Culture Blooms, but Without Buyers

The wealth and weaknesses of fin de siecle Mexican culture are bound up together in the contradictions that surface when tradition and modernity forcefully clash.

Never before in Mexico has there been such a large and varied number of writers practicing their craft. Yet they are writing to be published in a devastated editorial landscape.

The publishing industry, almost annihilated by the economic crisis of 1982, has not recovered. Its long journey into the night of economic contraction has left many companies in bankruptcy, and morning has yet to dawn.

Consider this fact: In the golden year of 1976, for every book printed in Mexico, two were printed in Spain; today, for every book published in Mexico, Spain publishes more than 20.

There is a political parallel: It took Spain only a few years to turn from a dictatorship into a democracy. Mexico has spent decades on the pilgrimage toward democratic normality.

Our politicians like to say that Mexico’s economy has recovered. Well, that has not yet been reflected in the consumption patterns of Mexicans.

In spite of this gap, there is in Mexico an intense and exciting cultural life. Now more than ever, writers are practicing their art and are forming associations to publish magazines and cultural supplements that are inserted in newspapers. They also participate in cultural activities sponsored by public and private universities. The cultural ambience is far from being devastated. What is lacking is the main component of a healthy cultural environment: a public willing to pay for it. The printed word thrives, but in loneliness.

Consider: After the 1994 economic crisis, sales of printed materials like books and newspapers fell by 35% to 45%. Worse, three years later, we still feel the reverberations of that financial earthquake. Currently, in this country of 90 million, no “serious” newspaper sells 100,000 copies; no weekly political magazine sells more than 8,000 copies and no monthly cultural magazine reaches a circulation of 20,000.

Commonly, publishing houses print 2,000 copies of a new book and never sell them all unless a miracle happens.

The renaissance of writing amid the devastation of publishing is not the only paradox that floats over Mexican cultural life in these heavy days. Never has the Mexican state been as generous in promoting culture. The budgets for public universities have actually grown or at least kept pace in spite of the crisis that ensued after last year’s “December mistakes.” The project of the National Council for the Arts and Culture (Conaculta), created by the Carlos Salinas administration between 1991 and ‘93, has achieved some remarkable successes.

That it was Salinas, everybody’s favorite villain in the current political scene, who created the best infrastructure ever assembled in Mexico to support culture is nothing but another example of the reign of paradox in Mexico.

On the other hand, it should also be pointed out that a vast government support system does not necessarily produce the best artists, writers, film directors, playwrights, painters or sculptors. History will be Conaculta’s ultimate critic.

One may agree or disagree with the current policies of Conaculta, especially with its proclivity to turn the state into a publishing house, but nobody can deny what the institution has been able to achieve. The big paradox is that all this cultural support is in place just when the consumption of cultural products is experiencing its largest decline.

The one busy area of culture consumption is in cyberspace, with the arrival of technology that makes users feel they can conquer the world from the comfort of their bedrooms. Finally, New York, Paris and Rome are at arm’s reach.

It may sound perhaps a bit exaggerated to say that the arrival of the Internet represents yet another cultural paradox in Mexico. In a poor country like this, the Internet actually strengthens the monopoly of privilege. Between the present and the future lies the majority of the people who still live in the past. It is as if tradition and modernity were challenging each other to a duel to the death. The use of the Internet in Mexico is nothing but a modernization of backwardness.

It is evident that the Internet, the CD-ROMS and e-mail advance culture through technology. These are great working tools whose cultural potential is enormous, but, and here again comes a paradox, every time I surf the Net, the picture that comes to my mind is that of a powerful jumbo jet equipped with the tires of a Volkswagen sedan, forever unable to land. In this era of globalization, the Mexican economic crisis of ’94 left the Mexicans in a much worse state of isolation.

There is no way to predict what will come out of these cultural paradoxes. In the meantime, they form the labyrinth of our public spaces and populate the secret doubts of our private lives.

To read previous articles in the Soundings on Mexico series, visit The Times’ Internet Web site:https://www.latimes.com/HOME/NEWS/COMMENT