Sal (T4 E39)

Empezamos el episodio con una entrevista a Luana Studer, autor del libro Atrapados en sal y fuego, la historia de un batallón de republicanos penados que construyó la carretera de las Cañadas del Teide. 

De nuestro baúl particular destacamos “el salitre”, siempre presente en Canarias y que aparece mencionado incluso en el himno de las islas.

La gran mayoría de libros malditos relacionados con la magia hablan de la sal como elemento vinculado a la suerte o a la mala suerte, incluyendo ritos para aprovecharse de su poder. Hablamos de ellos en la sección dedicada a esos libros prohibidos.

En nuestro espacio dedicado a las mujeres en la literatura, recordamos la novela El precio de la sal, escrita por Patricia Highsmith en la década de los años 50 del siglo pasado, en la que el amor entre dos mujeres es la protagonista de la historia.

Ernest Miller Hemingway escribió siete novelas. Una de ellas, en 1952, se tituló El viejo y el mar; al año siguiente le otorgaron el Premio Nobel de Literatura. Se han hecho diferentes adaptaciones de esta novela, incluidas para un público infantil y juvenil. Una obra que ha sido llevada al cine en numerosas ocasiones. Un libro que sabe a mar, una obra ensalitrada, y que dicen, además, que tienen vinculaciones con Canarias. 

Elizabeth López nos animará a pensar y reflexionar sobre el poder de la literatura y su capacidad para hacernos ver nuestro mundo desde otras perspectivas, en el espacio Libros que Sanan.

Hemos invitado a la Isla de San Borondón, a Ana Belén Hormiga, para hablar de su último trabajo, Tierra, gofio, sal, publicado por la Editorial Anaya, dentro de su serie El Volcán. 

Acabamos con un poema del poeta gomero, Pedro García Cabrera.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Nothing like a book. It isa podcast sponsored by the Canary Islands Library
of the Government of the Canary Islands, conducted by Juan Carlos Saavedra and Daniel
Martín. The room has served asa currency of payment, as a tax.
It has been the cause of revolutionsand wars. The symbol in various
cultures of fertility and health is attributedto protection in the face of nature.

(00:24):
Dark means purity, represents loyalty,a necessary mineral that has served to season
poems, nuance the taste of proseand preserve the taste of each word.

(00:47):
Well, Dani, let' sstart a new podcast and let' s
share with our listeners the summary froma wonderful place for those who like literature,
from the Parque San Telmo, inthe middle of the fair, of
the book of Las Palmas de GranCanaria, because I am Juan Carlos very
good days and today it goes onsalt in all its manifestations, because,
besides, the salt has a veryimportant symbolism. I don' t think
it' s about keeping and cleaningand cleaning. I used to tell you

(01:11):
how at home, even salt waspoured sometimes in some areas of the house
and allowed to act. I neverknew how it came about. Then it
was swept away to clean up thosebad figs too, so look. Salt
also has a negative component for certainpeople, those who were part of a
squadron of Republican retaliatorys who worked buildingthe road of the Teide ravines and who

(01:37):
Luana Studer collect his book Trapped betweensalt and Fire I interviewed and a very
curious experience that also reflects a blackstage of our past, as Mira there
is a novel. If we nameIrmens hem Way, of course, we
talk about many of his works,but above all the old and the sea.

(01:59):
Right after publication, he is awardedthe Nobel Prize. And it is
a novel that has a lot ofrelationship with the sea, with salt but
also with the Canary Islands, becauseit is said that one of the protagonists
of the novel, that the protagonistof the novel is inspired by the writer
in a zarootenoño that patronized one ofhis ships. And I, looking for

(02:20):
our particular trunk, found a verycurious reference to saltpetre, which is present
in all the Canary Islands. AndI don' t know if our listeners
know that even saltpetre is mentioned inour national anthem. Elizabel López will encourage
us to think and reflect on thepower of literature and its ability to make
us see the world of other perspectivesto sometimes give it a pisco of ce

(02:45):
salt that gives it a different flavor. And in cursed books we will talk
about the salt that appears referenced inthese kinds of books in many ways,
both to do good and to doevil. We' ll even see how
you have to act when the roomfalls to the ground to prevent a curse
from falling on you look. Idon' t know if I' m
dedicated to it, but I assureyou that I enjoyed very, very much

(03:08):
reading the work of Annabelenga Hormiga,Tierra, Gofio and Sal and that'
s why we invited him in ourspace of Samorondon to tell us about this
novel of his history and the charactersand how salt is also present in this
work and in the case of VeronicaGarcia he will tell us about a book
called The Price of Salt, writtenin one thousand nine hundred fifty- two

