Mexico Honors Literary Hero Sergio Pitol in Exhibit

The eccentricity and timeless originality of 20th-century Mexican writer Sergio Pitol is being celebrated in a month-long exhibition of his letters by the Museum of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

RELATED: 
Abente, 'Last of the Great Paraguayan Poets,' Dies Aged 103

"Sergio Pitol is without doubt the strangest, most unfathomable and most eccentric writer," said Ambassador Agustin Garcia-Lopez, director of the Mexican Agency of International Cooperation for Development.

The collection of correspondence gathered from the philosopher's travels offer a closer look into the genius which put Mexican culture in the spotlight for the literary world.

"It has been said that a language is a homeland; that country has as ambassadors the writers, bearers of the word that carry with them identities, histories, roots," Garcia-Lopez said.

"Sergio Pitol is part of that tradition that Mexico has woven since the 19th century, weaving the threads of diplomacy and the threads of letters."

The exhibit, entitled 'Sergio Pitol: Trips, Letters, Worlds,' opened July 12 with a reading of the short story 'Domar a La Divina Garza,' dedicated to Juan Garcia Ponce as part of a series including 'Carnival Triptych,' 'Parade of Love,' and 'Conjugal Life.'

The exhibit, which follows Pitol's death earlier this year, features photographs of the Mexican diplomat and writer standing alongside fellow luminaries Jose Emilio Pacheco, Carlos Monsivais, Mario Bellatin, Margo Glantz, Juan Villoro and Juan Rulfo.

"It's widely acclaimed by today's critics and readers that Pitol was one of the most daring of the Mexican writers, always in search of another part, both in the geographical field and the literary exercise through writing or reading," said Phillippe Olle-Laprune, from the Auditorium García Robles Tlatelolco University Cultural Center.

He also praised Pitol's gift for translation, which he said could "break walls of incomprehension" and "ward off xenophobia and stupidity."

Pilot's work has been translated into German, Chinese, French, English, Italian and Portuguese. The exhibition is open to the public until August 10.