BOOK / THE MIDDLE AGES [1988-1998]. Rafael Gumucio

Novel / Prose

“I jumped from childhood to adulthood without a break,” writes Rafael Gumucio in this book, which can be read as a sequel to Memorias prematuras (Premature Memories), in which the writer narrates his initiation into literature, journalism, and love.

These were the 1990s, the years of transition, years marked by compromises and taboos, but also by a certain cultural effervescence, of which Gumucio himself was a protagonist on the Rock & Pop channel, Antonio Skármeta's short story workshop, and the Planeta publishing house. Like Polaroid snapshots covered in a patina of comedy, these pages feature images of experimental playwrights who ended up making soap operas; writers who were then successful but are now second-rate; leftist idealists who turned to bank robbery; politicians who felt more comfortable in the private world; and an omnipresent dictator who was locked away in a clinic, gripped by fear and the subject of all kinds of ridicule.

Egotistical and master of a prolific prose, rich in paradoxes and unexpected connections, here Gumucio brings out the best in himself to show a country more fearful than hopeful, with many wounds still open and conversations pending. The Middle Ages is, then, a literary exercise that does not renounce historical and social inquiry, and even less so the exploration of the self of a comical subject determined to be noticed by any means necessary. “I am a genius, but I know I failed, because I have to write it down,” he lashes out at himself. “You should tell me if I were a real genius; it should be our secret, but I have no secrets. I make you think I still have some kind of modesty, but it's not true.”

Title: LA EDAD MEDIA [1988-1998]
Author: Rafael Gumucio
Size: 22 x 14 cm.
Binding: Softcover.
Genre: Novel
Weight: 380 grams
Language: Spanish
Publisher: Hueders
Year: 2017
Pages: 272