(03:29):
by Patricia Hermens, which very curiouslycollects a love between two women in a
different way than had been reflected upto that time in literature, and salt
has also been very present in thepoetry that is done on the islands.
In this case we will end apoem by the pantanero poet Pedro García Cabrera.
Well, nothing. I hope thatthose of our listeners do not have

(03:50):
to keep salt so that they knowbetter what this podcast is, because Dani
has already put summary. If it' s okay with you, let'
s go through the fair stands andsee WHAT again in literature look, because
you accompany yourself. We' renot going there. Come on, for
example, nothing like a book.We don' t like traveling alone.
So, on today' s journeywe are accompanied by Luana Stutder welcome to

(04:14):
nothing like a hello book. Howabout good afternoon, the mario and the
saltpetre that surrounds us and the lavaof our Volcanoes have inspired hundreds of poets.
However, they also became a harshprison for men whose only crime was
to think differently from the winners ofa war. That human popeia appears in
your book caught between Sali and thefire. Why you decided to pick up

(04:36):
in a book what happened to theninety- one disciplinary battalion of soldiers,
convicted workers in Tenderife. Well,it has to be said that we find
the history of the ninety- oneBattalion casually, or in the year two
thousand eleven, when we are ina research project analyzing precisely the history of

(04:58):
the retaliated in the unity of Tenarisfor Francoism, specifically the cases of the
disappeared in the Teide ravines. Ithad always been spoken by the families of
the survivors of the Francoist repression inTenerife, that the cannons of the size
in an area of disappearance of peopledue to political issues. Then, in
the year two thousand eleven, aproject emerged to conduct oral interviews in the

(05:21):
municipalities surrounding the Teide National Park.There they told us about a Naraphus person
who had been stationed in a battalionof convicted workers between the year forty-
one and the year forty- threeand we went to interview him, and
that' s where the story arose. It came up to us, rather,
the story of drummer ninety- one. And this person was calledÁngel

(05:42):
Fernández Scissor, one of the lastsurvivors of the battalion. And from there
we learned the story of the ninety- one battalion, which was a battalion
of forced workers drawn Republicans teded fromthe Peninsula to Tenerife. From there,
when we interviewed, we saw thatthere was a lot of documentation about the
battalion. We were able to interviewthe other of the survivors, the last
two survivors of the ninety- onebattery, and there were people with a

(06:08):
wealth of information, and from there, I decided to publish a book that
bears that title last year and youalready tell me that the origin was from
different parts of the State. Notonly were there Canarios, but what work
they were assigned to do as aprisoner. Yes, indeed, the formation
of the ninety- one Battalion was1, 500 men brought to the Canary
Islands. It was divided into threecompanies. The first company was destined to

(06:29):
Tenerife, and the second company GranCanaria and the third company to Fuerte Aventura.
The origin was very varied, fromBasque Country, Cantabria, Valencian Community,
Aragon, Madrid, Andalusia and werebrought specifically for the construction of roads
on the three islands I mentioned.In the case of tenerifo they were completely

(06:49):
destined to make the roads of theNational Park of the Workshop before the year
of one thousand nine hundred forty-one, the national park that did not
exist as such, that was alater category. There were no roads,
there were the old shepherd trails thathe studied, for example, Luis Diego
Cuscoy, but there were no roads. This battalion, this first company of
the Batillon ninety- one was destinedto make the roads of the current Teide

(07:12):
National Park, the roads that wouldlink the gate first with the Bokatausa,
where is the crossing between guide andsolid and the flower, to descend later
to this villaflor, connecting the portillowith life flower of Jarna. That was
the main objective of the ninety-one battalion in Tenerife, which was to
build the roads of the current NationalPark. How it could be a normal

(07:33):
day of suspicion. Well, itmust be said that these people were subjected
to very extreme conditions. First ofall, because in the Tade reeds we
are in a very complicated weather situation. They established several camps along the construction
of the road that we have talkedabout, namely five camps. They were

(07:58):
subjected to very high weather conditions,as everyone can now understand in the Teide
ravines, for imagine being there fortwo years opening a cold road, heat,
rain, etcetera, etcetera. Onthe other hand, they are also
subjected to poor feeding conditions. Onthe part of the militia, which often
also guarded them against physical ill-treatment, because they were punished for different

(08:22):
reasons and, therefore, was nota sufficiently complex situation for the members of
the battalion. In fact, threeof them died from different causes above in
the reeds of Teide. One ofthem escaped his name Ambloso Fernández Haya,
a person from Cantabria, a boya nineteen years old, escaped the battalion
and was intercepted by members of themilitia and shot down by the rock that

