One of the biggest components of the life of humans is based on the relations that they establish with other people. These relations can be created by friendship, work, love, or by kin. In many cases, and contexts these relatives, friends, or acquaintances can hurt us the most. But that is not the case in this book, far from it of the relation between the Colombian sociologist Alfredo Molano Bravo and her granddaughter Antonia. Cartas a Antonia recounts the family bond between one Grandfather and his offspring. The love, the empathy, and the care that only the grandfathers can provide. This text is a manifest in which Alfredo Molano recounts the fraternal love that he felt for his granddaughter.
Considered one of the most reputed sociologists of the country, Molano is an obliged reference to know and decode the peoples of Colombia, as to their dreams, their customs, worries, and the many waves of abuse that they have had to endure thanks to the violence, the inequality, and the corruption that has affected along the decades the Republic. These letters were not dispatched to her sender until Molano's death. The most illustrated hiker of the nation counts to their descendants his childhood in Bogotá, which passed in the schools administrated by the Church, farms ubicated outside the metropolis, the family life with fathers, friends, employees, and pets. These situations are common during the first years of a child's life. But Molano also narrates to Antonia the violence that has bled Colombia, taking as first memory the fire that destroyed the capital when the Bogotazo occurred. This fire could be seen on the outskirts of the city.
Nevertheless, he was clear that despite sharing the same nationality, the Colombians lived the armed conflict in different ways. This depends on the geographical place where they live and their socioeconomic situation. Above all, without ignoring the absurd violence that does not have any limits and that it can affect all persons. These letters are a first-hand testimony that collects various chapters of Colombia's history: the nation's character, the distant communities, the nature, the mafia, the classism, and the problem in the obtention of private property; this book, in a right way, catalog as the origin of the armed conflict in Colombia. Cartas a Antonia, as in all Molano's works, count the voice of forgotten Colombia from a first-person perspective. This is why that Alfredo Molano Bravo takes into account some history of his personal life. For example, the dog that he scored when he was a little child, or the day that, contrary to his family, he decided to start Sociology at the National University of Colombia. In this place, he knew some of the most recognized sociologists and academics in the country: Orlando Fals Borda, Camilo Torres, and Eduardo Umaña Luna. The last pages of Cartas a Antonia are rousing, these are a testimony of the scares of a man who is dying. To sum up, this is a book about love; but, also, this is a necessary book for Colombians history.
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario