This is one of the most original works I've read in a long time. In it, the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano offers us a journey into the past from a unprecedented view, that of those who would normally have been forgotten by official history. Thus, this book talks about everything from women, blacks, and in general all those who have been exploited, abused, and reversed as people throughout the centuries. A reading that invites us to reflect, to learn a new image of recorded history, with the hardness that contain those tragic stories that make up the fabric of everything that came before us. The irony, open criticism, humor, poetry and storytelling are mixed dry and rough in style Galeano, who demonstrates with this book be without a doubt one of the greats of the current literature. Mirrors is structured as a collection of short stories that are distributed in a more or less chronological order, but that can be read independently. These stories trace the origin of man, with constant references to the mythologies of different peoples, some better known than others. This part is perhaps the most enjoyable to read, because they are written texts with a great sense of humor, to be enjoyed from start to finish. Galeano enough originality in some of these fragments is delicious. It is very difficult to pick out just a few excerpts from a book which itself is full of small masterpieces. However, I leave you, as always, a few lines so you can judge for yourselves:
"Since the Pope of Rome to the most humble parish priest, no priest who does not dictate sexual conduct lessons. How can they know so much about an activity they are forbidden to practice? (.. .) In 1123, the Lateran Council imposed mandatory celibacy. Since then, the Catholic Church conjures the temptation of the flesh by the vow of chastity, and is the only single company in the religious world. The Church requires its priests dedicated a full time system that protects the peace of their souls, avoiding marital quarrels and screaming baby. "
"Hitler did not invent anything. From For two thousand years, Jews are the murderers of Jesus unforgivable and guilty of every sin (...) Defendants to serve the Devil, these bloody centuries walked the expulsion expulsion and massacre killing (...) The colossal carnage organized by Hitler culminated in a long history. The hunt for Jews has always been a European sport. Now the Palestinians, who never practiced it, pay the bills. "
" Before, Europe spilled over the southern hemisphere soldiers, prisoners and starving peasants. These protagonists of colonial adventures have gone down in history as travel agents of God. It was launched to rescue civilization from barbarism. Now the journey is reversed. Those who make it or trying to get from south to north, are the protagonists of the colonial misadventures that go down in history as messengers of the devil. It launched the assault barbarism of civilization. "
" The Berlin Wall was the news every day. From morning to night we read, saw, heard, the Wall of Shame, the Wall of Shame, the Iron Curtain ... Finally, this wall, which deserved to fall, fell. But other walls sprout, and continue to emerge in the world. Although much larger than that of Berlin, they say little or nothing. Little is said about the wall that the United States are rising in the Mexican border, and little is said about the fences of Ceuta and Melilla. Almost nothing was said about the West Bank Wall, which perpetuates the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and will be fifteen times longer than the Berlin Wall, and nothing, nothing at all, they speak of Moroccan Wall, which perpetuates the theft of the country Saharawi and Moroccan kingdom is sixty times more than the Berlin Wall. Why is there so lofty walls and walls so dumb? "
writer Eduardo Galeano says, not a historian. In addition the book contains no references to support the huge amount of data that appear in it. The same author tells us at first that he has been impossible to include these sources because they would have occupied a lot of pages. This is perhaps the only "defect" that can be attributed to the work we do not know to what extent we are told in the book is true or not. But if we read with a somewhat critical eye, without the need to believe everything that we are given as true, we are without doubt an attempt to make history more than welcome, because at last taken the humble voice and disinherited have been so important in historical and unfortunately are marginalized over and over again by official sources. The unsung heroes, the brave who gave their lives to save others, or who struggled to be free in a time en la que las cadenas atenazaban a la mayoría de la población, son los protagonistas al fin de un libro que, si bien no es cien por cien histórico, les intenta devolver parte de la dignidad que el tiempo y la memoria les arrebataron. Aunque a veces su lectura se hace difícil por la dureza de algunos de los episodios relatados, creo que Espejos es una de esas joyitas que aparecen de vez en cuando en el mundo literario y que merece la pena degustar a pequeños sorbos, saboreándola desde el principio hasta el final. Altamente recomendable.
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