WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.840 align:middle line:90% 00:00:02.840 --> 00:00:06.890 align:middle line:84% So finally, a section from The Savage Detectives. 00:00:06.890 --> 00:00:09.980 align:middle line:84% I was a relatively green translator 00:00:09.980 --> 00:00:11.490 align:middle line:90% when I tackled this book. 00:00:11.490 --> 00:00:14.390 align:middle line:84% Having previously translated some books 00:00:14.390 --> 00:00:16.550 align:middle line:84% of some volumes of non-fiction by Mario Vargas 00:00:16.550 --> 00:00:20.780 align:middle line:84% Llosa and a few other assorted novels, 00:00:20.780 --> 00:00:25.700 align:middle line:84% it was, by far, the most difficult thing I had ever done. 00:00:25.700 --> 00:00:27.270 align:middle line:90% And I knew how-- 00:00:27.270 --> 00:00:29.310 align:middle line:84% I knew how important it was to get it right. 00:00:29.310 --> 00:00:32.180 align:middle line:84% I had read it on submission for the publisher 00:00:32.180 --> 00:00:34.110 align:middle line:84% and written a report for the publisher, 00:00:34.110 --> 00:00:36.800 align:middle line:84% and the deeper in I got, the more I'm 00:00:36.800 --> 00:00:39.810 align:middle line:84% amazed I was that it hadn't been translated already. 00:00:39.810 --> 00:00:44.210 align:middle line:84% At that point, it had been out in Spanish for maybe five years. 00:00:44.210 --> 00:00:46.940 align:middle line:84% I loved it, and it is probably, still, 00:00:46.940 --> 00:00:49.250 align:middle line:90% my favorite of Bolaño's novels. 00:00:49.250 --> 00:00:52.340 align:middle line:84% Although, there's a lot of competition. 00:00:52.340 --> 00:00:55.070 align:middle line:84% As you probably know, it begins in Mexico City, 00:00:55.070 --> 00:00:58.830 align:middle line:84% with a story of two young poets, Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima, 00:00:58.830 --> 00:01:02.470 align:middle line:84% and their search for Cesárea Tinajero, an avant-garde poet 00:01:02.470 --> 00:01:04.330 align:middle line:90% of the previous generation. 00:01:04.330 --> 00:01:07.030 align:middle line:84% But there's much more to it than that. 00:01:07.030 --> 00:01:09.740 align:middle line:84% The bulk of the novel, the long middle section, 00:01:09.740 --> 00:01:13.450 align:middle line:84% is told from the perspectives of 40-some characters, 00:01:13.450 --> 00:01:17.200 align:middle line:84% who cross paths with either Belano or Ulises all over 00:01:17.200 --> 00:01:19.060 align:middle line:90% the world. 00:01:19.060 --> 00:01:25.510 align:middle line:84% And like Dalton, who is the author of a single novel called 00:01:25.510 --> 00:01:28.870 align:middle line:84% Pobrecito Poeta Que Era Yo, which is not translated yet 00:01:28.870 --> 00:01:31.990 align:middle line:84% and very hard to get hold of, even in Spanish, 00:01:31.990 --> 00:01:34.520 align:middle line:84% and probably inspired The Savage Detectives, 00:01:34.520 --> 00:01:37.220 align:middle line:84% Bolaño claimed to have met Dalton in El Salvador, 00:01:37.220 --> 00:01:41.000 align:middle line:84% so there is a connection there between the two writers. 00:01:41.000 --> 00:01:44.420 align:middle line:84% And also, the other connection, which you'll see here, 00:01:44.420 --> 00:01:47.920 align:middle line:84% is that Bolaño writes scathingly and lovingly about poets 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:50.960 align:middle line:84% and poetry and the pursuit of literature in general. 00:01:50.960 --> 00:01:53.700 align:middle line:90% So you'll recognize the tone. 00:01:53.700 --> 00:01:56.590 align:middle line:90% 00:01:56.590 --> 00:02:03.930 align:middle line:84% The section that I'm going to read is from the big middle-- 00:02:03.930 --> 00:02:05.590 align:middle line:90% the long middle part. 00:02:05.590 --> 00:02:10.830 align:middle line:84% And this is in the voice of Luis Sebastián Rosado, who 00:02:10.830 --> 00:02:16.560 align:middle line:84% is a snotty upper crust young poet who, despite himself, is 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:18.990 align:middle line:84% attracted to the more streetwise group of poets 00:02:18.990 --> 00:02:22.290 align:middle line:84% around Arturo Belano and Ulises Lima. 00:02:22.290 --> 00:02:25.110 align:middle line:84% And so Belano and Lima's group call themselves the Visceral 00:02:25.110 --> 00:02:27.390 align:middle line:90% Realists. 00:02:27.390 --> 00:02:30.060 align:middle line:84% And this section that I've chosen to read here 00:02:30.060 --> 00:02:33.430 align:middle line:84% gets deep into the weeds of Mexican and French poetry, 00:02:33.430 --> 00:02:36.930 align:middle line:84% so it's perfect for a Center of Poetry Reading 00:02:36.930 --> 00:02:39.190 align:middle line:84% and for all you sophisticated readers out there. 