The Santa Fe New Mexican from Santa Fe, New Mexico • 90

cat for a hare The great Nicaraguan poet Jose Coronel Urtecho said to me once There are those who make a religion out of objeitivi ty and say and repeat that thev wish to be objective but I dont believe them They don't want to be objective they want to be objects in order to save themselves from human suffering Inevitably one situates onesell in a point of view in order to see reality and everything dcjvends on this jvoint of view According to what the worms have told me from their point of view a plate of spaghetti is an orgy Pasa: What does a writer see in exile that he doesn't sec at home7 hat elfect did coming home have on your writing7 Galeano: I lived 12 years exile It was a time for me that was both dillicult and prolific I believe the exile that begins to be a penance is also a challenge and I wanted to convert it to a lime of creativity Thanks to the Uruguayan generals that promised to send me to prison and thanks to the Argentinean generals that offered me death I was able to write the trilogy Memory of ne My exile gave me lime to start and realize the work that demanded an intense joh of investigation and writing and it gave me distance a distance that allowed me to separate the trees so 1 could see the woods 1 completed the third volume in Uruguay but the bulk of the work was done in exile The forced distance the certainly that one could not return to the place where one wishes to be to the land where you belong hurts greatly but also has jiosi-tive effects over the creative work The music sounds different when you're not in the middle of the dance Even though I continued on Page 60 Triumph over oppression later w'hen I wished to express myself more fully I discovered that an abyss always opened up between what 1 wanted to say and what I could say with drawing'or painting There was no other way 1 had no remedy but to become a writer and with writing I feel at least sometimes that the distance shortened between desire and the world and 1 feel that words appear to me or appear for hat I need to say I remain as they say a traumatized infant and in some way I write hoping to be clever amusing and elegant like the soccer players that I admired And in some way I paint as I write trying to create with words the images that I would like to transmit I cant write a thing not one story not one idea not one emotion if I do not see it within me From the Booh of Embitters forward I diagram my own books In the Botlt of Eniluuiiv I made some collages using antique images and 1 enjoyed the task Afterward 1 worked with Brazilian engraver Borges in Wtilimg Winds and I drew silhouettes of players and other mischievous figures in rooiball Sun and Shadow In my next book which will be published next year in English (Puliis Amha La Eviiulu del Man do al Reves which perhajvs will be translated as Legs L'p' The Siliool of an Upside-down Win Id) I reached out to the ghost of the Mexican artist who died in 1913 Jose Guadalupe Posada The ghost told me that he was delighted to work with me and we put our hands to the task Since 1 also design my books I can give myself the luxury of open white spaces From the economic jHmt of view its a waste From the point of view ol htcrarv expression it is a neies-sitv The white spac cs are spaces ol silence What would become ol wordvwithout the silences that give them meaning7 Pasa: 8 journalism talks big about its obcctivitv Do vou think there really is such a thing as lomplctclv objective ouinahsin7 Is vour wav ol blending rcioitmg with sioiv-lelling the best wav ol arm mg at 1 1 7 Galeano: I don I believe in ohcctivitv nor journalism nor in anv thing I dont know ol am human vvoi that is objective 1 he writers and oui nalists that honcsilv iroiose to be objective show their subcc-1 iv it at everv nun without even realizing it Olliers have used obectivitv as an excuse to trick the reader and they oiler a the following1 Rcioidai To remember from the Latin rc-loidts to pass back through the heart The following is an English translation of an interview conducted in Spanish with Galeano Pasatiempo: Your way of storytelling is so visual with illustrations you have chosen or made and with your snapshot way of writing Even the blank spaces in your books are a story telling dev ice or at least a writerly decision What compels you to work this way 7 Do you collect images the way vou do ideas7 Eduardo Galeano: My frustrations began in mlancv which is not otigmal il I were a rare case the isvchoanalvstx would die of hunger I ike all I ruguay ans I was born shouting Cioal and since mv eaifv veais I wanted to be a soccer ilavcr I lie was tough I alwavs had a slick lor a foot a jvoor ilavcr without redemption the shame ol the soccer held I hen I wanted to be Picasso bin I chilli I measure up I stalled in ouinahsm as a cartoonist and published mv hist poitraits and lainatuics when I was 14 when I had just started to wear long jiants and 1 didiu do it all that badlv But staff writer for the New Tinker will oin Galeano in a discussion afterward Theesentis part of the readings conversations series sponsored by The Lannan Foundation Galeano was born in Montevideo Uruguay in 1940 In 1953 when he was 13 he was publishing cartoons in the socialist newspaper El Sol He began writing for the political journal Manila in his late teens and when he was 21 became the editor of that publication He then wrote his first novel and worked at a publishing house During the 1973 military coup in I ruguay Galeano was impnsoned He lied to rgcnima for three years until a military coup sent him into exile in Spam Ills name even appealed on a list ol those condemned bv the death squads In Argentina Galeano founded the cultural magazine iisiv In 1984 he let urned home Galeano is a journalist essavisi historian and political activist Ills other books include DmwmiiJ Nigits oj I Me Mild Will Hinds and He Sue In Ins Book of I inhiMits (Notion 1989) a mixture ol anecdote memoir and fantasy lor which he also created illustrations Galeano opens with ETAIL Galeano on creativity and exile By Ruth Lopez ruguay an writer Eduardo Galeano once said write as a celebration of the secret greatness of the little and also ol a denunciation of the pettiness of the big The real grealness is inside the small things and ordinary people Galeano has presented challenges to power structures to what is considered dominant culture with an intelligence that is seanngK simple and lull ol poem rom his lust book I fie Op i i ms din 1 bin i which he wiote ai 25 to Ins cclebtalcd tilings Minion I lie Galeano has written with git at passion about the lioiror ol impeiiahsi exploitation and the triumph ol people over their oppressors He rues about hisiois with an immediacy blending eais of research with ouinulism to make literary epics Galeano will read from his work at 7 Thursday April 22 in the Armory for the Arts Lawrence YVeschler a 58- April 16- April 22 1999 WHO WHAT Eduardo Galeano Reading discussion WHEN 7pm Thursday April 22 WHERE Armory for the Arts 1050 Old Pecos Trail INFO: Tickets $5 at Garcia Street Books Call 986 0151.