy, money and economic, globalisation, history. It reveals immense knowledge and right understanding of the realms above mentioned. It would be rather too banal to cite excellent quotes I read in each chapter. Anyway I don’t see Fuentes as a Communist or Capitalist, but a wise man standing and scrutinising the modern world out of frames.
He mentions Baudelaire, François Mauriac, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Cortazar, Márquez, Borges, Joyce, Poe, Thomas Mann, his friendship will Kundera, their discussion about Kafka and these points enrich the “apetite” to read more. It can be seen his affection with cinema.
Person passionate and interested in Latin-American cultures, would love to read this book.

[Juan Herrera · Rating 4 out of 5]

Le doy 4 estrellas porque Carlos Fuentes es mi maestro en la literatura, pero el libro tendría un 3.5 y no por algo malo sino porque yo no estuve listo para entenderlo completamente en varios de los ensayos ahí plasmados. Pero en muchos más Carlos Fuentes me continúa educando con erudición, sensibilidad y sinceridad. La cereza es cuando reconoce, en términos austeros pero generosos, su paso por Quito. Luego, su reflexión sobre Ginebra no me es ajena ya que allí viví por un tiempo y ese tiempo me formó en muchos aspectos. Recomendado el libro, la biografía intelectual del maestro Fuentes.

[Andrés Eichmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me engancho Fuentes en ciertos de los capítulos del libro, en otros me perdí y leí automáticamente. Pero definitivamente me dejo una buena impresión del imaginario de Fuentes, así como sus opiniones.
No estoy acostumbrado a leer auto-biografías, pero esta me parece que fue una manera creativa de escribir una auto-biografía.
Me gustaron los capítulos de Amor, Zurich, Sexo, Silvia, Urbes ubres, Globalización, Kafka.

[Bob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though the topics are scattered (the title should have been my tip-off) and treatment and language are uneven at best, the book had value just for raising questions and directing one to new things and ideas. Fuentes can be pedantically allusive, but even that got me into dictionaries, reference books, the internet.

[Fanny Rubi · Rating 4 out of 5]

¡Lo gocé! El humor, intelecto, análisis de cada uno de los capítulos. Carlos Fuentes todo un hombre de mundo. Que admirable.

[David Quiroz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro imprescindible de Carlos Fuentes, la parte sobre los padres e hijos me hizo estragos en el corazón, es Carlos Fuentes totalmente con el cerebro y el pecho abierto.

[Pablo Fer Racines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Importante libro de Carlos Fuentes donde detalla sus aficiones y sus inquietudes como persona y escritor.

[Cecilia Del · Rating 2 out of 5]

Son ensayos breves y de auto reflexión del autor acerca de la moral, la filosofía, el amor, la política y las artes

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting way to put together a collection of essays and autobiographical stories, some of which I loved, and some not so much.

[Regina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una absoluta obra maestra.

[Fabio Luís Pérez Candelier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ensayo que aborda una variedad de temas, ordenados alfabéticamente, de las concepciones ideológicas de Fuentes, pasando por: Amistad, Amor, Belleza, Dios... escrito reflexivo, y respuestas bastantes lúcidas.

[Izzy G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy Fuentes. However... I'm not sure if the intent of this book was to elevate the discourse to the stratoshpere so that it would be out of the reach of a humble reader. Because it sure seemed like it at times. Either that or I read it during a time when the bong residue began to accumulate in my parietal lobe. In any case, some parts make you feel wholly inadequate but in others you are right there with him saying "I feel you Carlos". Overall, definitely worth the read. Organized into bite-sized morsels, some much sweeter than others. You'll be glad you took a taste.

[Joana Costa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Carlos Fuentes percorre de A a Z os temas que o definem. Talvez por gostar de saber o que outros pensam, tenha gostado deste livro.
Gostei particularmente de "globalização", "história", "ibero-américa" e "leitura".

Frases que ficaram:

"Eu amo-a porque eu sou o homem mais pontual da terra e ela, pontualmente, chega sempre tarde."

"A esquerda saudosa do que já não foi não pode ser uma esquerda construtiva do que deve ser."

"Mas uma catástrofe, diz María Zambrano, só é catastrófica se dela não nascer nada que a redima."

[Denisse Comte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Este libro es básicamente un recorrido extenso a través de la mente de Carlos Fuentes. Experimentar en estas pequeñas lecturas su opinión sobre variados temas, así como algunos de esos recuerdos trascendentales para el autor. Una lectura rica en lenguaje y llena de contenidos interesantes. Desde la globalización hasta sus autores favoritos, pasando por temas como amor y amistad. Increíble, si deseamos verdaderamente entrelazarnos con la verdadera imagen de Fuentes, este es el libro. Mas que una autobiografía formal es una manera entretenida de conocer a este autor.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book while in Mexico and it rang true to what Fuentes has seen over the years. I may not always agree with what he believes, but his sense of dignity about living in Mexico ( he wasn't born in Mexico but spent most of his life there) shines in this book. he is also a world traveller with homes outside of Mexico and he enlightens us on these places. great read.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this in the original Spanish at the recommendation of a friend. While on occasion Fuentes would share something interesting, for the most part I just didn't care about his opinion. His main purpose seemed to be convincing his reader that he was well-read and wise.

Content aside though, reading this book was good for my Spanish.