Son of the prestigious philosopher Luis Villoro and the psychoanalyst Estela Ruiz Milán, and brother of the poet Carmen, Juan Villoro was born in Mexico City in 1956. Graduated in Sociology, from 1981 to 1984 he was cultural attaché at the Mexican Embassy in East Berlin . Mexico and Mexico City are always present in his work.
A sharp and entertaining chronicler, narrator and playwright, he has a lot in common with Carlos Monsiváis and, above all, with Vázquez Montalbán. He is also, like his father was, a fan of F.C. Barcelona, and in 2006 he was awarded the Manuel Vázquez Montalbán International Journalism Prize for his book God is round. Along with soccer, he is especially interested in movies and rock. As a chronicler, he is the author, among others, of Palmeras de la brisa rapida. A trip to Yucatán (1989) and Horizontal vertigo (2019). As a novelist, from El disparo de argón (1991), Materia disposed (1997), recently republished by Almadía, El testigo (2004) or Arrecife (2012). The youth novel The Wild Book (2008), has known several reissues. Among his storybooks, it is worth noting La alcoba dormida (1992) and La casa perdera (1999). And as an essayist, Personal Effects (2001) and The Utility of Desire (2017)
The figure of the world is at the same time an autobiography and, above all, a biography about his father, Luis Villoro, born in Barcelona, a figure highly respected for his intellectual rigor and ethical attitude. Although he has already appeared throughout the book, his mother takes on a special role in the epilogue or appendix. Juan Villoro tells us "of the emotional disorder that destroys the children of creators." In the skilful and entertaining chronicler there is now a new, especially powerful intensity. The author tells us that "this is not a book about a philosopher, but about a father."
Hardness should not be confused with rancor, but rather as a true tribute by showing us the most human aspect, with all its weaknesses, in a reserved man, incapable of expressing his feelings. He thus becomes closer and more admirable to us. The son does not judge his father or try to discredit him, but tries to understand him: "This book tries to tell the uniqueness of my father from the normality he had for his children", and "my father is a good subject for a writer who he prefers to write what he does not know”. And this is how the biographer becomes a narrator.
The figure of the world attracts us as if we were reading a novel guided by authenticity. Authenticity that is highlighted by the presence of Villoro himself, who tells us about his sadness as a child, sleepwalking at twelve, his fatness that made him unpopular, his tendency to cry, so frowned upon in a society like Mexico. , how he has lived surrounded by various forms of neurosis and, of course, how his parents' divorce affected him.
All of this is framed within the historical and social events that are always so present in Villoro's work, and for which memory and imagination are the only escapes. Luis Villoro sympathized with the Zapatistas and became a friend of Subcomandante Marcos. The events of 1968, so well reflected in the canonical The Night of Tlatelolco, by Elena Poniatowska, occupy a prominent part of the book. Alongside the brutality of President Díaz Ordaz is the deceitful opportunism of Luis Echeverría. And we cannot forget that Luis Villoro became a Mexican but never stopped being an exile.
The figure of the world is highly recommended not only for lovers of biography but also for those who like a good, intense and entertaining story.
Juan Villoro The figure of the world. Random House. 272 pages. €21.90
