/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS-COLOMBIA: Paradoxes of Writers and Reading

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

María Isabel García

BOGOTA, Apr 29 2003 (IPS) - A new generation of Colombian writers, taking a different path than the magical realism of their compatriot Gabriel García Márquez, are among the main attractions at the 16th International Book Fair of Bogotá, paradoxically taking place in a country that reads very little and comprehends less, according to studies.

The new authors find themselves outside of the spotlight and do not enjoy the same prestige – nor the sales – as García Márquez, Nobel Literature laureate in 1982, but their works, which in some cases approach the style of cinema-like narrative, have been well received by critics here, in Europe and in the United States, and do continue to gain ground among Colombian readers.

But the local audience for literature is small. According to the figures presented recently by culture minister Consuelo Araujo more than 40 percent of working-age Colombians do not read on a regular basis, 70 percent of schoolchildren read without an analytical or critical perspective, and around 300 of the country’s 1,500 municipalities do not have libraries.

A question included in the national household survey, conducted by the National Department of Statistics in 2001, found that the average number of books read that year was less than one per person, just 0.72, said Araujo.

The most recent Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), carried out in 2001, with results announced this month in the U.S. city of Boston, placed Colombia in 30th place out of 35 countries.

Among Colombia’s "new" writers struggling to win over the local reading audience are Laura Restrepo, Jorge Franco, Santiago Gamboa, Héctor Abad and Rafael Medina Reyes, whose books have been translated into many other languages, including English, French, German and Italian.

A common thread running through their works is the influence of urban experiences. Until the 1960s, the Colombian population was largely rural, and in that decade it became the Latin American country with most cities of more than a million people.

The exodus from the countryside to urban areas continues for economic and political reasons, particularly the decades-old civil war that has forced the internal displacement of an estimated three million Colombians.

But the new stories of action and passion, voluptuous young women, drug-trafficking guns-for-hire, guerrilla insurgence, and of course, sarcasm, will be destined to remain a minority force if current educational and economic trends are not reversed.

In the PIRLS ranking, the top countries in terms of reading literacy were Sweden, Netherlands, Britain and Bulgaria. Coming in on the list after 30th place Colombia were Argentina, Iran, Kuwait, Morocco and Belize.

Colombia’s participation in the study, conducted by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, involved 5,147 students, 4,872 parents and 189 teachers.

The survey found a low level of analytical reading ability, "because the general level of education of the parents of the students evaluated is among the lowest of all the countries participating," and Colombia was the country with fewest books in the students’ households, says Alejandro Tiana, director of the Association.

"There are no books in the homes because the parents don’t have money," says writer Pilar Lozano, whose works include 11 titles in children’s and youth literature, several of which are used in the Colombian school curriculum.

"There is an abyss between a discussion about literature with children from wealthy schools, which have libraries and an environment that stimulates reading, and poor public schools, where teachers receive meagre salaries and the children arrive at school hungry," she said.

"It is the first years of reading as a family that foster complicity with the stories, to the point that children get used to losing themselves in the fantasy of a story or a novel," Lozano said.

But there are "erroneous teaching methods that reward memorisation and not imagination, sacrificing fantasy for correct spelling, for example. Children are not asked if they enjoyed the book, but rather what year the author was born," added the writer.

In an attempt to overcome this sort of problem, the ministries of Culture and Education are taking advantage of the 16th International Book Fair of Bogotá (Apr 23 to May 5) to launch the National Reading and Libraries Plan.

The plan could be based on experiences without official backing that have proved successful in Colombia, fomented by imagination and willingness, such as the more than 150 reading clubs organised in the past six years in the southern jungles of Caguán by Reina Amparo Restrepo, a Catholic nun from the Consolata Missionary Community.

Women, the elderly, but especially children make long treks through the jungle for a weekly date with the imagination. And they can take a book home with them until the next meeting, when they share comments and collective writing exercises, Restrepo explained to IPS.

Enrique González, president of the Colombian Chamber of Books, said in comments to IPS that it is essential "to foment an alliance to promote reading," because it contributes to social progress.

The publishing industry "is going through bad times, as is the rest of the economy," and book sales on the national market have dropped from 40 million in 1995 to half that in 2002, including school textbooks, he said.

Nevertheless, "exports have made up for the decline in the domestic market. In 2001 we sold 109 million dollars in books abroad, and since the Bogotá Book Fair has existed a surplus of 626 million dollars has been created in the publishing industry’s trade balance," González noted.

The leading markets for books edited and printed in Colombia are, in descending order, Mexico, Venezuela, United States and Argentina.