Language Congress: Open House

The huge stopwatch located on Plaza San Martin, which marked for months the countdown before the start of the International Congress of the Spanish Language in Cordoba (Cile), rose yesterday at zero. The numbers have therefore given their starting signal, but by looking at it, the sensation of stopped time is also installed. In the same way as walking the streets of downtown Córdoba, freed from their routine of public transportation. The avenue of General Paz, empty, was an unusual portrait for the inhabitants of Cordoba.

The entrance to the Teatro del Libertador, surrounded by journalists, official groups, police officers, photographers and people traveling from one place to another with their credentials in their necks resembled the scene of a film Action. At 8:30 am, a group of Spanish photographers fired lightning at a Don Quijote on a skateboard with a sheet metal shield. The actor Diego Dozo, the clbadic interpreter from the center of Cordova, approached the character of Cervantes as far as the barriers permitted.

The interior of the theater, in its first official, has never hosted in its seats such different personalities: artists, officials, writers, academics, candidates. Something united them, in addition to the attention paid to the scene: the need to take selfies in boxes or stands. Among the seats for the local and international press, if we spy on the screen of mobile phones, a group of WhatsApp would flash in each of them: "Cile".

The speeches of the chiefs were first developed, punctually and punctually: Governor Juan Schiaretti, President Mauricio Macri and King Felipe of Spain welcomed and each of them mentioned aspects Spanish related to the role of hosts and visitors.

The representatives of the Spanish institutions organizing the event, however, focused on some of the topics that will be discussed during the panels of these days. Rebeca Grynspan Mayufis, Secretary General of the Ibero-American General Secretariat, therefore highlighted the relationship between Spanish and indigenous languages ​​and called our language "open language to otherness" .

Luis García Montero, director of the Cervantes Institute, has reviewed the names of poems that range from Jorge Luis Borges to Salzano, from Arturo Capdevila to Alejandra Pizarnik. And he drew attention to "those who confuse freedom with the fragmentation of shared spaces".

He was followed by Santiago Muñoz Machado, director of the Royal Spanish Academy and president of the Association of Spanish-speaking Academies, who cited Cortázar as an example: Rayuela it's a lot of books, the congress is several congresses.

All recognized Víctor García de la Concha, the laureate of the inaugural session, who for health reasons could not be present. But he sent a video. Or video, as announced by the theater announcer, may be influenced by the Iberian accent of the participants.

In the seats, the public has made selfies, stream live on social networks and read the news on their cell phones. "Dollar 45", was heard in the corridors of the theater.

Speaking time

After the break, Santiago Kovadloff was the first to speak about the writers participating in the session. With a green jacket that contrasted with the earlier formality, he described the writer's figure as "man of faith" and saved the pleasure of the word "the undeniable pleasure of literature".

In addition, the Argentine intellectual has focused on what he described as the greatest fears today: "The fear of peace", who did he explained, is now fueled by fanaticism and "Manichean fervor".

When the Spanish writer Carme Riera came on stage, it was as if the set had been changed and that a new act had begun. She herself stated that she was the first writer to participate in an inaugural session.

"Women have been spoken instead of speaking," he said. His speech was the first to introduce words such as "girls and boys", "sorority", "misogyny", "poverty", "injustice" and even brought the subject. today it concerns Spanish speakers who migrate: the walls that hinder the pbadage.

Vargas Llosa

Mario Vargas Llosa, Nobel Prize winner who closed the session, true to his style, began to spice up: he began to criticize the letter that the President of Mexico, Manuel López Obrador, had addressed to the Pope and the King of Spain in which he asked them to "ask for forgiveness for the conquest".

The Peruvian writer gave a twist to the arguments of the Mexican. "The problem of these people is not a thing of the past," he said, referring to indigenous communities. And he stressed that there should be today a "moral conscience" for not having solved the problem of five centuries ago. In order not to lose the polemist's train, he added that the Spanish language brought moral awareness.

The words of the writer are the ones that elicited the most comments in the corridors of the Liberator. And he said goodbye with a scoop: the next congress of the language will take place in Arequipa, Peru.

While the Teatro del Libertador opened its doors to close the meeting, the people who had gathered in Plaza San Martín to follow live streaming from the ceremony, they did the same. "They even applauded the speeches from here," said a municipal employee.

A few hours later, the Festival of the Word, with Claudia Piñeiro and the director Marcelo Piñeyro, was followed by a crowd gathered in the Cabildo to hear about the adaptation of novels and scripts.

In the tents of Plaza San Martín, where a book fair was installed, several readers were looking for works by great authors who, for the moment, walk in the same streets as them.

The agenda of Thursday

THEATER OF THE LIBERATOR SAN MARTIN

Debate on Spanish in culture

From 15:30 to 17:00. Literature, orality and folklore.

"The Value of Spanish as a Language of Cultures Literature, Orality, Folklore." Among the participants were Alejandro Dolina, Claudia Piñeiro, Norma Morandini and Olga Fernández Latour of Botas, Patricia Córdova (Mexico) and Gastón Melo (Mexico). Ana Pizarro (Chile).

AUDREORIUM OF DIEGO OF TORRES OF UCC

Africa and Asia as horizons of the Spanish

From 18h to 19h30. What does Africa and Asia mean for Spanish speakers? Are the territories unthinkable or are their representations in Spanish? "New horizons of Spanish: Africa and Asia" is the title of the debate chaired by José Rodríguez, honorary director of the Spanish-language Academy of the Philippines and coordinated by Inmaculada González Puy (China). Participants: Ndiogou Faye (Senegal), Jingsheng Lu (China), Young-Woo Nam (Korea) and Fernando-Ignacio Ondo (Equatorial Guinea).

