EDITOR'S
NOTE: Video clips of Fuentes' lecture are available. Clip#1
and Clip#2
February 13, 2004
Social unity, education key to economic
recovery
By Leticia Vasquez
Editor
There are no perfect people. No one is free of problems
or faults, and this is something we should embrace and use to our
advantage to rebuild an economy for the people of the world. That
was the message of author Carlos Fuentes at the University of Houston’s
annual Farfel Distinguished Lecture Wednesday evening.
In his address, Fuentes, one of the titans of Mexican
literature, praised the efforts of authors William Shakespeare,
Miguel de Cervantes, Anne Bradstreet and William Faulkner, writers
who have enriched the human spirit through their imagination and
have created a new reality.
“They added something to the world that was
not before there,” Fuentes said. “They understood that
the purpose of the imagination is to transform the functions of
men and women by making us understand ourselves again and again
as problematic, as problematic beings.”
Fuentes, author of such critically praised novels
as “Inez” and “The Years with Laura Diaz,”
lauded the technological advances the United States has made over
the years but pointed out countries like Mexico that lack the knowledge
and financial backing to achieve similar goals. For them, it is
impossible to catch up to their neighbors.
“The global economy, like Mt. Everest, is
there. What we have to figure out is how we can achieve it. The
new economy has to be criticized, humanized. The necessary powers
have to socially reconstruct political control over the economy,”
he said.
Fuentes said it is important not to forget those
who surround us. With the wealth of knowledge, money and power the
Unites States has, it is important to be good neighbors and to maintain
good relations with others.
“When we exclude, we are poor; when we include,
we are rich. We have to embrace the numbers of our brothers and
sisters,” he said.
There is a world that humankind creates, but knowing
how to conquer it is the key question. What we must do now, Fuentes
said, is nurture the talents of children who will continue the paths
we have created for them. Whether it’s though their imagination,
their reasoning or their art of communication, tomorrow’s
children will continue to create a place in history that is their
own.
“We are basically back to square one. We must
find the means to build our societies from the ground up, as much
as we can with international advantages of the system, as well as
the disadvantages. Our priorities for economic recovery must be,
should be, invested in social programs, job creations, health and
education.”
Today, Fuentes, who also cultivated a career in
diplomacy, stands as Mexico’s most celebrated novelist and
essayist and one of the greatest literary figures in the Spanish-speaking
world.
Fuentes also served as Mexico’s ambassador
to France during the 1970s and is currently the Robert F. Kennedy
Professor of Latin American Studies at Harvard University.
A winner of the Miguel de Cervantes Prize —
the highest honor for a Spanish-language author — and France’s
Legion of Honor, Fuentes’ best-known novels include “The
Old Gringo,” “The Death of Artemio Cruz” and “Terra
Nostra.”
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