00:02:39.190 --> 00:02:41.550 align:middle line:84% I'm sure you'll get all the references. 00:02:41.550 --> 00:02:43.870 align:middle line:84% It's also touching and hilarious, I think, 00:02:43.870 --> 00:02:45.460 align:middle line:90% and I hope that comes across. 00:02:45.460 --> 00:02:47.800 align:middle line:84% It also has a long French poem in the middle of it. 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:49.330 align:middle line:84% I will read part of the French poem, 00:02:49.330 --> 00:02:52.230 align:middle line:84% but I will not subject you to my French pronunciation 00:02:52.230 --> 00:02:55.470 align:middle line:90% for the entire thing. 00:02:55.470 --> 00:02:59.310 align:middle line:84% So this is Luis Sebastián Rosado, La Rama Dorada Coffee 00:02:59.310 --> 00:03:06.240 align:middle line:84% Shop, Colonia Coyoacán, Mexico City, DF, April 1976. 00:03:06.240 --> 00:03:08.910 align:middle line:84% "Monsiváis said at first, disciples 00:03:08.910 --> 00:03:11.890 align:middle line:84% of Marinetti and Tzara, their noisy, outrageous, 00:03:11.890 --> 00:03:14.070 align:middle line:84% overwrought poems did battle in the realm 00:03:14.070 --> 00:03:16.180 align:middle line:84% of simple typographic arrangement, 00:03:16.180 --> 00:03:19.690 align:middle line:84% never rising above the level of childish entertainment. 00:03:19.690 --> 00:03:22.570 align:middle line:84% Monsi was talking about the stridentists, 00:03:22.570 --> 00:03:25.770 align:middle line:84% but the same goes for the visceral realists. 00:03:25.770 --> 00:03:27.810 align:middle line:84% No one paid attention to them, and they 00:03:27.810 --> 00:03:32.320 align:middle line:84% opted for indiscriminate assault. In December of 75, 00:03:32.320 --> 00:03:35.430 align:middle line:84% just before Christmas, I was unlucky enough to run into some 00:03:35.430 --> 00:03:37.830 align:middle line:90% of them here at La Rama Dorada. 00:03:37.830 --> 00:03:41.230 align:middle line:84% The owner, Don Néstor Pesqueira, will back me up. 00:03:41.230 --> 00:03:43.290 align:middle line:90% It was extremely unpleasant. 00:03:43.290 --> 00:03:47.050 align:middle line:84% One of them, the one in charge, was Ulises Lima. 00:03:47.050 --> 00:03:49.260 align:middle line:84% The second was a big, fat dark guy 00:03:49.260 --> 00:03:51.640 align:middle line:90% called Moctezuma or Cuauhtémoc. 00:03:51.640 --> 00:03:54.690 align:middle line:84% The third went by the name Luscious Skin. 00:03:54.690 --> 00:03:56.520 align:middle line:84% I was sitting right here, waiting 00:03:56.520 --> 00:03:58.910 align:middle line:84% for Alberto Mora and his sister, and all of a sudden, 00:03:58.910 --> 00:04:01.890 align:middle line:84% these three nuts surround me, sitting down, 00:04:01.890 --> 00:04:03.060 align:middle line:90% one on each side of me. 00:04:03.060 --> 00:04:05.490 align:middle line:84% And they say, 'Luisito, let's talk poetry. 00:04:05.490 --> 00:04:08.450 align:middle line:84% Let's analyze the future of Mexican poetry,' something like 00:04:08.450 --> 00:04:09.110 align:middle line:90% that. 00:04:09.110 --> 00:04:11.340 align:middle line:90% I'm not a violent person. 00:04:11.340 --> 00:04:12.990 align:middle line:90% And of course, I got nervous. 00:04:12.990 --> 00:04:15.000 align:middle line:84% I thought, what are they doing here? 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:16.140 align:middle line:90% How did they find me? 00:04:16.140 --> 00:04:18.060 align:middle line:84% What scores have they come to settle? 00:04:18.060 --> 00:04:20.670 align:middle line:84% This country is a disgrace, it must be said, 00:04:20.670 --> 00:04:24.110 align:middle line:84% and so is Mexican literature, it must also be said. 00:04:24.110 --> 00:04:26.460 align:middle line:84% Anyway, we were talking for 20 minutes. 00:04:26.460 --> 00:04:29.240 align:middle line:84% I have never been so annoyed by the lateness of Albertico 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:30.780 align:middle line:90% and his snotty sister. 00:04:30.780 --> 00:04:34.170 align:middle line:84% And finally, we even managed to agree on several points. 00:04:34.170 --> 00:04:36.230 align:middle line:84% When it came down to it, 90% of the time, 00:04:36.230 --> 00:04:38.540 align:middle line:90% we hated the same things. 