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| Emma Reyes |
MEMORIA POR CORRESPONDENCIA BY EMMA REYES IS, FROM NOW ON, A CLASSIC OF THE COLOMBIAN LITERATURE.
Sandra Yañez Quintero
November 12, 2013
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| Fernando Botero and Emma Reyes |
Throughout the last days I read a very particular book called Memoria por Correspondencia –in English, Memory by Correspondence–, written by Emma Reyes. This book is very particular because it compiles twenty-three letters that Emma wrote to her friend Germán Arciniegas for decades. In those letters, Emma tells to Germán her early childhood memories until when she got away of the convent where she remained a great part of her infancy. It is important to say that these letters stayed in the private area of the Arciniegas family for many years. However, the Arciniegas family, the Fundación Arte Vivo Otero Herrera and the Laguna Libros editorial made possible this compilation, which become an amazing literary work.
But, who was Emma Reyes? Unfortunately, almost nobody knows about her. Well, Emma was a great artist, who lived in several countries since Colombia until France, crossing Argentina, Mexico, United States, Spain, Italy and Israel. Nevertheless, her childhood was very hard. Emma was poor, without known parents, only she had to her sister Helena. Both sisters, raised by a woman, were given up when they were still children. Emma and Helena were locked up in a convent for many years. One day Emma achieves to escape from the convent, and in that moment she warns that had left to be a child. In few words, after surviving in Latin America, she got a scholarship, while she was living in Buenos Aires, to go to study art to Paris. Later, she became a very recognized artist in Europe and America.
I agree with Piedad Bonnet when she declares, in the prologue, that Emma, besides her life history, she was worried to show us the discriminatory, classist and racist Colombian society of the thirties, when her childhood passed. Not as different to the today society. Emma and her sister were victims of a hypocritical society, which preferred to batter a child instead of, demonstrate its weakness. In addition, these children were victims of the dark world of the religious communities, also contaminated of social discrimination, chauvinism, cruelty, superstitions and prejudices.
In spite of these hard memories, Emma wrote without hate. She told about her childhood to her dear friend with a sweet tone, something funny, but sad. Memoria por Correspondencia is a unique book; its content was not planned. The story is natural, like when you want to write in your diary or to tell to a close friend your personal experiences. The pages of this book, this is, each one of the letters of Emma are deeply humans.
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