![]() ![]() ![]() Imports were prohibitively expensive, there were few public libraries, and Uruguay’s small, struggling publishing houses produced rudimentary editions on cheap, grainy paper-precariously bound paperbacks that were inevitably faded, dusty, crumbling from use or age, and stained by the omnipresent humidity that makes the climate of Uruguay such a challenge, especially in the wintertime. When I was first there, however, books were not abundant. There’s a strong literary tradition as well. You feel their presence everywhere-from the striking modern architecture that invigorates the stately old nineteenth-century houses on the streets of Montevideo to the constructivist murals-on public buildings and in people’s backyards-in the style of Uruguay’s most famous painter, Torres García. ![]() The arts have always been important in Uruguay. In 1988, when I went to Uruguay for the first time, the country was emerging from a long military dictatorship, and the capital, Montevideo, was a quiet, gray city that reminded me of Central Europe. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |