Sergio Ramírez: ensayista y crítico literario

Abstract

In recent years, the Nicaraguan Sergio Ramírez very well known novelist and short story writer, has become one of the main intellectual voices from Latin America for his journalistic articles and essays. Señor de los Tristes, Sobre Escritores y Escritura (Lord of the Sorrowful, About Writers and Writing) is a collection of his articles, essays and lectures published during the last decade and it allows us to study him as essayist and literary critic. His approach is personal and humane, but also sharp, sensible and intelligent in the analysis and evaluation of writers and their works. His experience as a reader and his personal relation with the authors, as well as their place within their historical context, are basic elements for him that allows him to relate their literary production to other political, social and cultural dimensions. His point of departure is his native Nicaragua, but from here we projects himself to the rest of the world. In this way, he examines the works of Nicaraguan writers, such as Darío and Cardenal; Central Americans, like Asturias and Cardoza y Aragón; Spanish Americans, like Borges, Neruda and Cortázar, and even other outside the Spanish speaking world. The unifying theme is the complex and problematic relation between writing and political power. Besides that, there is a lucid utopian component in his writings as well as a genuine concern for the great social political and existencial problems that Latin Americans confront. In this way, Ramírez situates himself in the very best tradition of the Spanish American essay.