00:04:38.540 --> 00:04:41.690 align:middle line:84% Of course, I always stood up for what Octavio Paz was 00:04:41.690 --> 00:04:44.540 align:middle line:84% doing on the literary scene, and of course, they all 00:04:44.540 --> 00:04:45.523 align:middle line:90% seemed to like-- 00:04:45.523 --> 00:04:46.940 align:middle line:84% Of course, all they seemed to like 00:04:46.940 --> 00:04:49.080 align:middle line:84% was what they were doing themselves. 00:04:49.080 --> 00:04:50.360 align:middle line:90% Thank goodness. 00:04:50.360 --> 00:04:52.127 align:middle line:84% That being a lesser evil, I mean, 00:04:52.127 --> 00:04:54.710 align:middle line:84% since it would have been worse if they had declared themselves 00:04:54.710 --> 00:04:58.420 align:middle line:84% disciples of the peasant poets or followers of poor Rosario 00:04:58.420 --> 00:05:01.910 align:middle line:84% Castellanos, or disciples of Jaime Sabines. 00:05:01.910 --> 00:05:04.450 align:middle line:84% One Jaime is enough, in my opinion. 00:05:04.450 --> 00:05:07.143 align:middle line:84% And then Alberto got here, and I was still alive. 00:05:07.143 --> 00:05:08.810 align:middle line:84% There had been a little bit of shouting, 00:05:08.810 --> 00:05:11.530 align:middle line:84% some unpleasant language, a certain kind of behavior 00:05:11.530 --> 00:05:14.920 align:middle line:84% that was inappropriate in a place like La Rama Dorada. 00:05:14.920 --> 00:05:18.910 align:middle line:84% Don Néstor Pesquiera will back me up here, but that was all. 00:05:18.910 --> 00:05:21.130 align:middle line:84% And when Alberto arrived, I thought 00:05:21.130 --> 00:05:22.970 align:middle line:90% I'd handled the situation well. 00:05:22.970 --> 00:05:25.720 align:middle line:84% But then, Julia Moore comes right out 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:29.480 align:middle line:84% and asks them who they are and what they plan to do that night. 00:05:29.480 --> 00:05:31.240 align:middle line:84% And the one called Luscious Skin is 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:33.320 align:middle line:84% quick to say that they're not doing anything, 00:05:33.320 --> 00:05:35.510 align:middle line:84% that if she has any ideas, she should say so. 00:05:35.510 --> 00:05:37.300 align:middle line:90% He's up for anything. 00:05:37.300 --> 00:05:41.320 align:middle line:84% And then Julita, oblivious of the looks her brother and I are 00:05:41.320 --> 00:05:43.570 align:middle line:84% shooting her, says we could go dancing 00:05:43.570 --> 00:05:48.580 align:middle line:84% at Priapos, an insanely vulgar place in Colonia 00:05:48.580 --> 00:05:50.180 align:middle line:90% de Mayo or Tepito. 00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:52.150 align:middle line:84% I've only been there once, and I've always 00:05:52.150 --> 00:05:53.540 align:middle line:90% done my best to forget it. 00:05:53.540 --> 00:05:56.420 align:middle line:84% And since neither Alberto nor I can say no to Julita, 00:05:56.420 --> 00:06:00.150 align:middle line:84% off we go in Alberto's car, with Alberto, Ulises Lima, and me 00:06:00.150 --> 00:06:02.830 align:middle line:84% in the front seat, and Julita, Luscious Skin, 00:06:02.830 --> 00:06:06.420 align:middle line:84% and the guy called Cuauhtémoc or Moctezuma in the back seat. 00:06:06.420 --> 00:06:08.140 align:middle line:90% Honestly, I feared the worst. 00:06:08.140 --> 00:06:09.930 align:middle line:84% These people weren't trustworthy. 00:06:09.930 --> 00:06:13.230 align:middle line:84% Somebody told me once that they cornered Monsi in Sanborns 00:06:13.230 --> 00:06:14.530 align:middle line:90% at the Casa Borda. 00:06:14.530 --> 00:06:17.190 align:middle line:84% But since Monsi did agree to have coffee with them, granted 00:06:17.190 --> 00:06:20.500 align:middle line:84% them an audience, he might say, it was partly his fault. 00:06:20.500 --> 00:06:22.800 align:middle line:84% Because everybody knows the visceral realists are just 00:06:22.800 --> 00:06:24.280 align:middle line:90% like the stridentists. 00:06:24.280 --> 00:06:27.640 align:middle line:84% And everybody knows what Monsi thinks about the stridentists, 00:06:27.640 --> 00:06:30.690 align:middle line:84% so he really couldn't complain about what happened. 00:06:30.690 --> 00:06:33.940 align:middle line:84% And anyway, nobody or almost nobody knows what did happen. 00:06:33.940 --> 00:06:36.160 align:middle line:84% Though, occasionally, I've been tempted to ask him, 00:06:36.160 --> 00:06:39.790 align:middle line:84% but I haven't, not wanting to pry or open old wounds. 00:06:39.790 --> 00:06:42.450 align:middle line:84% Still, something happened to him during his meeting 00:06:42.450 --> 00:06:43.870 align:middle line:90% with the visceral realists. 