(08:45):
is San Miguel. Another of themwas run over by a militia sergeant with
a truck that this person was ina drunk state, ran him over and
another person was executed and buried ina win way, and we don'
t know the exact place where hewent, where he' s buried,
you comment that you talked to peoplewho were out there and with relatives.
I guess that would mark you forthe rest of your life staying in that

(09:07):
place. Yes, we were luckyenough to interview the last two living members
of battalion ninety- one and thenwe spoke clearly to their relatives. And
then we had an interview with people, especially Billa Flor de Jasna, who
lived, that is, who werestill alive ten years ago and who lived

(09:28):
with the battalion people. In theforty- second year, when they arrived
in Villa Flor, we interviewed aperson who made them eat a man who
also met them at that time.Then we were interviewing with different neighbors especially
Villa Flor de Jana, who gaveus information about the permanence of the ninety
- one battalion in Villaflor, whichwas the last trab the last stretch of
road, covered with the ravines.Evidently, this violence marked the later life

(09:54):
of many of them who survived thedictatorship. Such is the case that,
for good or for bad, alsofor good of them returned once the battalion
was dissolved in the year forty-five, because this battalion was then destined
to Morocco and Morocco, to thevalley of Cuelgamuro to build the Valley of
the Fallen. And in the forty- fifth year, when the Valley of
the Fallen ended, many of themwere discharged. Many of these men later

(10:16):
returned to Tenerife, because they hadmet young girls from both Villafru and Arafo,
and married them, settling on theisland of Tenerife later and thus creating
an Entrenerife family, and all throughouttheir lives, as they remained on the
island. This was the case ofÁngel Fernández Tijero and other episodes of Franco
' s repression are reflected in thebook in the area of Billaflor, Yenno

(10:39):
or surrounding area. Not that bookis specifically focused on Battalion ninety- one.
Last year, for example, wehave been able to publish other publications,
which refer, for example, towomen from earlier backgrounds in the lagoon.
But it' s getting caught upin conquetros between came out and fire

(11:00):
between payments, including the sea andthe Volcanoes. A metaphor that we decided
to do so speaks specifically of Battalionninety- one on the island of Tenerife.
The second company of Batalló 90-one in Gran Canal and the third
company in Fuerte Aventura remain to beinvestigated. In the book we make references
far above the other companies, butthe work that remains of research to do

(11:22):
the Battle Ninety- one in theCanary Islands is mainly in Gran Canaria and
on the island of Fuerte Aventura.It' s still in the Canary Islands.
So democratic memory is a pending subject. I think so for several reasons.
First, because of the recognition ofthe retaliated truth that things have been
done, things are being done.It was also recently placed on a plaque,

(11:46):
for example, in a cemetery inSan Juan, in the municipality of
San Cristóbal de la Laguna. However, I believe that acts still have to
be recognized. Recognition also remains tobe done at the level of research publications.
It is true that during all theseyears, the researchers that we dedicated
ourselves to seeing civilians in the CanaryIslands, we have published things about the

(12:07):
disappeared, we have published things aboutthe prison universe of Francoism, we have
published things about saying, the shootings. But there is still a repression,
a repression that is not so penceptible, for example, social expression, economic
repression, which still needs to beinvestigated. And, on the other hand,
I believe that more coverage should begiven to research projects, university funding,

(12:31):
etcetera, etcetera. So, althoughthings have been done since the eighties,
it is true that Solos has playeda part of the representative in the
Canary Islands, because Stuther, theauthor of the book trapped between salt and
fire, has told us about theharsh life lived by these reprefried people.
Thank you for joining us in nothinglike a book. Nothing, thank you

(12:52):
very much. Nothing like a book. We follow the footsteps of women in
literature. Fortunately, today, publishinga novel based on love between two women

(13:13):
is no scandal. However, publishingit in the fifties of the last century
meant challenging the conservative mentality of societyat that time. That was what happened
in the year in a thousand ninehundred and fifty- two in the United
States, when the novel The Priceof Salt, whose author used the pseudonym

(13:35):
Claire Morgan, was edited. Followingthe pseudonym was writer Patricia Hismish. With
her publication, the author moved awayfrom the genre of suspense, which earned
her worldwide recognition for works such asstrangers on a train that was taken to
the cinema by Atz Frescisko to herimagination. We must also create the character

(13:56):
Tom Ripley a moral offender who alwaysmanages to avoid the action of justice and
who was also taken to the cinemaon numerous occasions. The publication of the
novel. The price of salt wasnot an easy task, as several publishers
refused to do so because of itshomosexual theme. The work sold more than
a million copies, which served tonormalize love among women of the same sex.

(14:22):
To write the price of salt,the writer relied on her own experience
working for Christmas in a department storeand waiting for the publication of strangers on
a train, she noticed a womanwho passed in front of her what she
felt At that moment she discovered hertrue sexuality until that repressed moment. The

(14:45):
end of his novel was a realrevolution in homosexual issues. Most of the
works prior to his were male-headed and always ended up in tragedy as
a metaphor for how unnatural such relationshipswere. However, the protagonists of the
price of salt have a happy ending, since their love deserves no punishment or

(15:07):
social reproach. It would not beuntil the year one thousand or nine hundred
and eighty- nine, when thenovel was republished, signed by its author
under the title of Carol. Inthe foreword to that new edition he congratulated
himself for helping thousands of lesbians whofelt bad about themselves because of their sexuality.

(15:31):
Patricia Haismeth died in the year ninehundred and ninety- five and is
now still considered one of the authorswho ended the taboo that existed in literature
towards love between women. Nothing likemons a book is a podcast sponsored by

(16:03):
the Canary Islands Library of the Governmentof the Canary Islands, conducted by Juan
Carlos Saavedra and Daniel Martín. Nothinglike a book cursed books, forbidden,
full of legends and mysteries. Mostbooks that refer to the occult and magic

(16:33):
devote one of their chapters to salt. Its connection with superstition accompanies humanity.
For millennia and even today, inthe age of technology and science, we
can find people who continue to blamehim for supernatural power. That is the
case of Catholics who usually place alittle salt in holy water as a way

(16:55):
to increase their purifying power. Forthem they are based on the plain a
biblical character who asked to be broughta deep dish with water and salt and
poured it into a fountain saying purifythis water and from now on will not
cause death or make the earth sterile. There is also the belief that when
you open a business or inhabit anew home, the first thing you have

(17:18):
to carry is salt, because itis your presence, it will make clean
all the previous bad energies in theplace. Another use of salt in esoteric
books is protection against ghosts and demons, placing the person who wants to keep
themselves from them within a circle ofbarrier salt that will not be able to
pass through the entity. Along withthat salt- protecting power. There are

(17:44):
also other beliefs that link her tobad luck when she falls by accident.
Interestingly, the mention of the badluck involved in branch salt. It is
not found in a cursed book,but in a world- famous mural,
Leonardo da Vinci' s last dinner, painted between one thousand four hundred and
ninety- five and one thousand fourhundred and ninety- seven at the convent

(18:07):
of Santa Maria de la Gracia,in Milan. In it appears Judas tearing
down a small bowl containing salt onthe table, as if it were an
oversight. This gesture bodes well forthe bad luck that is coming upon him
as he becomes the apostle called totraditional Jesus. What to do to avoid
the supposed bad luck we get ifwe drop the salt. Esoteric books have

(18:30):
the solution to collect some of thesalt spilled and throw it back over our
left shoulder with the right hand.Nothing like a book. We open our
trunk of memories, curiosities and literarynovelties. The Royal Academy of the Spanish

(18:57):
language defines the word salitre as asaline substance, especially that which blooms earth
and walls. However, our particulartrunk is full of saltpetre, as are
all corners of the Canary Islands.In the Canary Islands, saltpetre gives it
to the sea that surrounds us inthe form of coastal salt or in the

(19:19):
form of haze that comes to uswhen they are. Atlantic breaks on our
rocky shores. Because of this greatpresence on the islands, the saltpetre has
inspired poets and musicians. Such isthe case that the islands have been defined
in recent times as a mixture ofsaltpetre and lava. It is precisely when
the Canaries meet in continental territory farfrom the sea. One of the things

(19:42):
we crave the most is to feelthe saltpetre on our skin brought by the
winds. That concept has been adaptedby the official anthem, approved by the
Parliament of the Canary Islands and writtenby Benito Cabrera, who, in one
of his stanzas, points out Iam the shadow of an almond tree I

(20:03):
am a volcano trilated spread out inseven rocks beats the pulse of my soul.
Salt and salt are indivisible parts ofthe Canarian identity. Ernest Miller Hemingway

(20:29):
wrote seven novels, one of themin a thousand nine hundred and fifty-
two, which he titled The Oldand the Sea. The following year he
was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Different adaptations have been made to this
work, including for a children's and young people' s audience,

(20:49):
a work that has been taken tothe cinema on numerous occasions, featuring short
animated films and feature films. Oneof them, or at least the ones
I like the most, is theadaptation of a thousand nine hundred and fifty
- eight, starring Stephen Tracion TheFlints of Down w the st links with

