Extra-literary reasons
I’ve been a reader since I was 13, and have been for the rest of my life. I say this to point out that with so much time reading I have developed a kind of sense about words that I recognize in myself. What I am going to point out below is of no use whatsoever, I just want to leave it here as a curiosity, nothing more. I have entitled this text with the title of extraliterary reasons because, although based on literature, they go (or come) beyond what their authors wrote.
I begin with Guy de Maupassant’s book, Boule de Suif, which I read in a Mexican edition with a very modest cover that made it very attractive for that reason. Obviously the paper was white, but, after a few pages of reading, I don’t know why, I clearly felt that those pages had a slight blue color that turned them into something marine. The only thing I could explain to myself was that, no doubt, such an effect was given by the stories and the way Moupassant’s writing had achieved. That was, for me, a kind of demonstration of the mastery of this great writer.
We continue with a short story (I believe that this consideration that I will talk about in a moment extends to all his work) by Juan José Arreola, “La vida privada”, in which I realize perfectly well that Arreola was aware of what he was writing word for word. I don’t know if this seems obvious to many of you, but for me there are many writers who write…
