Gustavo Roldán, Argentine writer, recognized for his children's literary style, leaves a great legacy for the followers of the literary world. His works transcend to this day as some of the best in Latin America. He knows through this fantastic article, the famous works and the important biography of the Author and literary writer named Gustavo Roldán.
GUstavo Roldán: Biography
Gustavo Roldán was born in Fortín Lavalle, in the province of Chacao, in Argentina, on August 16, 1935. This emblematic Argentine citizen studied at the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba Modern Letters where he received his Bachelor's degree from the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities. He received honorary recognition for his academic level.
Gustavo Roldán becomes recognized as one of the most outstanding Argentine writers of the XNUMXth century. His work transcends to this day. His children's literature is still valid.
According to some data in his autobiography, the writer grew up in the vicinity of the Bermejo River, located north of the province of Chacao.
There is no record of his parents' data. However, it is known that his mother owned a farm in the countryside. Gustavo Roldán while he lived in that hacienda did not have access to any type of literature, however, according to his own narrations, there were stories around him every day. This was a stimulus to discover what was behind the literature.
These stories were narrated by the tamers, muleteers and workers dedicated to the care of the herd. Every afternoon, after work, they sat around a fire while they roasted meat and drank mate. They used to tell stories that have transcended the borders of the entire world. Gustavo Roldán as a child listened to those stories and felt great interest in those stories. These stories were the muse to dedicate himself to children's literature in the future.
In addition, these stories that I heard as children were carried out by animals that I saw in those bushes on a daily basis. Therefore, we can affirm that his works were inspired by those characters. As well as this great Argentine writer, we also have the great Latin American writer Biography of Jose Emilio Pacheco
His studies
The writer Gustavo Roldán received his Bachelor's degree with honors in the mention of Modern Letters at the Faculty of Philosophy and Humanities of the National University of Córdoba. He worked jointly on Billiken and Humo magazines. His contributions to children's literature were recognized by both magazines. The production of books and fables made an impression on critics who bet on the author's literary style.
Our History
After these recognitions, by critics specialized in literature, he decided to promote children's literature accompanied by his wife Laura Devetach, also a writer and specialist in children's philology.
At the same time, he worked as a university professor of Spanish Literature, Argentine and Latin American Literature: However, he decided to dedicate his life to the world of children's literature.
According to his own words, his mission in life was to question writing for boys as a literary style, without cataloging it under any subgenre. On the other hand, the writer considered that it was a mistake to underestimate children's literary works, as well as infants. According to his vision, infants were a public that should be attended. In other words, what the writer wanted to say was that children's literature should occupy a privileged place in Latin America.
He participated as a jury in various literary contests. Likewise, he was a member of the jury to award the Casa de las Américas Prize in 1989 and it was held in Cuba. He dedicated his professional life to giving talks, seminars and conferences in favor of the literary world, especially for children.
According to his own words, his favorite writers were Graciela Montes, Javier Villafañe and his beloved wife Laura Devetach.
Literary works of Gustavo Roldán
Gustavo Roldán presents us with a diversity of children's stories that are characterized by introducing values and social criticism in an aesthetic way. Some of his children's works are the following:
About rain and frogs
This story by Gustavo Roldán tells the story that between original and funny dialogues are established between animals. Something that characterizes all the literary work of the Argentine writer. This story is about a toad and his friends from the mountain who were desperate due to the drought they suffered. They were looking for a way so that it could rain. The grandmother of one of these little animals told a fable that when she turned a toad upside down it would rain.
The rest of the little animals are mad at him. The toad is harassed by his friends after superstition. Gustavo Roldán transports readers to the cultural heritage of the interior of the Argentine country.
The Tatú in love with Gustavo Roldán
Gustavo Roldán gives us another great story loaded with these characteristic characters of his works. As the title warns us, the Tatú falls in love with the Iguana. To correspond to Tatú's love proposal, he puts a condition. It refers to the value of courage to fall in love. El Tatú accepts the challenge and resorts to his mischief and great suspicion to comply with Iguana's requests. This extraordinary story reveals the extremes of these characters' feelings. Cowardice and bravery; indifference and love, are some of the themes that this beautiful story gives us.
the day of the turtles
This story by Gustavo Roldán tells about a tiger that was seen in the waters of the River. She notices that he has some white whiskers. He thought he was getting old. Given his concern about not wanting to grow old, he talked with the other animals in the place. Some thought that he should look like an elephant, others that he should not run like rabbits run, rabbits should not run.
The iguana recommends that you resemble the turtles because these animals lived a long time. He also tells her that she never gets old. Listen to the recommendation of the iguana, all animals want to look like turtles because they do not want to grow old. The only animal that did not give an opinion was the flea, because whenever the lion appeared the footprint.
They begin to walk slowly, they put on a shell, they did not speak and they pretended to be turtles. The only animal that could not appear on a turtle was the flea. While everyone walked slowly and with his shell, the flea had fun jumping from one shell to another.
