By Gustavo Borges |
Mexico City (EFE).- The Mexican writer Jorge Zepeda Patterson, 2014 Planet Award winner, assured this Sunday that reading novels is a tool to create values in human beings in present times, with so much selfishness.
«The novel is the best resource to build solidarity, also tolerance. To the extent that I can get into 300 pages to suffer and have joy with the reality of the other; to that extent I am able to worry about the sufferings of a character that is not me, “he said this Sunday in an interview with EFE.
Zepeda Patterson is currently promoting her fifth novel: “Penelope’s Dilemma”, a vigorous thriller that will be presented on February 9 at the Mauricio Achar bookstore in the south of the capital and denounces corruption and the increase in racism in the world.
Back in the United States, former Republican President Dan Thompson campaigns for a return to power and his team devises a strategy to muddy up his enemies. The writer uses fiction to denounce the tendency of politicians to dirty their rivals, rather than build projects.
«Donald Trump inaugurated a trend of a type of campaign that degrades politics, consisting of the disqualification of the adversary more than in the construction of his own arguments; there are no limits in the ideas to play dirty », he considered.
Penelope in high heels
She is an attractive woman capable of stirring up the neighborhood when she wears a skirt and high heels. The daughter of a Norwegian and a Mexican, Penelope Hunt is given an opportunity to turn her life around by being appointed director of a gang help center in Los Angeles.
In a few days, she managed to get the leaders of the two main gangs, of Hispanic origin, to sit down to talk, but a series of attacks attributed to the Latino community put her on the brink of death.
The story, which reads as if one were seeing images in the cinema, presents several conflicts, through which the author provokes reflection.
«I tried in the novel, as a suspense thriller in the context of the degradation of politics, in a dirty campaign, without limits. In order to carry out the victory of their candidate, the teams are willing to inflame the media and hatred, “said the also political analyst.
The narrator believes that in times of social networks, politics has become frivolous and carries a load of claims, unsatisfied passions and fears.
In the novel, a journalist obsessed with winning the Pulitzer Prize investigates murders attributed to Hispanics and pays with his life. Zepeda Patterson accepts that this rarely happens in the United States, but in Mexico it is common.
«In Mexico there are wild powers; Originally most of the attacks on the press arose from them, but later, in the face of impunity, today we observe that many attacks come from other interests and half of the attacks on journalists, not necessarily from murders, have a political origin », he estimated.
The hypocrisy of modern times
A doctor in political science, as well as an economist, Zepeda Patterson believes that hypocrisy reigns in politics and that there has been a double standard since the days of globalization.
«All this gospel of we are opening ourselves up because we are a great planet means that merchandise circulates, that capital circulates, but not people. We want you as consumers, to spur resources, but we don’t want you; that’s the idea,” he said.
In the case of Mexico, the writer acknowledges the achievements of the López Obrador government, but accepts that the president’s speech has divided the country.
“I believe that the polarization to which López Obrador appeals all the time has to do with the discourse of progressives against conservatives, corrupt against popular interests, etc., and it has a lot of political calculation,” he reflected.
To the question about whether there is hope for the future, he answers: «If one wanted to have tolerant children, sensitive to others, I would suggest that parents introduce them to the habit of reading, by immersing themselves in these adventures, they will turn out to be better beings. humans”.
