Santo Domingo.- The Dominican writer Pedro Vergés circulated his novel “I will already be far away”, which portrays one of the most interesting and disastrous periods in Dominican history, the 50s of the last century, with the personality of the dictator Trujillo marking the existence of each of the characters.
The launch event, organized by the Alianza Cultural association and Editorial Alto Velo, in charge of the publication, was held at the Cultural Center of Spain, and included a presentation by the literary critic, the writer and journalist Diógenes Céspedes.
For the author it is a novel developed in the form of a crossword puzzle, with all the pieces joined as links in the grid.
Vergés explained that while executing the narration he tried to stay on his guard so as not to fall into an excess of irony, “because the easiest thing is to caricature”, while keeping sarcasm to a minimum level, “because nothing is more stupid than an insult. ”
When making the presentation, the literary critic Diógenes Céspedes highlighted the successful first novel published by Vergés, “Solo ashes you will find”, which earned him, in the 1980s, the Blasco Ibáñez Award and the Spanish Critics Award.
However, the difference in time and tone between the two novels, one focused on the post-dictatorship, and the other on the last decade of the Trujillo regime, are, according to Céspedes, the only notable similarity.
“If Only Ashes You Will Find” was the disclosure and explosion of all post-dictatorship libertarian passions, well or misunderstood, “I’ll be far away” is the internalization of Trujillo’s repression by the main characters and the dozens of secondary characters that relationships of the protagonists of the three parts and the epilogue of the novel unfold in their daily actions”, highlighted the also poet and linguist.
For his part, Vergés maintained that both works are part of a trilogy, on a subject that he admits obsesses him (the Trujillo dictatorship), whose third publication is in the making.
“They are novels that should be read from the end to the beginning, not as is usually done, but “You will find only ashes” would be the first, “I’ll be far away” the second and the next one, which I don’t know what to call it yet, will be the third. ”, highlighted the also diplomat and former Minister of Culture.
The novel, which is available at the Cuesta Bookstore, uses the stories of its characters to convey the atmosphere of the years when Jhonny Abbes and the SIM (Military Intelligence Service) kept the entire country in terror.
“Using a technique closely related to great storytellers such as Vargas Llosa or Faulkner, Vergés uses the main characters in the plot as interposed narrators”, and invites you to learn about the daily life of a city suffocated by the iron dictatorship, highlights in a comment the Alto Velo publishing house.
The launch, to a full house, was attended by intellectuals, writers, academics, journalists and other personalities.