One fine day, like the animals had never enjoyed, the sun appeared and there was a lot of joy in the place. all the animals saw the flea enjoying jumping and enjoying that splendid morning. When all the animals saw the joy of the flea, they decided to take off their shells and returned to being as they were.
who knows an elephant
Once again Gustavo Roldán turns to one of his favorite characters Don Sapo. In this story, Don Toad appears describing an animal that all the locals wanted to meet. It was about an elephant. Despite the fact that Don Toad had never seen an elephant, he begins to draw it and everyone, amazed by that animal, asks Vizcaya how big that elephant is.
Comfortable toad had never seen an animal like this, he replied that it was the size of a mouse. Once again Gustavo Roldán contextualizes the story in a mountain where there are animals where they exchange their own dialogues.
the last dragon
Once again Don Sapo appears in another of Gustavo Roldán's works. We all know that he likes to tell stories. However, we do not know if they are true or false. What we do know is that Don Sapo knows how to tell each of his stories very well.
Don Sapo tells us the story of the last dragon. We could imagine that this story is another of Don Sapo's lies. Through the stories of our friend Don Sapo, the readers realize that he does not lie. Likewise, the little animals of the mountain realize that Don Toad tells the truth.
The last dragon hatches from a huge egg. This animal spends its childhood with its dad. That is to say Mr. toad. When he tripped over the shell and the dragon broke it went to Don Toad. When the dragon grows up as a teenager, he decides to embark on his own adventures.
He returns to say goodbye to his father for a while because he wants to realize his own dreams. the dragon tells his father that he has met a dragon who is waiting for him on the other side of the world.
Once again, Gustavo Roldán resorts to the animals of the Chaco mountain, such as the Vizcaya, the quirquincho, the anteater, the louse, the fox, the owl, the parrot, the alligator, the iguanas, and we are missing two elephants, among others.
Once again he resorts to humor and poetry, which gives aesthetics and beauty to the narrative. In addition, these elements give it tenderness and beauty and even a certain melancholy. Gustavo Roldán is strong because Don Sapo narrates in a fun and beautiful way the life of the mountain, the silence, the wind and nature, places where one day he grew up.
Animals have qualities of humans have their own characters. They carry out social practices such as gossip, adventures, anger, grace, envy, fear, vanity, joy and one or another gossip.
In this work, the dragons are characterized by keeping secrets, they have the ability to take care of the dangers that surround them, they show sensitivity. They also show human qualities such as dreaming, playing and words.
Bestiary of Gustavo Roldán
In this literary work, Gustavo Roldán groups imaginary characters from universal literature. He incorporates the sphinxes, the basilisk, the sirens, the minotaur or the griffin, representative figures of Greek mythology, into the bestiary.
In this work you introduce with each of the figures descriptions and salient aspects of different methodologies and culture.
The Legend of the Red Bug
This novel deals with the adventures of the red bug after making a triple trip around the world. He undertakes his journey to answer a question who makes the carob beans ripen. To achieve the answer to this question, the red bug must face great dangers and challenges throughout the world. For this he resorts to his cunning and manages to escape from these dangers. He manages to return to the mountain with his friends.
How we can appreciate the action of the red bug takes place in different areas: the mountain, the desert, the sea, the river and distant lands. Different characters take part in this work, such as the louse, the jaguar, the iguana, the quetzal, the crocodile, the coyote, the viper, the hummingbird, the wolf, the quirquincho and the anteater.
This work differs from the other short stories in terms of its structure. Each of these chapters contains numbers. The dialogues reveal the qualities of each of the characters.
The Patched Little Bird
Once again Gustavo Roldán contextualizes his story in the mountain where he lived his childhood. In that place there was a tree where many birds of different colors, plumages and songs lived.
Everyone is different and they have fun playing even when there were fights between them they solved it this way. Each bird was very special. However, one day a patched-up bird arrived and perched on the highest branch of the tree. An eaglet visualized it and took it to its chicks to be able to feed them.
However, the eaglet did not count on the cunning of the patched little bird to get out of the bad trance.
This is another of the popular tales presented by Gustavo Roldán. It addresses the issue of the difference of a person with respect to a group. That difference has allowed the patched-up bird to develop strategies that allow it to survive.
Characteristics of the children's works of Gustavo Roldán
According to the literary works of Gustavo Roldán, his protagonists are animals that allow him to address different social values. He also takes advantage of his fables to criticize behaviors and reveal some human qualities.
His literary style allows him to approach through children's literature some taboo topics in society such as death, love or bad words.
One of the criticisms that Gustavo Roldán makes of children's literature is that other writers refer to the giraffe, the wolf, the rhinoceros, the striped tiger, as there is an extraordinary diversity of fauna in Latin America.
One of the works that contains a critique of Argentine society is precisely the toad in Buenos Aires. Don Sapo does not understand some habits of the inhabitants of the city of Argentina. The residents of that city like to ban and travel in crowds. Nor does Don Toad understand how the city of Buenos Aires, having such a wide river, none of the locals can bathe in that place. He also criticizes the state of abandonment of that River.
Another of the open criticisms that Gustavo Roldán makes of publishers is that these houses demand a neutral language. Publishers demand to limit localisms. This in order that children's literary works can be circulated throughout Latin America. From the perspective of Gustavo Roldán, this is a problem for Argentine writers, since their Spanish is characterized by being different in the region. However he defends his own language from him.
Gustavo Roldán highlights the geography of his native province. He introduces some Guarani voices and describes typical Chacao trees as well as native animals of that region.