I note with profound sadness the passing of Carlos Fuentes, giant of Mexican letters, one of my favorite Latin American novelists. In “The Death of Artemio Cruz” he wrote one of the couplets that sticks in my head today: “Esa mañana lo esperaba con alegría. Cruzamos el río a caballo.”
Ironically, though I first read those lines 30 years ago, I only just now am grasping their meaning: He’s crossing the river. As in the one Pluto rows you across. No? Find yourself a classics major. (Hint: not Pluto, the Disney dog. Or…..could it be……..?)
Fuentes was a brilliant writer who loved politics, but like all writers who try to run for public office (think Vargas Llosa in Peru), he was bad at it. It should be obvious. The essential quality a writer must possess is honesty. The essential quality a politician must possess is………?
Que descansa en paz, Carlos.
Rupert