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opinionAlso in this section:
Endara Hill, Father Gallego in his church and his community E. Jackson, Richardson's the best in a strong Democratic field Bernal, A disgraceful spectacle Sirias, A debt to a great teacher N. Jackson, Take back the night Silkwood, OAS Secretary General Insulza
A debt to a great teacher: on reading Crónica de una muerte anunciada by Silvio Sirias
The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires. William Arthur Ward
A teacher affects eternity. He can never tell where his influence stops. Henry Adams Gabriel García Márquez’s Crónica de una muerte anunciada appeared in print while I was a graduate student at California State University-Fresno. Interestingly, when I first read the novel, I was unimpressed. Perhaps that’s because I foolishly wanted García Márquez to write Cien años de soledad all over again. After reading Crónica, I loaned my copy to Dr. José Elgorriaga, one of the most remarkable teachers I’ve ever encountered. He had the gift of making any work --- a novel, a poem, a short story, or an essay --- come to life. He kept students engaged, pounding his fist on the podium and raising his voice to a nearly deafening shout whenever some aspect of a text excited him. Dr. Elgorriaga wanted every student to learn to love literature as passionately as he did. Time always flew in his classroom. And to this day, in the literature courses I teach, I try my best to emulate his style. But what I am most thankful for is that Dr. Elgorriaga taught me how to READ --- to reach beyond the obvious interpretation of a text. He wanted his students to become aggressive readers; to learn to articulate not only the superficial message, but also what remains hidden, embedded between lines, characters, and themes. He taught us that an excellent reader is also the co-creator, helping to bring a literary work into its fullest bloom by arriving at conclusions that even the author could not have foreseen. “Read with a pencil and with glasses,” he used to repeat over and over, urging us to make notes on the margins of a book, marking the impression a text made on us at a particular moment. Later, he’d tell us, we should use these notations to help us unravel the labyrinth we had entered, and through these notes we could explain, with precision, what we, as readers, had experienced during our literary journey. I remember, as well, that Professor Elgorriaga was exceedingly selective about the novels he liked. Often, he’d tell me --- with unapologetic bluntness --- that a novel that I found excellent was mediocre, at best. Thus, I was surprised when Dr. Elgorriaga, who I once overheard say that García Márquez was overrated, found Crónica de una muerte anunciada brilliant. He enjoyed the novel so much that he included it among the readings for a course on the Spanish-American novel he was scheduled to teach the upcoming semester. I will be forever grateful to Dr. Elgorriaga for opening my eyes to the skillful way in which García Márquez tells this story, a tale of a killing of honor. Professor Elgorriaga showed us --- our eyes wide open with wonder as we gradually came to understand that we were in the presence of a master storyteller --- how the Colombian novelist takes his readers down five different alleyways (an astounding experiment of time and perspective), while obligating us, in the end, to piece together the highly fragmented plot. And Dr. Elgorriaga highlighted how, at the novel’s conclusion, although the death has been amply foretold, we are still utterly shocked when García Márquez provides us with front row seats to witness the slaughter. Reading Crónica de una muerte anunciada with the benefit of Dr. Elgorriaga’s sage guidance was one of the most memorable literary experiences of my life. Not only did he open my eyes to the absolute genius of García Márquez’s work, but also, as an assignment for that course, I produced my first academic article worthy of publication: “La relación texto-lector en Crónica de una muerte anunciada,” which appeared in the journal Confluencia. Recently, a statue of Dr. Elgorriaga was unveiled in a Fresno park to honor the groundbreaking work he did in promoting the love of soccer in the heart of California’s San Joaquín Valley. (At one time, in addition to teaching and serving as the Chair of the Department of Modern Languages, Professor Elgorriaga was the head coach of Fresno State’s men soccer team, leading them to the NCAA Final Four on one occasion.) And although Dr. José Elgorriaga’s loving labor in service of central California’s youth and the sport of soccer are certainly worthy of a monument, where I’ll always remember this amazing teacher is where he most inspired me: in the classroom.
Silvio Sirias resides in Panama. His novel, Bernardo and the Virgin, is available in paperback through Amazon. He teaches at Balboa Academy. For more information, visit his website at http://www.silviosirias.com
Also in this section:
Endara Hill, Father Gallego in his church and his community E. Jackson, Richardson's the best in a strong Democratic field Bernal, A disgraceful spectacle Sirias, A debt to a great teacher N. Jackson, Take back the night Silkwood, OAS Secretary General Insulza Unclassified Ads | Calendar | Outdoors | Dining | Science | Sports | Español | Front Page Archives | Wappin' Radio Show | Just Music
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