(21:45):
Canaria in its digital edition. CounselorGregorio Fuente, a Canarian fisherman who emigrated
to Cuba since the age of eleven, served to inspire the story El Viejo
y el Mar and, more specificallyits immortal protagonist, Santiago I have remained

(22:11):
Charles l s of Andres de chuloHr. The writer ordered that his yacht
be ceded to the canary fisherman forthe purpose of caring for him as he

(22:33):
had always done. However, Fuentedecided to give it to the Cuban State,
thus achieving his permanent exhibition on thewatchtower farm, the Hemingway House Museum,
in San Francisco de Paula, aplace very close to Havana. Gregorio
Fuente was born in the pool ofSan Giné, in Arrecife. His family,

(22:56):
fleeing poverty, sailed to Cuba ona sailboat where his father worked,
which did not survive the voyage.He was six years old when he left
a pitcher. He died in Cuba, but will live forever as long as

(23:17):
we read or see the old andthe fish bar Brusco Way Isment Downs lepping
Ike You the Omens Fingles Bhtway ifco- education, two zero bibliotherapy,

(23:38):
psychology, education and books with ElisabethLopez. Again, luckily, we meet
again here, in this space ofSaint Borondon. Inside nothing like a book
with Elizabet López Hello, Elizabeth HelloDani in books that save yes, here
we are once again. I don' t know if he' s gonna

(23:59):
save us an egg to see youforce me all or why not the book.
If we' re talking about thebeginning of starting over and of course,
an egg is, it' sa cell and it' s born
no yes, the book that Treeis titled like that. Not a very
good game. Yeah, sure,but I loved you. No. I
' m not done getting you thatrogue point you got look. This book.

(24:23):
It' s super special to mebecause I discovered it thanks to a
little girl from my tutorship. Iwould love to be able to say your
name so that the thanks are morepersonalized. But with all this, the
data protection law and the children,because it kind of didn' t,
but well, one morning it cameto class and I also joined the center
a little later because I had enteredthat day later and I see and tells

(24:45):
the girl look at what I haveand she has an illustrated album, a
very good egg, because as inclass, we have several books that they
can take and so on, becausenothing I sit with her and I start
reading it. Hey, hey,hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey,
hey. I' m getting caught. I' m telling you that.
I got caught up in the booka lot because it' s full

(25:06):
of learning and teaching. And Iremember I told him that I gave him
the grace and then I went tobuy it, because for me it was
quite a discovery. It tells thestory of an egg as we have already
said, which is a very goodegg, it is a super good egg.
No. He can change your wheel, buy you, be there to
listen to you, help you inwhatever you need. And he found a

(25:27):
missing cat. I think so.He doesn' t find a cat.
Not the egg between a cat.No. He can' t find a
cat. No. Be alas,it' s true. I was rescuing
a kitten. No, but Iwas rescuing the kitten. Really. He
wateres your plants, paints your house. I mean, it' s like

(25:49):
he says, if you need anegg, I' m your egg because
I' m a very good egg. What happens that he lives in a
cardboard, in a carton of adozen eggs, and the other eggs are
not as good and he spends theday trying to make the other eggs as
good as him. And the others, well, they cried for nonsense,
they only ate cereals with lots ofsugar, broke things on purpose, and

(26:14):
there came a time when the egg, already too stressed by so much pressure,
began to crack the shell and asit literally says it was literally cracked
something had to change. I couldn' t do it anymore, and the
egg leaves its hollow and embarks ona journey, a new beginning, a

(26:37):
new beginning very well, then nothing. The egg says it walked aimlessly,
fixed that the hours became day,the days became week and lost track of
time. I was alone. Butin that new beginning out there on the
road, under the stars, triedto concentrate on him and his needs,
took walks, read books, float, the river wrote a diary you remember

(27:02):
when we talked in one of oursections of the writing of therapeutics. Yeah,
well, he looked for moments tobe quiet, even learned to paint
and you know what happened that littleby little, the cracks in his shell
began to heal. I didn't have my head anymore, I had
a whirlwind and it started to feelgood. Again, in that new beginning,
on that journey he undertook, herealized that something was not going well

(27:25):
and he left and that he leftat that beginning he went to discover himself
and to discover his needs. Hehad been so focused on changing the other
one that he had not realized thathe was losing himself and made a decision.
He went back to his old lady' s hole with his friends,

(27:47):
but something had changed in him,as in every beginning, always changes something.
He tried to worry less about beinggood friends with his friends, but
also to be good to himself,to himself and to understand that others do
not have to be perfect. Butthe most important thing he didn' t
have to do either. And whenhe understood that, the egg was very

(28:08):
happy in its hollow with its friends. It is a beautiful book to see,
I have made spoiler, but notat all, because you have to
read it well seeing the illustrations,touching the book, which is the or
the nador, has yes truth andto be able to see, because obviously,
here we have left many things alongthe way so that they buy the

(28:29):
book and work it and enjoy itabove all. But I thought it was
a wonderful discovery, and I'll always be grateful to you, even
little ones, that you gave meaway. A beginning gave and beginning look.
I believe that two three important thingshave happened today. What happens inside
a classroom that good you will say, but if you are talking about books
and good to good to first thatthe girl shared a book with you and

(28:52):
that discovery together reading together how importantthat meeting where the book is an excuse
to share, like the students,because they teach you. I have also
recalled a phrase that I always havevery present of star ortiz written gra narrator
that says that a story tells thestory of a change. And third,
you' re teaching me how toread. You are teaching us to read,

(29:15):
because we are grateful that this happensto you because I too am very
grateful that there is nothing a bookwith this section, because I think I
come to contribute something to our listeners. But I' m really the one
who' s all the time gettinga lot of nice things too that then
you give me the chance to shareand we have fun, super good.

(29:37):
Oh, nothing. Thank you verymuch, thank you very much, Dani.
Nothing like a book. It isa podcast sponsored by the Canary Islands
Library of the Government of the CanaryIslands, conducted by Juan Carlos Saavedra and
Daniel Martín. Nothing like a book. Femerides literary moments for history and literature.

(30:04):
On the twenty- eighth of Mayof one thousand eight hundred and seventy
- four was born in London,Hilbert kett Cherterston, one of the great
writers each English language literature became world- renowned by his character, Father Brown,
of whom he wrote more than fiftystories. Although he cultivated almost all
literary genres, he stood out forhis essays and press articles that made his

(30:27):
work always surrounded by controversy. Thisled his secretary, upon his death,
to decide to publish a compilation oftexts with his opinions scattered under the title
of salt of life. The bookwas first edited in the year nineteen hundred
and sixty- four and includes thelast text written by Hilbert before his death

(30:51):
and which gives title to the compilation. Hibbert kitt was mostly a journalist who
dealt with all the issues no matterhow controversial they were. His apostrum work
includes his essays on such varied subjectsas education and detective novels, just these
essays in the salt of life.It also contains varied literary analyses about Shakespeare,

(31:14):
exopus or Alice in Wonderland. Anotherof his great works was the novel
The Man, which was set inLondon at the turn of the 19th to
20th century and which narrates a seriesof crazy adventures starring policemen and anarchists,
behind which lies an analysis of anarchistphilosophy. Hilbert kitt was a devout Catholic,

(31:37):
although he had several existential crises inwhich his beliefs were raised. That
militant Catholicism manifested it in his character. Father Brown, a pastor who decides
to solve his cases not by applyingthe scientific method, as other famous literary
detectives do, but by analyzing humannature and its intuition. This way of

(32:00):
investigating turns the Protestant pastor into anatypical investigator who solves the crimes by placing
the murderer as the same character herelates in one of his novels. But
you don' t know all ofthem killed. By myself I have planned
every crime very carefully. I've thought exactly how he could do something

(32:24):
like that and with what mood orstate of mind a man could actually do
it and when he was pretty sureand felt exactly like the killer himself,
then, of course, he knewwho it was in Nothing like a book.

(32:49):
We traveled to a place called Samborondonto talk about children' s and
young people' s literature, storiesand stories for all audiences. We are
on the island of Samborondón, whichis this imaginary and real space at the
same time where we meet to talkabout children' s and youth' s
literature and for general literature. Andtoday we do it with Ana Belén,
Antmiga, Hello, abeel hello Oh. Thank you so much for coming to

(33:13):
Nada as a book and to ourspace, as San Bronton said, to
talk about this Earth, Gofio andsalt published by Anaya in her collection The
Volcano in her youth series Tierra Gofiand salt what had to happen to you
so that you had to write thisEarth, this Gofio and it saves Galemos

(33:37):
many things. Look at the storyI had written 16 years ago, but
I had never had time to finishit, to place it in a concrete
space. Then it was a storythat ended up in the storage room at
home, stuck in a box.After the confinement, I had an accident

(33:57):
that I always say is musical,which was music, because I kicked the
saxophone box out of me and partedfrom what really saxosofó a mature. That
' s what the heavy ones are. It was good, but it'
s just that I stayed in awheelchair for I don' t know they
think it' s short time andevery morning they left me at home,