00:06:43.870 --> 00:06:45.400 align:middle line:90% And everybody knows it-- 00:06:45.400 --> 00:06:48.190 align:middle line:84% everybody who secretly loves or hates Monsi. 00:06:48.190 --> 00:06:50.830 align:middle line:84% And there were all kinds of hypotheses and theories. 00:06:50.830 --> 00:06:52.740 align:middle line:84% But anyway, that's what I was wondering, 00:06:52.740 --> 00:06:55.680 align:middle line:84% as Alberto's car shot like lightning 00:06:55.680 --> 00:06:57.690 align:middle line:84% or crawled like a cockroach, depending 00:06:57.690 --> 00:06:59.700 align:middle line:90% on the traffic toward Priapos. 00:06:59.700 --> 00:07:01.620 align:middle line:84% And in the back seat, Julita Moore 00:07:01.620 --> 00:07:03.930 align:middle line:84% kept talking and talking and talking to the two 00:07:03.930 --> 00:07:05.730 align:middle line:90% visceral realist bums. 00:07:05.730 --> 00:07:08.320 align:middle line:84% I'll spare you a description of the club itself. 00:07:08.320 --> 00:07:11.220 align:middle line:84% I swear to God, I thought we wouldn't get out of there alive. 00:07:11.220 --> 00:07:14.490 align:middle line:84% All I'll say is that the furnishings and human specimens 00:07:14.490 --> 00:07:17.670 align:middle line:84% adorning its interior seemed arbitrarily plucked from 00:07:17.670 --> 00:07:22.330 align:middle line:84% Lizardi's The Mangy Parrot, Mariano Azuela's The Underdogs, 00:07:22.330 --> 00:07:26.820 align:middle line:84% del Paso's José Trigo, the worst novels of the Onda and the worst 00:07:26.820 --> 00:07:28.090 align:middle line:90% '50s porn. 00:07:28.090 --> 00:07:31.100 align:middle line:84% More than one woman looked like Tongolele, who, incidentally, 00:07:31.100 --> 00:07:33.600 align:middle line:84% I don't think was making movies in the '50s, but should have 00:07:33.600 --> 00:07:34.560 align:middle line:90% been. 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:39.270 align:middle line:84% So as I was saying, we went into Priapos and sat at a table close 00:07:39.270 --> 00:07:40.290 align:middle line:90% to the dance floor. 00:07:40.290 --> 00:07:44.500 align:middle line:84% And as Julita danced a chacha or a bolero or a danzón-- 00:07:44.500 --> 00:07:47.530 align:middle line:84% I'm not exactly up on the annals of popular music-- 00:07:47.530 --> 00:07:50.350 align:middle line:84% Alberto and I started to talk about something. 00:07:50.350 --> 00:07:52.360 align:middle line:84% What it was, I swear I can't remember. 00:07:52.360 --> 00:07:55.320 align:middle line:84% And a waiter brought us a bottle of tequila or rat poison, 00:07:55.320 --> 00:07:57.030 align:middle line:84% that we accepted without a murmur. 00:07:57.030 --> 00:07:59.240 align:middle line:90% That's how desperate we were. 00:07:59.240 --> 00:08:02.820 align:middle line:84% And suddenly, in less time than it takes to say otherness, 00:08:02.820 --> 00:08:03.920 align:middle line:90% we were drunk. 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:07.980 align:middle line:84% And Ulises Lima was reciting a poem in French. 00:08:07.980 --> 00:08:08.930 align:middle line:90% What in the world for? 00:08:08.930 --> 00:08:12.050 align:middle line:84% I don't know, but he was reciting it. 00:08:12.050 --> 00:08:14.280 align:middle line:84% I didn't realize he spoke French-- 00:08:14.280 --> 00:08:15.453 align:middle line:90% English, maybe. 00:08:15.453 --> 00:08:17.870 align:middle line:84% I think I'd seen a translation of his somewhere of Richard 00:08:17.870 --> 00:08:19.830 align:middle line:90% Brautigan-- terrible poet-- 00:08:19.830 --> 00:08:23.250 align:middle line:90% or John Giorno, whoever he is. 00:08:23.250 --> 00:08:25.230 align:middle line:84% Maybe a stand in for Lima himself. 00:08:25.230 --> 00:08:26.100 align:middle line:90% But French? 00:08:26.100 --> 00:08:27.770 align:middle line:90% That surprised me a little. 00:08:27.770 --> 00:08:32.280 align:middle line:84% Good enunciation, passable pronunciation, and the poem, 00:08:32.280 --> 00:08:34.830 align:middle line:84% how to put it, sounded familiar-- very familiar. 00:08:34.830 --> 00:08:36.770 align:middle line:84% But because of my increasing drunkenness 00:08:36.770 --> 00:08:39.830 align:middle line:84% or the relentless boleros, I couldn't identify it. 00:08:39.830 --> 00:08:41.809 align:middle line:84% I thought of Claudel, but none of us 00:08:41.809 --> 00:08:44.480 align:middle line:84% can imagine Lima reciting Claudel, can we? 00:08:44.480 --> 00:08:46.050 align:middle line:90% I thought of Baudelaire. 00:08:46.050 --> 00:08:48.590 align:middle line:84% I thought of Catulle Mendes, some of whose texts 00:08:48.590 --> 00:08:50.910 align:middle line:84% I translated for a university journal. 00:08:50.910 --> 00:08:52.500 align:middle line:90% I thought of Nerval. 00:08:52.500 --> 00:08:54.680 align:middle line:84% Ashamed as I am to admit it, those 00:08:54.680 --> 00:08:56.800 align:middle line:84% were the names that came to mind. 00:08:56.800 --> 00:08:59.298 align:middle line:84% In my defense, I should say that soon, 00:08:59.298 --> 00:09:01.090 align:middle line:84% through the haze of alcohol, I asked myself 00:09:01.090 --> 00:09:04.100 align:middle line:84% what Nerval could possibly have in common with Mendes. 00:09:04.100 --> 00:09:06.760 align:middle line:90% And then I thought of Mallarmé. 00:09:06.760 --> 00:09:09.260 align:middle line:84% Alberto, who must have been playing the same game, 00:09:09.260 --> 00:09:11.170 align:middle line:90% said Baudelaire. 00:09:11.170 --> 00:09:13.100 align:middle line:90% It wasn't Baudelaire, of course. 00:09:13.100 --> 00:09:14.120 align:middle line:90% Here's the poem. 00:09:14.120 --> 00:09:15.740 align:middle line:90% Let's see if you can guess." 00:09:15.740 --> 00:09:18.820 align:middle line:84% Maybe I'll let you all guess before we get to there. 00:09:18.820 --> 00:09:20.300 align:middle line:84% So this is just the first stanza. 00:09:20.300 --> 00:09:21.550 align:middle line:90% There are three stanzas. 00:09:21.550 --> 00:09:23.214 align:middle line:84% Mon triste coeur bave á la poupe, 00:09:23.214 --> 00:09:27.210 align:middle line:84% Mon coeur couvert de caporal: ils y lancent des jets de soupe, 00:09:27.210 --> 00:09:32.873 align:middle line:84% Mon triste coeur bave a la poupe: Sous les quolibets de la trouppe 00:09:32.873 --> 00:09:35.870 align:middle line:84% Qui pousse un rire general, Mon triste coeur 00:09:35.870 --> 00:09:39.490 align:middle line:84% bave a la poupe, Mon coeur couvert de caporal! 00:09:39.490 --> 00:09:41.950 align:middle line:90% Anybody? 00:09:41.950 --> 00:09:43.280 align:middle line:90% Yes. 00:09:43.280 --> 00:09:45.610 align:middle line:90% Who said Rimabud? 00:09:45.610 --> 00:09:48.220 align:middle line:90% Very nice. 00:09:48.220 --> 00:09:51.890 align:middle line:84% "It's Rimbaud, which was a surprise, relatively speaking, 00:09:51.890 --> 00:09:52.660 align:middle line:90% that is. 00:09:52.660 --> 00:09:55.810 align:middle line:84% The really surprising thing, was that he recited it in French. 00:09:55.810 --> 00:09:58.360 align:middle line:84% Anyway, I was a little angry not to have guessed it, 00:09:58.360 --> 00:10:00.580 align:middle line:84% since I know Rimbaud's work fairly well, 00:10:00.580 --> 00:10:03.210 align:middle line:90% but I didn't let it bother me. 00:10:03.210 --> 00:10:05.400 align:middle line:84% Another point in common, maybe we 00:10:05.400 --> 00:10:07.810 align:middle line:84% would make it out of that hellhole alive. 00:10:07.810 --> 00:10:10.170 align:middle line:84% And after reciting Rimabud, Ulises Lima 00:10:10.170 --> 00:10:12.670 align:middle line:84% told a story about Rimbaud and some war. 00:10:12.670 --> 00:10:13.810 align:middle line:90% Which war? 00:10:13.810 --> 00:10:17.520 align:middle line:84% I don't know, war not being a subject that interests me. 00:10:17.520 --> 00:10:19.470 align:middle line:84% But there was something, a common theme 00:10:19.470 --> 00:10:23.080 align:middle line:84% linking RImbaud, the poem and the war, assorted story, 00:10:23.080 --> 00:10:23.830 align:middle line:90% I'm sure. 00:10:23.830 --> 00:10:26.040 align:middle line:84% Although, at the time, my ears and then my eyes 00:10:26.040 --> 00:10:28.600 align:middle line:84% were registering other assorted little stories. 00:10:28.600 --> 00:10:32.170 align:middle line:84% I swear I'll kill Julita Moore if she drags me to another dive, 00:10:32.170 --> 00:10:33.120 align:middle line:90% like Priapos. 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:36.120 align:middle line:84% Disjointed scenes in which brooding young delinquents 00:10:36.120 --> 00:10:37.740 align:middle line:84% danced with desperate young cleaning 00:10:37.740 --> 00:10:40.273 align:middle line:84% girls or desperate young whores in a whirl of contrast 00:10:40.273 --> 00:10:42.690 align:middle line:84% that, I confess, heightened my drunkenness of such a thing 00:10:42.690 --> 00:10:44.010 align:middle line:90% as possible. 00:10:44.010 --> 00:10:46.000 align:middle line:84% Then there was a fight somewhere. 00:10:46.000 --> 00:10:47.200 align:middle line:90% I didn't see anything. 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:48.430 align:middle line:90% I just heard shouts. 