Federico Reyes Heroles
I walk through the bookstore with the other hope, the one that one conceals: to find what we don’t know about, the adventure that we lose by going straight to the screen and finding instantly the desired or necessary titles that arrive in record time. There it was, blue cover -quite striking- and an introduction by Julian Barnes, a brilliant author. Blackie Books edition with provocative illustrations by Quentin Blake. I had forgotten the full title: Candide, or Optimism. Today, any recipe for optimism goes down well. He never admitted authorship. Monsieur le docteur Ralph signed it. But it became clear: it was by Voltaire. Decades of having read it in a very poor edition. Long story, short novel, “philosophical novel,” as Barnes put it, whatever, the lessons are there: we do not live in the best of all possible worlds, and things can be much worse. Let’s go on Candide’s crazy journey around the world, which is impossible for Voltaire. He discovers El Dorado in South America and invites us to navigate the human condition “… to cultivate our orchard”. Voltaire debates at a distance with Leibniz. The best of all worlds?
Notable: On Consolation, Finding Solace in Dark Times by Michael Ignatieff -Taurus- Finding Solace in Dark Times is the subtitle. It is not a walk in the park. It’s a serious philosophy book, but the harvest is huge. Ignatieff, a liberal philosopher who dabbled in Canadian politics, charts a novel navigational course: consolation. What did the Stoics seek, or Mahler or Dante and Marx, or Anna Akhmatova? There is no recipe. Ignatieff offers a brief biographical presentation and the different dilemmas of each life. Exceptional.
In this fantastic revival of Stefan Zweig Amerigo: A Comedy of Errors in History, Acantilado. A brief and passionate interweaving of a relationship distorted by the historical background. All conducted by the remarkable pen of Zweig. A joy.
Returning to them will never be superfluous: Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, Gandhi Editions. Excellent introduction, sober presentation. Book Ten: “To my soul: Will you ever attain goodness? Are you ever going to be simple, whole and naked…”. Centuries pass, and the lines live on.
In lean leadership times, it is heartening to revive these instances of thought with action. The Power of the Powerless and other writings by Václav Havel, Encuentro Publishing House, and University Institute of European Studies. Poet, playwright, and man of convictions and action, this recovery of his writings gives an account of the political poverty that lurks around. Havel, transforming and democratizing the axis of the former Czechoslovakia, grows and grows as the years go by.
Economist and futurologist, but passionate about the workings of the mind, Julio A. Millán Bojalil offers us a heretical journey, The Consciousness of Time. His compass leads us through the unfathomable ocean of the interpretation of time. Over the years, the conscience of time mutates; it must. Somehow, maturing -if such a thing exists- demands that mutation. The reader will find quotes from Paz or discussions of time in cosmology. Banco de Tecnologías, on Amazon.
Jorge Comensal, narrator, essayist, and an excellent pen with causes such as ventilating cancer and defending our environment, uncontainable passion, is now Materia viva ( Antílope). He will take us on a tour of the Galapagos with his essays, a close-up look at the manatees and vultures of Acapulco. A sensitive vision of the richness of life that we often forget.
Ugh, running out of space. Jacobo Dayán’s Weimar Republic is a painful journey through one of the most shameful institutional destructions of humanity.
Grano de Sal has accustomed us to delicious editions, now comes Mark Twain: a journey against the tide. A gray hair in the air Arboretum by K. Scott and T. Kirkham (Ocean-Traverse). A beauty.
Happy reading!
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