(34:22):
in the armchair with a little bottleof water I went to everyone. Then
I thought, well, maybe it' s time to take this manuscript back,
to look at it again. Theybrought it to me and when I
started reading it, I got itfor sure, I know, I know
where I was going to go tothis. In fact, people called me
those days and told me but whatbad luck. But it' s bad

(34:43):
luck you broke your toes. AndI said but not the candles anymore.
And even if it seems like alie documenting me preparing the novel. It
was like the pain went away andI could give the characters at the same
time an older lady who was eighty- six years old had it and I

(35:05):
could call her and ask her millionsof questions. Besides, a lady who
tells you something, it' slike she describes it in words, that
is, she writes it in words, but it' s like she paints
it, you see it. Shetells you and you see it as if
it were a movie, then thanksto her I decided to avoid it.
An important part of the island Iwas able to tell the story of many

(35:30):
people who, well in this case, live in Tenerife, but who could
make history a story that developed inany corner of the Canary Islands, because
then it happened to me the otherday I was in Lanzardote and told me
a lady I lived this in Lanzarote, that is, yes, it is
true that it develops in Tenerife,but it could be any of our islands.

(35:52):
Understanding spirituality as that inner depth thateach one has the importance of giving
to that inner force, how thoseforces are able to mobilize and how we
respect them. How important it isin the book, because there is an
amparo character, good all in general, but I shelter a special one that

(36:13):
I believe has an inner world thatis discovering and to me it seems that
there is a spirituality. I understoodhow I was talking to you very deeply
in each of the characters and especially, it has this cover. Well I
' m putting myself too much intomy role as a reader in my own

(36:37):
film as well. Or so.I think you' re right. We
forget that spiritual world. We livein the 21st century and leave it aside.
But it does exist, but itdoes exist, and once these unexplained
things were given more value. Nowit' s like we reject them.
I do, but you don't think spirituality is important. Yeah,

(36:59):
because from what I was saying,because we respect that there are things that
we can' t understand exactly andthings happen to her. Well, to
the family of course, I don' t want to spoil and get ahead
of myself in the end, butthe family rejects that inner world, that

(37:21):
one where to walk, because itknows it' s going to lead to
trouble. But it is also aninterior that saves the protagonist among everything she
has around her. I believe Ido, and wonderful people appear who don
' t care. They are willingto pull the family and help them,
despite what is moving around, theyare unexplained. I don' t know

(37:42):
if you' re answering. Yeah, yeah, I tried not to count
too much, but yeah. Thetitle Gofio Land comes out more now.
I liked without any preposition, threenouns with much force that is the earth
in this publication. Land is fundamental. It' s the place we saw,
it' s the place that makesus, the place that we have.

(38:07):
This character this way of making thatspace, which makes us happy,
but which also makes it very complicatedin a time of limping in which the
novel is situated to get ahead.But that root also that we have that
we do not want to abandon it. The novel also talks about those people

(38:28):
who had to leave the land tolook for a better life in Venezuela,
for example, and I don't know if you realized that on the
ship that importance of the land Ireflected it with a man who died and,
looking at the land that left behind, embraced its timple that are its
roots. I used to comment onhow someone felt that this work could also,

(38:54):
this story could develop on any island. Maybe that' s because it
' s made where we can allfeel identified, even though it' s
very localized in a particular space.The term goffio is also within the title
now, but also in another era, this girl was very important to feed

(39:15):
us and besides, the gofio savedus from hunger. How important it was
also your intention to refresh how thegofio sandla It' s not because the
goffio I think has been that magicalfood that has served to alleviate hunger.
In fact, I' ve beenlooking for different ways to consume pleasures.

(39:37):
I explain why, since there wasonly gofio, sometimes it' s an
onion, a few mispers, butmainly gofio. How they invent different ways
of eating them so they don't seem to be always eating the same.
Then yes, yes, of course, something ugly. It is that
base of our food that we havetaken and that I believe is part of

(39:59):
our culture and that is fenced inus and that we continue to consume it
now that we have everything, becauseit is part of us. In the
book there are many interior and exteriortrips. The characters who move in a
space that seems huge, but thatreally is an island, but also move
within their own village, between knownand unknown roads, climb up the slope,

(40:23):
go down the road, approach thecoast, go inland. It means
the story doesn' t end,it goes on after you just read it.
That movement continues later. I thinkthat movement makes the characters grow as
they walk. They start the storyby talking about those women who went to

