Culture

Montevideo commemorates 100th anniversary of Mario Benedetti's birth

Montevideo, Sep 10 (EFE), (Camera: Santiago Carbone, Raúl Martínez y Alejandro Prieto).- Montevideo marks the 100th anniversary of Mario Benedetti's birth. The poet, novelist, playwright, essayist and critic is one of the most distinguished ambassadors of the Uruguayan capital.FOOTAGE OF THE STREETS OF MONTEVIDEO. SOUNDBITES OF:-ALFREDO FONTICELLI, ARGENTINIAN JOURNALIST AND ARCHITECT:"In Mario's poems, there are important references to Montevideo, its geographical sites, mainly, but it's in his narrative, in his stories and novels, where Mario sits down, go all over and live the city, where he loves, he suffers. There is a first Montevideo, which we can say it's the Montevideo of the truce, the one Mario encounters when he's 40 years old. It's the place where he lives and works. He's a writer that writes after the office. This is like that, so in the bars, in the squares... he would walk and think...And there's a Montevideo of the exile. There's a Montevideo which, in his work, is imaginary. But he returns to Montevideo to build for himself a Montevideo when he's in the exile. And there's a third Montevideo, if you want to call it like that, which is the Montevideo of 'after-exile' like Mario would call it. It's the Montevideo to where he returns and there's a reencounter. There are several layers of Montevideo, mainly in Mario Benedetti's stories and novels. With no doubt, who 'paints his village paints the world". it's like that, but, well... Mario Benedetti can be popular and deep...and that's what makes him a citizen of Montevideo and universal. Because when I think of "Spring With a Broken Corner" and of that woman whose husband is in jail and the man's father says: 'If you fall in love for another man, it's fine, but don't tell him." And this happens here, in Spain, in Italy, in Bolivia..."-ELIZABETH VILLALBA, DIRECTOR OF TOURISM OF MONTEVIDEO:"Benedetti continues to build bridges. He is building bridges between Montevideo and foreigners, who get to know the city through his work and that is incredible and also to maintain his memory alive, the memory of such important author as Benedetti.""He is an authentic citizen of Montevideo who wrote about simple things in life, simple things in life: friendship, love, the city, the country, solidarity...very common things. He was a journalist, politician....everything...He was a citizen of the world because he was very open-minded."