Economist German Redel launches his debut book, Rosalí con tilde en la i and other stories, a collection of eleven tales alternating between the harsh rural pampa of Buenos Aires province and the introspective pulse of urban life. Influenced by authors like Borges and Hemingway, Redel transforms personal memories into raw, sensory narratives. The volume explores silences, violences, and unexpected reunions.
German Diego Alejandro Redel, an economist and bank employee, enters literature with his first book published by Tinta Libre. The work consists of eleven stories divided in focus: the first five are set in the Buenos Aires pampa, capturing the field's harshness through gruff adults and observant teenagers. Redel draws from his biographical roots, such as visits to the town of Saavedra, his grandmother's house, hunting, and local festivals, to depict a slow rhythm marked by weather and silence.
"I realized the crudeness when I finished gathering the texts," the author admits, noting how rural violence, often tacit, contrasts with more explicit urban forms. Sensory elements like nighttime darkness in the sierra or the weight of physical labor enrich these narratives, reviving pending memories. Key influences include Jorge Luis Borges, Antonio Berni, Abelardo Castillo, Nicanor Parra, Ernest Hemingway, Mikhail Sholokhov, and James Joyce, shaping his unadorned sensibility.
The second part shifts to the city, with more introspective tones on grief, bonds, and ephemeral euphoria. The final story, “No one will ever know anything about that old piece of tapestry,” inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry adapted to the global south, represents a complex exercise in layers and details. Redel honed his writing in the literary clinic at Centro Cultural Rojas, coordinated by Gabriela Saidón, where he learned to revise and maintain a routine. His grandmother corrected the commas in the initial manuscript, and after editorial rejections, Tinta Libre accepted the project.
Today, Redel keeps family ties to the countryside but feels the rural has found its narrative channel in this book. He encourages new writers to share and revise: "That first fear is key to breaking." Thus, he joins Argentina's tradition of narrating the border between countryside and city with keen observation and emotional memory.