(40:47):
the coast in the mornings to pickup the fish, put it in wicker
baskets, covered it with mujo sothat its wine could be kept fresh walking
barefoot endless distance under the rain thesun subjected to the wind. Then start

(41:08):
talking about that road and keep walkingall the way. Sometimes well, when
they move and run, it's true that there is a person who
helps them truck, but I thinkthat that route what it does is show
how as time goes by, theygrow, they go assimilating, they discover
and appear wonderful people more appearing,people who seem to be nobody and suddenly

(41:30):
appear and are able to play tolife so that they keep walking and keep
going that seems super pretty to me. It was a time when the doors
were open, where the neighbors hada lot of importance, really all that
maybe we lost it a little bit. A lot, a lot, it

(41:51):
' s true, boy. ThenI think that' s it. And
then there' s the salt.What it symbolizes, what salt means In
this story, salt is a veryimportant element. On the one hand,
it is the mineral that served topreserve food. On the other hand,
that product that was harvested on thecoasts that, moreover, every poor family

(42:15):
had its own puddle and nobody tookthe salt away from them, did not
steal, no one tried to takeaway the puddle. It was known that
each was a space, although itwas not recorded by writing, it was
known who belonged and growing that saltalso brought with it being able to exchange

(42:37):
that product for other things. Thaton the one hand, but salt is
also sweat. It' s thetears. It is that we have forgotten
the history of our elders, itis the life of the people who are
eighty- something years old, evenseventy- nine, how they sweated so
that we are here and, paradoxically, we have forgotten everything they had to

(42:57):
do to get ahead in a landthat was often hostile. I don'
t know what' s going onin a few months' time, but
as a reader, but I don' t know what you, as a
writer, would like the readers tokeep after time from ground to office.

(43:19):
I would like it to be abook that would serve to want to talk
to older people and listen to mefor a long time we would go to
a good view and sit in thesquare, to a view in a town
of Tenerife and we would sit inthe square to talk to my husband,
I would talk to the older people. I never identified myself. He was
telling us I' m making books, I' m taking documentation for a

(43:44):
book, because we just threw themout of the tongue and they were telling
us. And it seemed to methat notice Dani that I am forty-
eight years old, that I ama teacher, that I am always looking
for, reading, researching, andI had so many things that the older
people who said they are telling mecan be and then, when I started
to document myself I realized that itwas true. Then I' d like

(44:05):
the book to be the key tofurther research into our past. I found
it shining when they told me,for example, that when someone died they
would go and call the carpenter tomeasure the person to make the atabud for
me it seemed amazing. Or,for example, the cemetery to cemeteries.
The name of the cemeteries is thatof the first person who died when they

(44:30):
created the cemetery. I don't know. They' re all things
I at least didn' t know. Many traditions eat food such as argo,
a tuber that people scratched and isababecause it also seems to have some
poisonous and prepared and with that,so they also went forth. I don
' t know. I' dlike the book to help us talk more

(44:52):
and let us know more. Let' s keep these words. So I
don' t want to add muchmore. Thank you for always being with
us to be able to participate ineverything we propose. Thank you for writing
this land. I' m officerto Naya, for publishing it. Let
' s not forget the editorials thatare so important to writers. And also

(45:16):
thank you for bringing us to thepresent element that we should not forget,
because we forget those elements in thebackground of blaming ourselves for who we are.
So, thank you very much.Thank you very much. Daniel Versos
to the wind poems until the nextmeeting. This is not the first time

(45:51):
that Pedro García Cabrera has given usa poem to finish our nothing like a
book. He is considered one ofthe greatest Canarian poets of all time.
He was born in La Gomera ina thousand nine hundred and five and died
in Santa Cruz de Tenerife in athousand nine hundred and eighty- one.
His extensive and varied work perfectly exemplifiesthe different stages of contemporary literature. In

(46:19):
the Canary Islands we ended up witha poem he published in the Blanquísima Soledad
in nineteen hundred and eighty- seven. Salt our root. No one would
conceive you to be born of adead piece of the sea that is still

(46:44):
devoid of rumors, to preach tothe embryo of your bowels. I'
m sure it' s clear thatthis water board you' re in at
dawn hasn' t completely lost thebelly consciousness of the solo, the underwater
grotto in which the silence vacation wouldpass, yes, you certainly are our

(47:06):
root. Reindeer are your mirror ofcoral thoughts, colorful fish and your struggle
oranges of hope on the banks offreedom. Nothing like a book. It

(47:27):
is a podcast sponsored by the CanaryIslands Library of the Government of the Canary
Islands, conducted by Juan Carlos Saavedraand Daniel Martín