Ser Rojo / Being Red [Spanish]

By Javier Argüello

Javier Arg ello indaga en la memoria de sus padres y la suya propia para relatar la historia del sue o roto de una generaci n que quiso cambiar el mundo.

«Los colores se intercambiaban y segu an siendo los mismos. En el fondo no se trataba de colores ni de ideas, sino de la vieja f rmula del soy m s fuerte y te aplasto que atraviesa pa ses, fronteras, ideolog as y banderas.

Los padres de Javier Arg ello se conocieron en un barco yendo a un encuentro de juventudes comunistas en Viena en 1959. Y l naci en Chile durante la Unidad Popular de Salvador Allende porque ellos hab an ido a trabajar all . Esta es la historia del sue o roto de una generaci n que crey que pod a cambiar el mundo y de las vidas interrumpidas de una familia que tuvo que huir de dos dictaduras para poder seguir adelante. Pero tambi n es la historia de un siglo XX que parti al mundo por la mitad: los que quer an apoyar el avance del socialismo y los que quer an frenarlo. Y de una pregunta incontestada que a n sigue flotando en el aire: qu fue de todos aquellos ideales de justicia y de igualdad? Se desvanecieron en el aire, sin m s? Tiene alg n sentido hoy en d a seguir aspirando a que el bien com n se anteponga al inter s individual?

A trav s de la memoria de su familia y de la suya propia, Javier Arg ello elabora en Ser rojo una brillante y personal cr tica al manique smo ideol gico y una reivindicaci n de la humanidad y la empat a como nica salvaci n de un mundo que se balancea peligrosamente en los riscos de la anomia moral.

ENGLISH DESCRIPTION

Javier Arguello dives into his parents' memories, as well as his own, to tell the story of the broken dreams of a generation that wanted to change the world.

"Colors were interchangeable yet they remained the same. At the end of the day it was not about colors or ideas, but about the old formula of "I am stronger than you and therefore I will crush you" that crosses many countries, borders, ideologies, and flags."

In 1959 Javier Arguello's parents met on a ship going to a meeting of the communist youths in Vienna. He was born in Chile, where his parents had gone to work during the Popular Unity of Salvador Allende. This is the story of the broken dreams of a generation that believed it could change the world, and of a family that had to flee from two dictatorships. But it is also the story of a 20th century that split the world in half: those who wanted to support the growth and expansion of socialism and those who wanted to stop it. But what became of all those ideals of justice and equality? Does it make any sense today to continue aspiring to put the common good before individual interest?

Through his family's, and his own, memories, Javier Arguello elaborates in Being Red a brilliant and personal criticism of ideological Manichaeism and a demand for compassion, kindness, and empathy as the world's only salvation.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: Spanish
• ISBN: 8439737467
• ISBN13: 9788439737469
• Release Date: September 2020
• Publisher: Literatura Random House
• Length: 184 Pages
• Weight: 0.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 9.0"