Detrás de la luna

Abstract

This research-creation project has allowed the elaboration of four stories and has been carried out in the light of two key concepts in contemporary literature: the notion of the fantastic and that of the historical novel. In the first case we have used, as part of the creative inputs, the theoretical developments that have served as a basis for the analysis of classic fantastic stories from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (in this sense, we have studied authors such as Todorov, Caillois, Vax, Lovecraft, Borges, Cortázar, Rosalba Campra, among others). In the second case, we have extrapolated some theoretical concepts, coming from research on the historical novel, to the short story genre (notions such as practical past, politics of just memory, ambiguous pact, among others). The first of these conceptual inputs provides us with a basic notion in the configuration of these narratives: the supernatural; at the same time, we have made use here of the so-called themes of the fantastic in the dramatic construction of these texts (the double or doppelgänger, bestiaries and ghostly beings). The second of these conceptual inputs has led us to carry out a historical inquiry on relevant themes and characters in the past of the city of Cali, in its twentieth century; thus, in each of the stories that are the product of this creative-research work there are specific space-time coordinates, which have been established through a historiographical research. For this reason, it is proposed to call these stories as fantastic chronicles (with this oxymoron we try to refer to a type of narration that starts from clearly documented historical facts; but that in the literary treatment incorporate elements characteristic of fantastic literature, which gives rise, regarding the relationship with the readers, to an ambiguous pact). In the story entitled "La otra batalla" (The other battle), the events that took place in the city during the social outbreak of February 26, 1971 are narrated; in the story entitled "Detrás de la luna" (Behind the moon), the figure of the Cali musician Antonio María Valencia, founder of the Cali Conservatory; In "Una rosa para mamá", the capture of the heads of the so-called Cali Cartel appears as a background; finally, in "El diario de Guerra", we are told about the nightmare that this city lived in the early 90's, during the so-called cartel war, in which the most feared drug traffickers in the country confronted each other. Detrás de la luna se adentra en la memoria de una ciudad, en las huellas que esta ha dejado en la vida de sus habitantes. Los seis relatos que integran este volumen nos hablan de personajes inolvidables, como el gran músico Antonio María Valencia o el popular mendigo conocido como «El Loco» Guerra. También nos cuentan eventos estremecedores: un estallido social, un secuestro masivo, la explosión de 42 toneladas de dinamita en un barrio densamente poblado. Aquí se abordan los misterios de la genialidad artística, la búsqueda de un padre desaparecido, las fatalidades del narcotráfico o el amor en territorios de injusticia y rebeldía. Por estas narraciones pasa la historia de Cali a lo largo del siglo XX. Y en ellas se recurre a los grandes temas de la literatura fantástica: el doble, los seres fantasmales, el viaje en el tiempo, la sombra o los bestiarios. Este libro nos hechiza con su magia, su minuciosa documentación y la fina escritura de Alejandro José López