Polisapo (Labericuentos: Serie verde / LaberynthStories: Green Series)

by Augusto Roa Bastos

Polisapo está a punto de terminar la escuela y sólo piensa en ser policía Tras numerosas aventuras y descubrimientos llega, por fin, con gran esfuerzo, a la Escuela de Oficiales, pero es rechazado por ser muy pequeño, gordo, lento y por su color verde; Polisapo, quiere ser policía, sÌ, pero no a costa de cambiar el color de su piel, del que se siente orgulloso. La obra es un alegato contra la discriminación. LOS AUTORES Augusto Roa Bastos (Iturbe, 1917- Asunción, 2005) es el más importante escritor paraguayo y ha sido traducido a 25 idiomas. Con 15 años, en 1932, escapó con otros compañeros del colegio donde estudiaba, para vivir la aventura de la guerra (Guerra del Chaco entre Paraguay y Bolivia), los horrores que presenció le convirtieron en un defensor de la paz a ultranza. Fue periodista, guionista de cine, autor teatral y profesor universitario en América Latina y Europa. Ganador del Premio Cervantes en 1989, el importe del premio lo donó para la Fundación destinada a proveer gratuitamente de libros de texto y formación cultural de la niñez y la juventud, denominada Fundalibro Cervantes, que cuenta ahora con el patrocinio de las Naciones Unidas (PNUD) y de la UNESCO. LA ILUSTRADORA Claudia Ranucci nació en Roma aunque desde hace varios años vive en Madrid. Estudió Diseño e Ilustración en el Instituto Superior para las Industrias Artísticas de Urbino (Italia). Al acabar la carrera se trasladó a España donde trabajó como diseñadora en Santillana, en 1998 fundó con Marcello Conta el estudio de diseño Sparafucile design que desde el año 2004 se convirtió también en editorial adoptando el nombre de SPR MSH. Le gusta dibujar, leer, jugar con la Play Station, practicar jardinería y bricolaje.

64 pages, Paperback

Published May 24, 2007

About the author

Augusto José Antonio Roa Bastos was a noted Paraguayan novelist and short story writer, and one of the most important Latin American writers of the 20th century. As a teenager he fought in the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia, and he later worked as a journalist, screenwriter and professor. He is best known for his complex novel Yo el Supremo (I, the Supreme) and for his reception of the Premio Miguel de Cervantes in 1989, Spanish literature's most prestigious prize. Yo el Supremo is one of the foremost Latin American novels to tackle the topic of the dictator. It explores the dictations and inner thoughts of Dr. José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia, who ruled Paraguay with an iron fist and no little eccentricity from 1814 until his death in 1840.

Roa Bastos' life and writing were marked by experience with dictatorial military regimes. In 1947 he was forced into exile in Argentina, and in 1976 he fled Buenos Aires for France in similar political circumstances. Most of Roa Bastos' work was written in exile, but this did not deter him from fiercely tackling Paraguayan social and historical issues in his work. Writing in a Spanish that was at times heavily augmented by Guaraní words (the major Paraguayan indigenous language), Roa Bastos incorporated Paraguayan myths and symbols into a Baroque style known as magic realism. He is considered a late-comer to the Latin American Boom literary movement. Roa Bastos' personal canon includes the novels Hijo de hombre (1960; Son of Man) and El fiscal (1993; The Prosecutor), as well as numerous other novels, short stories, poems, and screenplays.

Roa Bastos was an exponent of the Neobaroque style that brought Latin American literature to the fore internationally in the mid-20th century. Among others, the Chilean poet Pablo Neruda is also associated with this school of writing. The style uses a complex system of metaphors that are often very closely tied to the land, flora and culture of the particular writer, especially in the case of Roa Bastos. Magic realism is a Neobaroque concept that applies such systems of metaphor to otherwise realistic settings (Yo, el Supremo being a notable example of the form). The Neobaroque style was used by many Paraguayan writers in exile after 1947 and until the 1980s. At the core of much of the work from this group are ideas of political freedom and the emancipation of their homeland.[33]

Roa Bastos started out writing poetry in the Spanish Renaissance and Baroque traditions. Later he took on "a new sensibility" in response to the poetry of Valle-Inclán, Juan Ramón Jiménez, and García Lorca. However, it is as a prose-fiction writer Roa Bastos has built his considerable reputation, through his novels and numerous short stories. Roa Bastos' novels blend the present and past by creating scenes with myths from pre-colonial times and Christian legends, developing a special kind of Magic Realism, although there are significant stylistic variations between his major novels.

Reviews

[Cassy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Trata con la inclusividad, para discutir con los niños. Me gustó su sencillez.

[Gabi]

the message of this children's story is either "inclusion is important and our differences are what make us special" or "if someone rejects you, fuck with their head so they'll change their mind"

[Mathias Balbuena · Rating 5 out of 5]

POLISAPO, ESTUDIÁ NO SEAS POLICÍA