Luis García Montero: "It is the Congress of the language with the greatest number of women"

The poet of Granada Luis García Montero is also, for some time, director of the Cervantes Institute. And, therefore, one of the organizers of the organization of this VIIIth Congress of the Spanish language. Left man, husband of Almudena Grandes, lover of the language and words, delivered a nice speech at the opening of the congress. Where vague protocols are expected, his was beyond, exciting and profound, of Spanish as "the largest public space of a community" and the danger of "losing the poetic truth" of the language of our grandparents.

"It seems very important to lose the poetic truth of language," he says in one of his few moments to take notes. There is a serious philological reason, namely the meditation in a language which counts 600 million speakers and the search for universal meanings, what the literature searches, we must also respect the way the language rains in every countryhow does it become maternal for people? We must coordinate the two things, the ability to communicate and at the same time the nuances, the peculiarities of a language that has no center. We do not speak it better in one place than another, but in a different way and in this sense, it enriches us.

-We were with the anticongress people. How do you live this parallel conference, which is attended by people like María Teresa Andruetto, whom you invited to close the Spanish Language Congress on Saturday?

-I think that a congress should be a space for debate, discussion, where freedom is very important. For example, at the opening, Mario Vargas Llosa said what he thought was a good answer to Mexican President López Obrador. Today, Mempo Giardinelli has made a very critical intervention in the Argentine education system. And I think it's great that intellectuals can do this exercise of conscience and denounce what we do not like in front of ministers and governments. And there are many people from the anti-congress call who participate because we wanted to integrate them. Our domain is freedom. In this sense, I believe that more than anti-recession, as if we were facing we have to get used to discussing. Who is born in a dictatorship knows that what is really important for coexistence is freedom without fear. And in this sense, we must get used to arguing with our reasons, in the strongest way, but knowing that we are not enemies, but only people who think differently. That's why we wanted there to be voices that think differently, that's our intention. I am very pleased that, to the extent that I have been responsible, critical voices of the highest level are present in this discussion.

– This conference is calling for America and the future of Spanish. However, the other day, the newspaper The country He has published an investigation on Spanish clbades and very few Latin American authors are taught there. This surprises you?

– Yes, because at the University of Granada, we try to survive teachers of Spanish literature. Latin American literature has plans for study and in teaching loads a lot of presence, and many are doing their theses with this subject. I like to defend my country, but for that, you have to leave it. The Spaniards must badume that we are 8% of a language of nearly 600 million speakers. Organize a conference to say that America and the future of Spanish is a natural consequence of the fact that, out of 600 million speakers, 500 and more are in America. Spanish will be what happens in America, and the strength of our community has to do with what is happening in America. If you think about great writers, readers, think García Márquez, Eduardo Galeano, poets like Alejandra Pizarnik or Ida Vitale – who has just received the Cervantes Prize. They are all well known in Spain. It's normal

-It is also criticized that the theme of inclusive language does not formally appear in any of the central panels. What is your position on this issue?

– I am for, but I fear that there is a strong presence of women. I believe it is the language congress with more women participation. We are going to parity. That makes me very nervous, and I'm ashamed to talk about inclusive language and use the endsand then, at a table of ten, there are nine men and one woman who do not even speak. I am a supporter of the transformation of society, I think the theme of feminism is fundamental. I know that many of my ideas on equality, between social clbades and money, will be difficult to achieve, but I see, for example in Spain, the possibility of equality with women at all levels. levels. In the Spanish government, there are now more women than men. It seems to me that we need to use inclusive language in the most natural way. I have not talked about students for a long time, but students, and I feel more comfortable talking about human rights than about human rights. This natural is imposed on the tongue, and the symptoms of language are those of society. Now, and maybe the poet comes to me: we have a common heritage, we will try to progress in the inclusive, without making the language very bad. Sometimes, when I read a book and instead of a vowel, they put an x, it seems so ugly. I think feminism triumphs when my daughter and my mother are in agreement. And as far as the ends as friends, because my daughter maybe I would convince her that to get attention, we have to defend her, but my mother will look at us like crazy. We must reach areas that are not left to the complaisance of an elite but that are in the public space to really help us turn society into majorities.