Asunción, Agencia IP.- This Saturday at 7:30 PM in Literaity, Asunción, will mark the launch of «Paraguayan Sorrow: Writings of Rafael Barrett, A Radical Voice in a Dispossessed Land,» the first English translation of Rafael Barrett’s most famous work, titled initially «El Dolor Paraguayo.» With translation and foreword by William Costa, this edition offers English-speaking readers the chance to explore the depth of an author who left an indelible mark on the history of Paraguay and Latin America in the early 20th century.
Rafael Barrett, born in Spain, arrived in Paraguay in 1904 and quickly became a fierce critic of the exploitation and inequality that defined Paraguayan society at the time. Witnessing extreme poverty and repression firsthand, Barrett, who came from the Spanish elite, abandoned his bourgeois past to join the struggle of Paraguay’s working class. His brief but intense career as a journalist and writer led him to forcefully denounce the abuses against Paraguayan workers, especially in the yerba mate industry, dominated by foreign companies and sustained under near-slavery conditions.
The English edition of Paraguayan Sorrow represents the historical recovery of an author who influenced generations of readers and activists in Latin America. Through his articles and essays, Barrett exposed the voracity of capitalist imperialism in a nation scarred by the War of the Triple Alliance, a devastating conflict that left Paraguay in ruins and served as the backdrop for his scathing critiques of local and foreign powers.
Paraguayan Sorrow includes some of Barrett’s most iconic writings, such as denunciating the inhumane conditions in the yerba mate plantations controlled by foreign corporations. A supporter of the Paraguayan anarchist movement, Barrett passionately defended the culture, the Guarani language, and the rights of campesinos (rural workers).
The original work received praise from renowned intellectuals. Paraguayan novelist Augusto Roa Bastos once said, «Barrett taught us writers in Paraguay how to write; he plunged us headlong into the striking and simultaneously hazy, almost ghostly light of ‘reality in delirium,’ of its myths and counter-myths.»
A universal legacy of struggle and resistance
William Costa’s translation and Mirna Robles’ foreword offer an accessible and profound introduction to the life and work of this «radical with a fragile heart,» as he is often described. The book, now available on Amazon in both print and Kindle format, as well as through the Monthly Review store, promises to bring Barrett’s work to a broader audience, connecting his writings with a new generation of readers interested in social struggles, Latin American history, and critiques of imperialism.
This launch will be a unique opportunity to honor the memory of an author who lived and died true to his principles and whose voice resonates today as a powerful testament to resistance.
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Publish date : 2024-11-07 01:23:00
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