I love books and I hate crowds. I went to the Bogota book fair hoping to see more of the former than of the latter, but picking a holiday was a big mistake. The good news is that when it comes to books, the people of Bogota appear to be crazy about them. The pavilions with book displays — and there were many — were thronged with persons of doubtful intelligence and confirmed inconsiderateness ambling through in large numbers. Not a peaceful sort of place, but then what kind of fair is?
Ochlophobist is the term to use for a person with an absolute horror of crowds. I suppose I’m only borderline since I managed to stay, but I understood why there was a woman pushing a cart selling hard liquor inside Corferias. If only I were a drinker! And beside the liquor cart with a three year-old sitting on the top as her mother trundled through the mob what else was there to see? Lots of books in Spanish, and even a few books in English, and the mob browsing, scarfing fair food, behaving in ways decidedly anti-intellectual, gawking at exhibits, listening to caterwauled Colombian traditional music, and getting in my way.
I’m a bibliophile, besides being a borderline ochlophobist, and so even though the view was obstructed by the crowds packed into warmish buildings, it was good to see so many books, so many publishing houses, so many distributors. Truly, there are a lot. Not knowing much of the Spanish language and Latin American publishing industry, I still managed to find some bargains and come away with some modest additions to my library.
At the fair one can also encounter living statues, promotions for Tigo, hard liquor—surely of unimpeachable literary pedigree, as well as posters for such greats of literature as Michael Jackson and Kurt Kobain, games and puzzles, recorded books and movies, exhibits of dubious literary connection, and you can find all kinds of magazine distributors, besides half a dozen restaurants.
Many nations were represented. The German publishers bring a lot of expensive English books to this country, and expensive other books. There is also a place called Authors (which has a store at 5th and 70 here in Bogota, as well as being in El Tesoro in Medellin) that carries English books. They had some bargains at the fair and all the latest.
Interesting, in the university pavilion, was the participation not only of regional universities, but of outlets for regional publications from various departments—probably as part of a ministry of the department. Besides this, there was a whole pavilion dedicated to Mexico. I browsed the philosophy section and found such eminent Mexican philosophers as Immanuel Kant and Karl Marx—which reminds me that I saw an awful lot of Che Guevara books, though perhaps not in the Mexican pavilion. I think Che Geuvara was prominent in the juvenile section.
Speaking of the juvenile section, I know I am not the only person in this world enthusiastic about Tintin books. There they were, sets in Spanish and sets in English for the usual fifteen bucks or so. Perhaps there were sets in other languages, maybe Herge’s own French, but I did not notice them. Nevertheless, you know it is a good book fair, the crowds notwithstanding, when you can find Tintin and Aristotle under the same roof.
