Paperweights: the recovered doctoral thesis by José María Arguedas and two other books for the week

Author: Jose Maria Arguedas

Thesis

Pages: 596

Publisher: Paidos

The recovery of Arguedas’ doctoral thesis, presented in an impeccable edition that even includes unpublished photographs taken by the author of “The deep rivers”, confirms that his anthropological work is inseparable from his literary facet. “This irregular book, then, is a good chronicle,” he himself writes, with particular humor, in the preface.

The work is the product of fieldwork carried out by Arguedas in Spain in 1958, thanks to a UNESCO grant. His goal was to study some Spanish communities, and their forms of organization, to track data that would allow him to better understand the history of indigenous communities in Peru. And that double look is carried out with a pioneering method in the anthropological field, with an emphasis on history and with a special sensitivity for contact with people.

That is why Erik Pozo speaks of “a philosophy of life that allows him to sift the scientific – and empirical – data he collects with a reasoned feeling”, while Luis Millones highlights his instinct as a writer, “capable of penetrating his oral sources”. A work of deep resonance, at a time when transculturation seems essential for our harmonious coexistence.

Editors: Cynthia Vich and Sarah Barrow

Test

Pages: 388

Publisher: University of Lima

The introductory study of this book, signed by Vich and Barrow, not only focuses on the local film production of this century, but is also a very sharp x-ray of the Peruvian sociopolitical present, which shows how linked our cinema is to reality, in different degrees.

That is why it is not surprising that the subtitle of the book, “Dynamism and uncertainty”, reflects the paradoxes that define us as a country, and that end up having repercussions on the films and the way in which they have been produced: with greater diversity and in a more decentralized way, but with the precariousness of a neoliberal system that generates inequalities; with better showcases at international festivals and on platforms, but with a still insufficient Film Law.

And it is in these dichotomies that the essays gathered in this volume focus, which shoot on topics as diverse as the role of women in cinema, regional impulses, the notion of the Peru Brand, and other issues to continue reflecting on.

Author: Madeleine Truel

Childish

Pages: 78

Publisher: Narrative machinations

As in many other cases, the personal legend of an author or author can end up devouring his work. Truel’s biography lends itself to this: a young Peruvian who traveled to France to study in 1924, but who ended up joining the Resistance during World War II, helped save Jews, and ended up imprisoned in a concentration camp.

However, this short and delicate work has an extraordinary value in itself (and serves as a subtle metaphor for his personal tragedy, too), telling the story of a boy who cannot get out of the Paris metro, but through his imagination projects dreamlike landscapes, magical characters and situations that serve as an escape from his oppressive reality locked in the subsoil in each of his stations.

Published in 1943 (the same year as “The Little Prince”), “The Subway Boy” is a beautiful story that dodged censorship and challenges us about how hope and joy can prevail over horror.