In Memoriam Mario Benedetti De Uruguayaanse schrijver Mario Benedetti is gisteren op 88-jarige leeftijd overleden. Benedetti schreef in de zestig jaar waarin hij als schrijver actief was, meer dan tachtig dichtbundels, romans, essays en andere werken. Een van zijn bekendste boeken is La Tregua, dat in het Nederlands is vertaald onder de titel Het Uitstel. Benedetti werd geboren op 14 september 1920 in Paso de los Toros in het department Tacuarembó.Tijdens de militaire dictatuur in Uruguay (1973-1985) woonde Benedetti in het buitenland, aanvankelijk Cuba – hij was een aanhanger van het beleid van de communistische leider Fidel Castro – en daarna jaren in Madrid. Zie ook mijn blog van 14 september 2008. The South Also Exists With its ritual of steel its great chimneys its secret scholars its siren song its neon skies its Christmas sales its cult of God the Father and of epaulets with its keys to the kingdom the North is the one who orders but down here, down hunger at hand resorts to the bitter fruit of what others decide while time passes and pass the parades and other things that the North doesn’t forbid. With its hard hope the South also exists. With its preachers its poison gases its Chicago school its owners of the Earth with its luxurious costume and its meager frame its spent defenses its expenses of defense with its epic of invasion the North is the one who orders. But down here, down each in their hideaway are men and women who know what to grasp making the most of the sun and eclipses putting useless things aside and using what is useful. With its veteran faith the South also exists. With its French horn and its Swedish academy its American sauce and its English wrenches with all its missiles and its encyclopedias its war of galaxies and its rich cruelty with all its laurels the North is the one who orders. But down here, down near the roots is where memory omits no memory and there are those who defy death for and die for and thus together achieve what was impossible that the whole world would know that the South, that the South also exists Vertaald door Yoshie Furuhashi