By MARCIO SALGADO*
Excerpt, selected by the author, from the recently published novel
Against facts there are no arguments
As much as possible, I wish to be faithful to the facts. Without the story I have in my hands, this story would not exist. Due to circumstances, I often got lost between the lines, as I didn't know the language in which it was written, having to learn it. Therefore, I say without fear: I learned from the blind. I would like to know of other people – psychics or not – who have achieved the same thing.
I don't read it disinterestedly, however, I don't create versions, but rather I try to reveal its truth. In searching for a person I thought was missing, I found others who are pictured here. It is true that he did not have this intention, but this fact suggests evidence: what moves human beings is coexistence with their fellow human beings. They find each other strange, many, many times, but the purpose of coexistence, for unfathomable reasons, always remains.
I wrote about people I met after a long journey. Some will doubt my purposes, and I do not ask for complacency. After the dark years reported here, documents emerged that give an account of the political life and horrors of that time. History, however, does not contain everything, memory selects the episodes and their characters, while forgetting others. Well, these people I speak of are the other in history, they produced acts that time silenced and then buried them forever.
When I found the original report, I couldn't even imagine the revelations it contained, and, even more so, that it was so close to what I was looking for. I opened this volume as if opening the book of life, not mine, obviously, but that of the people portrayed in it. Without a doubt, I regretted not having previously maintained closer contact with its author, much of what I speculated would have been clarified, however, when talking about the past one has to be resigned to the testimonies found.
Although, at first glance, these notes seem unimportant, they undoubtedly reaffirm the value I give to the report that came into my hands unexpectedly. I believe that, by essentially sticking to the events, I will avoid undue interpretations. As the saying goes: against facts there are no arguments.
*Marcio Salgado, journalist and writer, he has a PhD in Communication from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Author, among other books, of The philosopher of the desert.
Reference
Marcio Salgado. Book of the blind. Rio de Janeiro, Caravana Grupo Editorial, 2024, 286 pages.
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