Human Values

"The pain was carving the meat of the men who were to transform the earth. Damn one hour had come. It was not possible to be at peace. In the depths of souls forests multiplied monstrous passions. He blindly loved or hated. He loved or hated the Republicans or the Goths, Creole and Spanish who served the king. It seemed that after the long quiet of the colony was time for a carnival of madness.?

And indeed it was ... and it seems that this is ...

The author of this paragraph and exceptional book that contains it, "The red lances?, Arturo Uslar Pietri was one of the greatest men of letters, political and cultural diffusion Venezuelan, born on a day like today, 16 May 1906 in the city of Caracas.

A man whose family history is inextricably linked to the history of Venezuela as from the "first? Set foot on Venezuelan soil Uslar established that relationship, I mean Johann von Uslar, soldier of German descent educated in England and who after serving in the English army beside Wellington, decided in 1819 to organize an expedition with 36 officers and about 300 soldiers and sail for Venezuela to assist the independence struggle. (I promise to write an article on the subject of foreign legions in the independence of Venezuela, the material is rather small but extremely interesting and revealing and one of the sources is precisely Juan Uslar Pietri, younger brother of Arturo Uslar Pietri).

The family's military tradition in Venezuela Uslar lasted until the father of Arturo Uslar Pietri: General Arturo Uslar Santamaria and by this means is that the connection is coming with the family of Juan Vicente Gómez in the early years of the writer and the first contacts with the political realities of Venezuela. A historical fact that even in these terms of almost daily resulted in a deep and first-hand that was exposed and reflected in his novel "Office of the Dead? first published in 1976.

With a self confessed classical training, because as he himself stated in an interview he conducted Arráiz Lucca ("Showdown?, Ares Collection, The Books of El Nacional, 2001) formal academic training before entering Central University of Venezuela in 1923 where he studied political science, was very poor and were the experiences of life, his numerous travels and an insatiable curiosity which combined to structure their training, an incredibly vast as is evident in the readings from his novels, short stories and essays, or through a long series of TV's "Human Values? or very long relationship with the readers of his column "Blackboard? in the Daily National for a time was director.

Paragraph that begins this article was removed, as I said, the novel "The red lances?, The first novel Uslar, published in 1931 and immediately hailed as" the best novel of the month? and it was written, according to the author, in three months, having been originally conceived as a screenplay, maybe that's why the descriptions are so vivid and so dramatically compelling "images? narratives.

At the time of publication of this great novel and Uslar Pietri had excelled as a storyteller tales and short stories published in many magazines, a substantial selection of these early stories were collected in the book "Barabbas and other stories? in 1928, and the first vehicle of literary expression was one of the great passions of Uslar and continued to produce short stories (between 70 and 80 according to their own accounts) that would be integrated into later collections such as "Red? in 1936, "Thirty men and Shadows? in 1949 and "Steps and Passenger? in 1966.

To make a consistent relationship of the work of Uslar Pietri is inevitable and necessary to make a record of their entire life, not just as a man of letters but as a teacher and especially as a politician and a man linked to the history and the exercise of power in Venezuela .

"The red lances? was published in Spain in the period Uslar Pietri was living in Paris working in a secretarial position in the Venezuelan diplomatic mission when he was just 23 years old and just graduated. A year after his return to Venezuela in 1934, General Gomez died, an event that would be years later, the thread of the plot of "Office of the Dead?, And that was the beginning of the renovation and opening of the country initiated by the "designated successor? by Gomez: General Eleazar López Contreras with whom he worked as head of the Economic Section of the Ministry of Finance and later as Director of Policy, shortly after he became director of Immigration and Colonization Institute, this was a time of great political which meant the final break with the oppressive past, changes that deepened during the government of López Contreras successor, General Isaias Medina Angarita. Uslar Pietri, at 33 years was the youngest minister to be appointed as Minister of Education, the first formal charges in the areas of decision-making power in Venezuela.

After a stint in the cabinet of education, Uslar Pietri was appointed to the office of the President in the newly released government of General Medina Angarita, subsequently held, until the time of the coup that overthrew Medina in 1945, the post of Minister of the Interior from where, and include it as anecdotal, drove the first system of identification and identity cards of Venezuela.

