Paperweights: a reissue of Augusto Effio and two other recommended books for the week

Author: Augusto Effio

Stories

Pages: 118

Publisher: Peiza

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the author of the book mentions a film by the Coen brothers in one of his epigraphs. As in several of his films, the stories in “Lecciones de origami” are set in a small (and fictional) town in Peru, with somewhat absurd situations of crime and corruption, and through gray characters, of a mediocrity that seems not make them worthy enough to star in a story.

But it is the monotony of these individuals – from a medical sales representative to a ministry employee, from a pirate film salesman to some discharged police officer – that leads them to almost desperately pursue some outstanding fact, a mishap that breaks at least for an instant the “rough and sour boredom” in which they live submerged. In these stories, there is always an attempt to break the mediocre status quo of a small town marked by state bureaucracy, institutional rings, petty crimes.

The incidents in that dark and poorly lit San Cristóbal where the six stories of the book take place could be nothing more than bland police reports from some local television channel. Instead, it manages to configure itself as a surprisingly attractive and hypnotic place thanks to the language and narrative talent of Effio, always meticulous in his descriptions and allegories, and precise in what he reveals and what he does not.

Author: Carina Moreno Baca

Rehearsal

Pages: 112

Publisher: Municipality of Lima

This research focuses on three important performing arts festivals that, paradoxically, carry their relevance with an almost always ephemeral life. Why don’t these cultural bets last in a city like Lima? Is it true that there is no audience for them? Does politics influence your conception?

These are just some of the questions that can be answered (or at least put into discussion) thanks to this well-documented book by culture manager Carina Moreno. She addresses the cases of the Lima International Dance and Theater Festival (which held five editions between 1998 and 2002), the Lima Performing Arts Festival, better known as FAEL (three editions, from 2012 to 2014), and the FAE Lima (heir to the previous one, which began in 2017 and will hold its sixth edition next March).

Supported by revealing figures, photographs and graphs, as well as testimonies from organizers such as Karin Elmore and Marisol Palacios, “La historia sin fin” is a notable contribution not only to the scenic sector, but to all cultural management in our country.

The book is available as a free download at https://bit.ly/3AxJgan

Author: Ursula Alvarado Noblecilla

Poetry

Pages: 44

Publisher: Hanan Harawi

There are two well-differentiated parts of this collection of poems. I begin with the second, “Voice of the forest”, in which he reflects on the idea of ​​the body (his own and that of others), but above all he seeks to fuse that body with nature, to make it one with it. Poems like “Transmutation” or “Winds” provide subtle references to elements such as leaves, birds and light, which work because of their delicacy and sensitivity.

On the other hand, the first part of the book, “Hoja al emptied”, is darker but also more successful. Here the allusions to death or illness are stark at times, with some verses reminiscent of that Watanabe who went from clear images to the driest pain. The cold and aseptic spaces of the hospital and the medical terminology mark this set of poems that understands when to resort to rhetorical figures and when to palpate reality without hesitation. Like when he writes: “A body bitten a thousand times is no use as a metaphor.”