Alfredo Valenzuela I Sevilla, (EFE).- Author of four books, Javier Mije has now built a -apparently- small literary artifact, “Elementary course in misanthropy” (La Una Rota), full of sparks of wit and loads of depth against political correctness, which seems destined to be among the most original of the season.
“God helps those who ejaculate” is the thought that occupies one of the epigraphs of this -apparently- little book, with barely 140 pages, a size that fits in a shirt pocket and that is not only made up of aphorisms and quick occurrences like lashes, but also brief reflections and narratives, the longest of which does not reach half a dozen pages.
“Now only with hostesses. In the morning they fly away”, is all that is contained in the epigraph entitled “Breakfast Ellipsis”, as conceived by this theoretician of misanthropy who not only dares to suggest an epitaph for the misanthrope -“Get out of my sight”- but also an epitaph of the pessimist -“I knew it”-.
Mije also deals with digital platforms: “Sequels, prequels. Everything in case it strains”; from social networks: “And raised on a blue bird, stupidity flew out of her traditional private enclosure”; and his passion for soccer: “Goal. Minimum unit of happiness. Before it was bread and salt. It was love. The G point. The penalty spot”.
The political incorrectness of Javier Mije
From her misanthropy, Mije also defines lofty concepts such as love -“Love is sharing the same misunderstanding” and friendship -“Elegant use of the other”- and approaches the biblical texts in “Genesis”: “And the seventh day , to fully enjoy his work, he created laughter”.
The thing about Mije with political incorrectness is not due to an option, but to a conviction, that the writer “must assume the responsibility of saying what he feels”, something that he says he assumes “with pleasure” and downplaying the matter: “So far nothing bad has happened to me,” he told EFE.
“We live in a society of fear, we live in fear of offending with every word that is pronounced; Talking is now like stepping in a puddle, and that is something I notice in any public act in which I participate; the powerful tend to defend themselves… to start by closing doors, awards, scholarships, conferences…”, the author has pointed out.
“If one stands up with his word against power, it can have consequences, although I have not felt attacked by anyone”, he added to explain it by saying that his book is just “a sigh” against that order of things, “just a small book in a small publishing house.
forcefulness of the message
Although she cultivates the novel, Mije has opted for brevity in “Elementary course of misanthropy” in search of the “forcefulness of the message, as if it were a knock on the table, trying to make it have the force of a photo or a image; besides that when the language is refined the message gains strength”.
Mije lives in a town in Seville, Villa Nueva del Río y Minas, where, after years of living in the cities of Seville and Granada, she ended up not because of misanthropy but, as she comments with bitter humor, “because of the abusive, intolerable and cruel price of the rents”.
To say goodbye, the author resorts to one of the epigraphs of his book, the titled “Shut up, idiot”, which reads like this: “Too much is published, there are no filters anymore,” said the writer as he allowed himself to be photographed with his latest book under arm”. EFE