Binder wailing Ronceros
Since the publication of Hermits and monologues from the darkness , Antonio Gálvez Ronceros has been recognized as one of the leading storytellers in the world of people in the black communities of Chincha, south of Lima. The bulk of criticism and the recognition of which has been awarded have departed from this view. Indeed, with Gregorio Martinez, our author is part of a group of writers who shape the narrative negrista in Peru, whose origins we can trace in Felipe Pardo y Aliaga and Enrique Lopez Albujar.
However, in several books Ronceros Gálvez has ventured into other narrative spaces as social realism History men together, and chronic Adventures in Candor. His latest book of short stories published, Papers grievances and regrets (Lima, Fondo Editorial Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, 2003) is attached to the first line. A line at about the proposals of the journal Narrative, which took part in editing the second edition (1971). As is known, in the mid-sixties a group of writers, among which was Oswaldo Reynoso, Miguel Gutierrez and Eleodoro Vargas Vicuña, edited a magazine called Narrative . This publication is distinguished from others of its genre, such as South Sea or the newspaper The Sunday Trade, trying to position themselves to alternative literary publications representing the economic power groups in the country . The latter led to develop and build the Maoist thesis of art and critical realism, narrative practices, including the testimony and social commentary, which were intended to demonstrate the social and political situation of the marginalized and impoverished sectors of Peruvian society.
However, the volume is made up of eleven stories, which is Ronceros Gálvez different aspects of social reality. In general, the design of the characters and situations reminiscent of George Lukacs' critical realism: a social subject, writer, worker, teacher and critically relates to the institutionalized social reality-government, factory, school. Although it does not raise the "struggle class ", the dramatic structure of the social conflict. For example, the story "Man and Dog" is structured around the labor dispute between workers and factory owners.
Another interesting aspect in all stories is the way in addressing this social problem. In some cases, use the appeal of the metaphor to intensify the drama, as again in "Man and Dog", which tells the story of a dog in the lives of some workers in a factory. Life and health of the dog runs parallel to the lives of workers. And while at first the dog was in good health, was for scraps of food that gave the workers. But years later, product of a series of strikes, workers no longer have leftovers to give, and the dog is weakened to the point of becoming a metaphor for the situation of workers, as revealed in the following quote: "From A friend of ours did not know more [referring to dog]. Returned to the painful life of orphans, the poor walk around just like us, skinny, sad, desperate for some food, feeling the bitter taste that has life in a world where men are not present (pp. 41) " .
In other stories, the reference to social problems is direct, as in "Dinosaurs", where he mentions that: "The writer thinks he knows now why so many men, women and children live in the world bearing a load of extra years "(p. 14). Or in the story "a kick now?, Which tells the story of why a person kicked in the butt a policeman, and end in the following dialogue:" - Oh, God! ... So I could not believe that could gobbled him a kick to one of these beasts [referring to the police] -, "a kick now? Why. What they deserve is a bullet garbage "(pp.75).
Thus the narrative universe expands Ronceros Gálvez, leaving aside the world of blacks, and assuming as axis of his narrative the world of urban fringe. Poverty, abuse of authority, and social crisis are the dominant themes of this collection of stories. But this does not mean that this new vein is torn from the front. Inside the stories behind the issue of condemnation of the abuses that are objects of minorities, is also looking Monologues ... and Hermits. The variation is in how conflict is resolved. For his first books, was the humor overcome the mechanism that allowed abuses. In the latter, the festive mood has become black humor, a fact that reveals the author's moral intent. Podría discutirse la efectividad de este recurso, tal vez con razón, pero también es cierto que una de los soportes de los cuentos es la actitud comprometida del autor, en muchos casos explícita. Y eso permite que el libro alcance niveles profundamente humanos. Un humanismo cargado de moral y de sentido social, que seguramente nos hará recordar otras épocas, como el realismo socialista, pero no por ello innecesario en estos tiempos de cinismo e indiferencia social.
Carlos García Miranda
Foto: Antonio Gálvez Ronceros