During these years of intense political life Uslar Pietri did not overlook his literary passion, and informative essays and in addition to his work as a columnist for the newspaper "now?, Founded the" Journal of Finance?, Chaired the Writers Association of Venezuela and teaches Political Economy at the Faculty of Law at the Universidad Central de Venezuela, which would later become the germ of the Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences of the University at this time is that it works with other prominent authors in the creation of a body of texts would be published under the title "Summary of Venezuelan Economy? and promoted the founding of the Venezuelan Popular Library also participated in the drafting of the Organic Law of Education.

After the coup came the exile and live in Canada and then New York where he taught at Columbia University, 1947 and was the product of teaching experience during this period is the book "Men of Letters and Venezuela? 1948, which highlights his insightful and advanced perception of magical realism in our literature. It is in these years of work and published his novel "The Road to El Dorado?, Story of the titanic and bloody epic" Tyrant? Lope de Aguirre for South American land.

Uslar returned to Venezuela in 1950, during the dictatorship of Perez Jimenez and is incorporated as a Professor of Literature at the Universidad Central de Venezuela and has entered the world of advertising with Carlos Eduardo Frias and Alejo Carpentier in addition to running the "Literary Paper ? of the newspaper El Nacional. In 1952, shortly after his return to Venezuela, he began what would be a milestone in the informative work of Venezuelan television history: its "Human Values?.

Shortly after the overthrow of the dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jimenez in 1958, Uslar Pietri returned to politics and was elected in 1959 as Independent Senator, in 1963, ending the tenure of President Romulo Betancourt, founded a political party which participates as a candidate the presidency in elections Raul Leoni went on to win with his party participating in the coalition of parties necessary for the support of government, but there are differences and once removed from the coalition remained in Congress, being in the 1968 elections his last participation in the political party in Venezuela. That same year to 1974 began his work as editor of the newspaper El Nacional. In 1975 he began his tenure as Ambassador, Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, which lasted until 1979.

In the novels already mentioned you need to add "A Portrait in geography? 1962 and "Season of Masks? 1964 and between 1981 and 1990, after his experience in UNESCO are "The Island of Robinson? and "The Visit at the time?, work that earned him the literature prize in 1990 Prince of Asturias.

You can not put aside his work as an essayist, after "Men of Letters and Venezuela? published "From one to another Venezuela?, which reflects the ills of our country. Then came "The Clouds" (1952), "Notes for Portraits" (1952) and "Venezuelan Land" (1953). In 1955 he published "A Brief History of the Latin American novel" and "Blackboard", a book which contains a series of newspaper articles of his eponymous column in El Nacional.

In 1974 he published two books, one entitled "Twenty-five tests" that amounts to an anthology of other already published in previous books, and the second called "The Other America? To be followed in 1975," The Globe Colors? to convey his particular vision of the world as a tireless traveler, also sees the light of the book of essays on pedagogy "Educating To Venezuela? and the novel" Samuel Robinson?.

Finally, I note the production of plays, collected in 1962 in a volume with the title "Theater" in which includes four works: "Antero Alban's Day," "The Thebaid", "La Fuga de Miranda" and " The invisible God ", which must be added" Chuo Gil?, not included in this volume to be higher. A Uslar Pietri known only one book of poetry: "Hands" dedicated to his wife Isabel Bravo and published in 1973.

Away from active political life remained, however, very aware of the events during his long life were shaping our present, participating in the last years of his life in the "group of remarkable? who tried to give some sense of direction to national politics during the stormy period of the last government of Carlos Andres Perez, his removal from power and all the consequences that this has meant for Venezuela. It is not clear, (for he certainly never explained or justified), their real participation or knowledge in all these events because, in his own statements to the media at that time, merely expressed their opinion and their deep concern direction it was taking the country and lets the story about unflattering statements and opinions toward our current president contained in the interview that I mentioned Rafael Arráiz granted to Lucca in 2001 and published in book form.

Arturo Uslar Pietri died in Caracas on February 26, 2001, at 95 years old, leaving a vast literary and essayistic not lost any validity for having always an insightful ability to envision the realities of the world and its ways. .. and certainly their destinations. Today May 16, 2007 is 101 years since his birth and "Give to Caesar what is Caesar's?, As I may not share their particular many political vision but would be totally stupid and unforgivable to ignore and not enthusiastic celebrate and thank and humbly we had the good fortune to count among Venezuelans us to this great man and his vast, deep and vital cultural heritage.