The Birdcage Archives

Saturday, 20 August 2016

Ignacio Padilla, Dies Age 48

Hello Gentle Reader

It would be very difficult not to mention the Latin American Boom and its respective writers, when discussing the literature of the southern (south-western) hemisphere of the world. For instance the late Gabriel Garcia Marquez will soon be issued on Colombian banknotes, in recognition to his contribution to Colombian literature and culture.  However the days of the magical flora and fauna of the jungle, and the rural and parochial stories, of the boom writers has since, fall out of fashion. Though their achievements cannot be denied, the writers of currently at work have left the magic in the jungles, and the grandparent’s homes; while they reach the more contemporary modern and always consuming new era of technology; complete with their own manifestos and literacy movements. One such movement happened in Mexico in the nineties: The Crack Movement. The Crack Movement blatantly stated that the Latin America utopian (magical) paradise, no longer existed; and they had no nostalgia for it. They discussed the realities of the dark political situations of their countries, not with parables or allegories; but with the explicit language, grit and detail of the street. These new writers discuss the changing social structures of the world, how we communicate, the prevalent desire for urbanity over the rural and the countryside. One of the Crack Movement’s greatest writers and champions of this push forward, and to move away from nostalgic past was: Ignacio Padilla. Padilla would not be considered well represented in the English language with only one novel, and one short story collection translated: “Shadow without a Name,” and “Antipodes.” Yet he was instrumental in finding his voice beyond the Latin American Boom, influencing other writers to move past the nostalgia the magical realism; and start describing the new age, with greater scrutiny. However, today at the age of forty-eight years old, Ignacio Padilla died in a car accident. The Mexican literary scene has certainly lost one of its most innovative contemporary writers.

May Ignacio Padilla, rest in peace.


Thank-you For Reading Gentle Reader
Take Care
And As Always
Stay Well Read


M. Mary

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