TRUE THEATER

Education and technology

"Teachers of badog and digital students" is the title of the conference proposed in the room Carlos Giménez, under the chairmanship of Rogelio Rodríguez Coronel, director of the Cuban Academy of Languages. Fernando Rubio (USA) will coordinate and participate in Virginia Bertolotti (Uruguay), Isolda E. Carranza, Luis Cerezo-Ceballos (USA), Ana María González Mafud (Cuba) and Segundo Píriz (Spain).

AUDIT OF THE FACULTY OF UNCLEAR SCIENCE OF THE UNC

About translation

From 18h to 19h30. Translation is one of the main bridges that unites territories of different languages. The table titled "Writing Spanish in Translation: A Creative Dialogue". President: Trad. Lidia Jeansalle (President of the Association of Public Translators of the City of Buenos Aires). Coordinator: Miguel Sáenz (Spain). Participants include Elvio Gandolfo (Argentina), Pablo Ingberg (Argentina), Adan Kovacsis (Chile), Helena Lozano (Spain) and Liliana Valenzuela (Mexico-United States).

UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

Live Luthiers

At 21 years old. As part of the congress performances, the band of music and humor will be presented at the Avenida de la Reforma, organized by Cultura de la Nación. Marcos Mundstock, Jorge Maronna, Carlos Lopez Puccio, Horacio Turano, Martin O'Connor and Tomas Mayer Wolf will be present.

WORLD FESTIVAL

At 14 hours. Informative interview "The origin of Spanish", by the general coordinator of the San Millán Foundation. In the conversation dome, Plaza San Martín.

From 14 to 17 years old. Córdoba Literature Games. Writing workshops of invention. Workshop area. In the Herbert Diehl room.

At 16 years old. Workshop "The medieval scriptorium", San Millán Foundation of Cogolla. The young people will put themselves in the place of the Benedictine monks who, in the Middle Ages, worked in the scriptorium of the monastery of Suso. Given by Adolfo Falces and Mariola Andonegui. In the Conversatorio dome.

At 20 years. Reading poems by Benjamin Prado. In the main patio, Cabildo de Córdoba.

Moments of attention

To see once. Tomorrow, from 9:30 to 20:00, will be held a historic event at the Museum of Religious Art Juan de Tejeda: the Codex will be exhibited, containing the original writing of the first Argentine poet, Luis José de Tejeda. This is the first time that the manuscript will be seen for more than 300 years and it is very likely that it will not happen again. It is a manuscript of 308 folios, 16.5 by 10 centimeters in size, on old paper, covered with parchment, hemp ribs and alum-tanned goatskin, loops of the same material , hemp yarn and ink. ferrogálica. It dates from the year 1663. This exhibition is called "Memories of a Pilgrim to Babylon", accompanied by two of the three editions of Tejeda's work: Lyrical crowns, by Enrique Martínez Paz (Córdoba edition, 1917) and the Book of various treatises and news, by Jorge Furt (Buenos Aires edition of 1947). There will also be original works of poems written by Carmelite sisters of the San José Monastery in the early 19th century, considered as the first expression of Argentine women's literature.

The joke "skinny". The comedian "El Flaco" Pailos (photo) was one of the guests at the opening ceremony of the Cile. Well located in the Tertulia del Libertador, some have heard complain in his own way: "They say so much that we have to take care of the language and have already pronounced" often "of the shell". In full solemn act: the joke was paid in tribute to Víctor García de la Concha, during three terms as director of the Royal Spanish Academy, honored in Cordoba.

The "historic landmark Cile" was inaugurated. Intendant Ramón Mestre inaugurated before the law school the "Historical Milestones of the Cile", alongside the provincial authorities, the Chamber of Tourism, the Economic Development Agency of the city (Adec), the Academy Kingdom of Spain and the Organizing Committee. "The work of Rodrigo Schiavoni and Adán Yenerich is a balance between the material legacy left by the Cile and an intangible heritage," Mestre said. The contest was organized by the municipality, the Chamber of Tourism and Adec.

Closing artists. For the musical touch has been confirmed to Jorge Rojas and Soledad Pastorutti. With free entry, they will perform on Saturday at 21h on the stage of the Boulevard de la Reforma, Ciudad Universitaria.

In the bars. On the initiative of Córdoba's tourist and gastronomy chambers, the Córdoba bars have surprises in El Cile. FM Café printed a special series referring to the Congress of its sugar packets, with the logo of the meeting and a message inviting to know Córdoba. At the same time, as part of a series of twinnings with the region of Vicuña and Coquimbo (Chile), tablecloths with an image and texts by Gabriela Mistral were placed in the bars of the Chamber.

Recommended

Alejandro Dolina. The radio conductor, musician and author of books such as Crónicas del Ángel Gris and Bar del Infierno will participate in a lecture on "The Value of Spanish as a Language of Cultures" at the Teatro del Libertador.

Helena Lozano The Spanish writer and translator will participate in the painting "The Writing of Spanish in Translation: A Creative Dialogue", in the auditorium of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Physical and Natural Sciences.

Benjamín Prado. Poetry lovers have an appointment at 8 pm at the Patio Mayor del Cabildo with the presentation of the Spanish writer and poet, also co-author of some songs of Joaquín Sabina.