00:10:48.430 --> 00:10:50.620 align:middle line:84% A pair of thugs emerged from the shadows, 00:10:50.620 --> 00:10:53.280 align:middle line:84% dragging a guy with blood all over his face. 00:10:53.280 --> 00:10:56.180 align:middle line:84% I remember I told Alberto that we should go, 00:10:56.180 --> 00:10:58.100 align:middle line:84% that things could take a turn for the worse. 00:10:58.100 --> 00:11:01.270 align:middle line:84% But Alberto was listening to Ulises Lima's story, 00:11:01.270 --> 00:11:02.830 align:middle line:90% and he ignored me. 00:11:02.830 --> 00:11:05.020 align:middle line:84% I remember that I watched Julita dancing 00:11:05.020 --> 00:11:07.010 align:middle line:90% with one of Ulises's friends. 00:11:07.010 --> 00:11:10.820 align:middle line:84% Then I remember dancing a bolero myself, with Luscious Skin, 00:11:10.820 --> 00:11:12.260 align:middle line:90% as if it were a dream. 00:11:12.260 --> 00:11:15.010 align:middle line:84% But still, it might have been the first time 00:11:15.010 --> 00:11:16.810 align:middle line:90% I'd felt good all night. 00:11:16.810 --> 00:11:18.670 align:middle line:84% In fact, it was definitely the first time 00:11:18.670 --> 00:11:20.710 align:middle line:90% I'd felt good all night. 00:11:20.710 --> 00:11:23.810 align:middle line:84% In fact, next, like someone waking up, 00:11:23.810 --> 00:11:26.620 align:middle line:84% I remember whispering into my dance partner's ear 00:11:26.620 --> 00:11:28.360 align:middle line:84% that what we were doing would probably 00:11:28.360 --> 00:11:30.700 align:middle line:84% offend the other dancers and spectators. 00:11:30.700 --> 00:11:33.460 align:middle line:84% It's not clear what happened next. 00:11:33.460 --> 00:11:35.500 align:middle line:84% Someone said something rude to me. 00:11:35.500 --> 00:11:38.230 align:middle line:84% I was, I don't know, ready to crawl under a table 00:11:38.230 --> 00:11:41.440 align:middle line:84% and fall asleep, or curl up on Luscious Skin's chest 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:43.250 align:middle line:90% and fall asleep there, too. 00:11:43.250 --> 00:11:45.410 align:middle line:84% But someone said something rude to me, 00:11:45.410 --> 00:11:47.720 align:middle line:84% and Luscious Skin made a motion, as if to leave me, 00:11:47.720 --> 00:11:50.090 align:middle line:84% and turned to face the person who'd spoken. 00:11:50.090 --> 00:11:52.550 align:middle line:84% I don't know what he said-- pansy or faggot. 00:11:52.550 --> 00:11:54.780 align:middle line:84% I'm still not accustomed to that sort of language, 00:11:54.780 --> 00:11:57.530 align:middle line:84% though I know I should be, but I was so drunk. 00:11:57.530 --> 00:12:00.150 align:middle line:84% My muscles were slack, and he couldn't let go of me. 00:12:00.150 --> 00:12:01.692 align:middle line:90% If he had, I would have fallen. 00:12:01.692 --> 00:12:03.650 align:middle line:84% And he just shot something back from the middle 00:12:03.650 --> 00:12:05.300 align:middle line:90% of the dance floor. 00:12:05.300 --> 00:12:07.580 align:middle line:84% I closed my eyes, trying to remove myself 00:12:07.580 --> 00:12:09.030 align:middle line:90% from the situation. 00:12:09.030 --> 00:12:10.880 align:middle line:84% Luscious Skin's shoulders smelled 00:12:10.880 --> 00:12:13.680 align:middle line:84% like sweat, a strange acidic smell, 00:12:13.680 --> 00:12:16.580 align:middle line:84% as if he just walked away unscathed from the explosion 00:12:16.580 --> 00:12:18.060 align:middle line:90% of a chemical plant. 00:12:18.060 --> 00:12:21.480 align:middle line:84% And then I heard him speak, not to one person, 00:12:21.480 --> 00:12:24.690 align:middle line:84% but to several people, more than two, at least. 00:12:24.690 --> 00:12:27.000 align:middle line:84% And people were raising their voices. 00:12:27.000 --> 00:12:29.870 align:middle line:84% Then I opened my eyes, my God, and what 00:12:29.870 --> 00:12:33.000 align:middle line:84% I saw wasn't the people surrounding us, but myself. 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:35.400 align:middle line:84% My arm in Luscious Skin's shoulder, 00:12:35.400 --> 00:12:38.910 align:middle line:84% my left arm around his waist, my cheek on his shoulder. 00:12:38.910 --> 00:12:42.180 align:middle line:84% And I saw or imagined I saw the malicious looks, 00:12:42.180 --> 00:12:44.070 align:middle line:90% the stares of born killers. 00:12:44.070 --> 00:12:47.160 align:middle line:84% And then, rising in sheer terror above my drunkenness, 00:12:47.160 --> 00:12:48.510 align:middle line:90% I wanted to disappear. 