Sergio Pitol: El desfile del amor (Love Parade)

The latest addition to my website is Sergio Pitol‘s El desfile del amor (Love Parade). Miguel del Solar is a forty year old Mexican living in England but visiting Mexico City. He has just written a history book on 1914/15 in Mexico and now plans to write one on 1942. His research reminds him that in 1942 he was staying with his aunt and uncle in a flat in Mexico City. One night Delfina del Uribe, who lived upstairs, held a party attended by various Mexican glitterati. At the party a young Austrian was murdered, two people shot and one assaulted. The whole issue was covered up even though it was suggested that German agents were involved. Del Solar decides to investigate the event, speaking to the survivors of which there are a few. Each one gives a different, often conflicting account both about the party and shooting but also about one another. Quoting Spanish playwright Tirso de Molina, he concludes no one was who they claimed to be,the characters unfolded continuously, adopting the most absurd masks, as if it were the only way of living with others. In short there is no one truth.

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