00:12:48.510 --> 00:12:49.830 align:middle line:90% Oh, Earth, swallow me up. 00:12:49.830 --> 00:12:51.570 align:middle line:90% I beg to be struck by lightning. 00:12:51.570 --> 00:12:53.930 align:middle line:84% I wished in a word never to have been born. 00:12:53.930 --> 00:12:55.730 align:middle line:90% How completely mortifying. 00:12:55.730 --> 00:12:57.050 align:middle line:90% I was red with shame. 00:12:57.050 --> 00:12:57.920 align:middle line:90% I wanted to vomit. 00:12:57.920 --> 00:13:01.310 align:middle line:84% I had let go of Luscious Skin, and I was hardly able to stand, 00:13:01.310 --> 00:13:03.430 align:middle line:84% realizing that I was the object of cruel mockery 00:13:03.430 --> 00:13:06.800 align:middle line:84% and under attack at the same time. 00:13:06.800 --> 00:13:10.250 align:middle line:84% My one consolation was that the mocker was also under attack. 00:13:10.250 --> 00:13:13.280 align:middle line:84% It was essentially as if having been betrayed in battle. 00:13:13.280 --> 00:13:14.000 align:middle line:90% What battles? 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:16.430 align:middle line:84% What wars was Ulises Lima talking about? 00:13:16.430 --> 00:13:18.490 align:middle line:84% I was begging the angels of justice 00:13:18.490 --> 00:13:21.740 align:middle line:84% or the angels of the apocalypse for a great wave to appear, 00:13:21.740 --> 00:13:25.060 align:middle line:84% a great miraculous wave that would sweep both of us 00:13:25.060 --> 00:13:27.470 align:middle line:84% away, that would sweep us all away, 00:13:27.470 --> 00:13:30.590 align:middle line:84% that would put an end to the ridicule and injustice. 00:13:30.590 --> 00:13:33.560 align:middle line:84% But then, through the icy lakes of my eyes, 00:13:33.560 --> 00:13:36.800 align:middle line:84% the wrong metaphor, since it was sweltering inside Priapos. 00:13:36.800 --> 00:13:38.260 align:middle line:84% But I can't think of any better way 00:13:38.260 --> 00:13:40.480 align:middle line:84% to say that I was about to cry, and that 00:13:40.480 --> 00:13:43.400 align:middle line:84% at the exact moment of about two had changed my mind, 00:13:43.400 --> 00:13:44.320 align:middle line:90% backpedaling. 00:13:44.320 --> 00:13:48.220 align:middle line:84% But that a distorting layer of liquid still glazed my pupils. 00:13:48.220 --> 00:13:50.860 align:middle line:84% I saw the horrific figure of Julita Moore 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:53.370 align:middle line:84% appear intertwined with Cuauhtémoc or Moctezuma 00:13:53.370 --> 00:13:57.250 align:middle line:84% or Nezahualcoyotl or whatever his name was, 00:13:57.250 --> 00:13:59.010 align:middle line:84% and he and Luscious Skin stood up 00:13:59.010 --> 00:14:00.700 align:middle line:84% to the people who were making trouble, 00:14:00.700 --> 00:14:03.030 align:middle line:84% while Julita put her arm around my waist and asked me 00:14:03.030 --> 00:14:05.350 align:middle line:84% whether those sons of bitches had done anything to me 00:14:05.350 --> 00:14:09.000 align:middle line:84% and got me off the dance floor and out of that revolting dive. 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:11.640 align:middle line:84% Once we were outside, Julita led me to the car. 00:14:11.640 --> 00:14:14.260 align:middle line:84% And in the middle of the street, I started to cry. 00:14:14.260 --> 00:14:16.390 align:middle line:84% And when Julita helped me into the back seat, 00:14:16.390 --> 00:14:18.910 align:middle line:84% I asked-- no, begged her to leave with me. 00:14:18.910 --> 00:14:21.330 align:middle line:84% I wanted the three of us to go and leave the others there 00:14:21.330 --> 00:14:23.080 align:middle line:90% with their own evil kind. 00:14:23.080 --> 00:14:24.790 align:middle line:90% Please, Julita, I said. 00:14:24.790 --> 00:14:26.740 align:middle line:84% And she said, for fuck's sake, Luisito, 00:14:26.740 --> 00:14:27.820 align:middle line:90% you're spoiling my night. 00:14:27.820 --> 00:14:28.960 align:middle line:90% Please don't start. 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:31.260 align:middle line:84% And then I remember that I said or shouted 00:14:31.260 --> 00:14:33.900 align:middle line:84% or howled, what they've done to me is worse 00:14:33.900 --> 00:14:35.560 align:middle line:90% than what they did to Monsi. 00:14:35.560 --> 00:14:38.590 align:middle line:84% And Julita asked, what the fuck they'd done to Monsi? 00:14:38.590 --> 00:14:40.690 align:middle line:84% She also asked which Monsi I meant. 00:14:40.690 --> 00:14:43.540 align:middle line:84% She said Muncy or Monshe, I can't remember. 00:14:43.540 --> 00:14:47.680 align:middle line:84% And I said Monsiváis, Julita, Monsiváis, the essayist. 00:14:47.680 --> 00:14:50.770 align:middle line:84% And she said, oh, not seeming surprised at all. 00:14:50.770 --> 00:14:53.560 align:middle line:84% My God, the fortitude of that woman, I thought. 00:14:53.560 --> 00:14:56.500 align:middle line:84% And then I think I vomited, and I started to cry, 00:14:56.500 --> 00:14:59.760 align:middle line:84% or I started to cry and then vomited in Alberto's car. 00:14:59.760 --> 00:15:01.497 align:middle line:90% And Julita started to laugh. 00:15:01.497 --> 00:15:03.580 align:middle line:84% And by then the others were coming out of Priapos. 00:15:03.580 --> 00:15:06.430 align:middle line:84% I saw their shadows on the beam of a streetlight, and I thought, 00:15:06.430 --> 00:15:07.300 align:middle line:90% what have I done? 00:15:07.300 --> 00:15:08.620 align:middle line:90% What have I done? 00:15:08.620 --> 00:15:10.680 align:middle line:84% And I was so ashamed that I collapsed on the seat 00:15:10.680 --> 00:15:13.500 align:middle line:84% and curled up in a ball and pretended to be asleep. 00:15:13.500 --> 00:15:15.660 align:middle line:90% But I could hear them talking. 00:15:15.660 --> 00:15:18.760 align:middle line:84% Julita said something, and the visceral realists replied. 00:15:18.760 --> 00:15:22.060 align:middle line:84% Their voices sounded cheerful, not hostile at all. 00:15:22.060 --> 00:15:25.060 align:middle line:84% Then Alberto got in the car and said, what the fuck is this? 00:15:25.060 --> 00:15:26.820 align:middle line:90% It stinks in here. 00:15:26.820 --> 00:15:28.830 align:middle line:84% And then I opened my eyes and seeking his eyes 00:15:28.830 --> 00:15:31.300 align:middle line:84% in the rear view mirror, I said, I'm sorry, 00:15:31.300 --> 00:15:32.410 align:middle line:90% Alberto, I didn't mean to. 00:15:32.410 --> 00:15:34.030 align:middle line:90% I feel really sick. 00:15:34.030 --> 00:15:36.880 align:middle line:84% And then Julita got in the passenger seat and said, 00:15:36.880 --> 00:15:38.830 align:middle line:84% my God, Alberto, open the windows. 00:15:38.830 --> 00:15:39.700 align:middle line:90% It reeks. 00:15:39.700 --> 00:15:41.710 align:middle line:90% And I said, do you mind, Julita? 00:15:41.710 --> 00:15:43.240 align:middle line:90% There's no need to exaggerate. 00:15:43.240 --> 00:15:45.840 align:middle line:84% And Julita said, Luisito, it smells like you've 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:47.140 align:middle line:90% been dead for a week. 00:15:47.140 --> 00:15:49.860 align:middle line:84% And I laughed, not much, but I was already 00:15:49.860 --> 00:15:51.150 align:middle line:90% starting to feel better. 00:15:51.150 --> 00:15:54.390 align:middle line:84% At the end of the street, under the lighted sign for Priapos, 00:15:54.390 --> 00:15:57.000 align:middle line:84% shadows were roving, but not toward our car. 00:15:57.000 --> 00:15:59.240 align:middle line:84% And then Julita Moore rolled down her window 00:15:59.240 --> 00:16:02.600 align:middle line:84% and kissed Luscious Skin and Moctezuma or Cuauhtémoc, but not 00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:05.070 align:middle line:84% Ulises Lima, who was standing away from the car, 00:16:05.070 --> 00:16:06.270 align:middle line:90% looking up at the sky. 00:16:06.270 --> 00:16:08.450 align:middle line:84% And then Luscious Skin stuck his head in the window 00:16:08.450 --> 00:16:10.320 align:middle line:90% and said, how are you, Luis? 00:16:10.320 --> 00:16:12.330 align:middle line:84% And I don't think I even answered. 00:16:12.330 --> 00:16:14.640 align:middle line:84% I just made a gesture as if to say, fine. 00:16:14.640 --> 00:16:15.660 align:middle line:90% I'm fine. 00:16:15.660 --> 00:16:17.900 align:middle line:84% And then Alberto started the Dodge, 00:16:17.900 --> 00:16:20.480 align:middle line:84% and we headed out of Tepito with all the windows rolled down 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:23.010 align:middle line:84% on our way back to our own neighborhoods." 00:16:23.010 --> 00:16:32.930 align:middle line:90% 00:16:32.930 --> 00:16:34.580 align:middle line:84% So if you want to find out what happens 00:16:34.580 --> 00:16:39.655 align:middle line:84% between Luis Rosado and Luscious Skin, you got to read the book. 00:16:39.655 --> 00:16:43.070 align:middle line:90% 00:16:43.070 --> 00:16:45.000 align:middle line:90% Thank you so much, everyone. 00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:46.960 align:middle line:90% It's really been great. 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:52.000 align:middle line:90%