The filmmaker and writer Rodrigo Cortés publishes ‘Verbolario’, a glossary of definitions crossed by humor and the absence of solemnity
More than a dictionary, Rodrigo Cortés has put together an anti-dictionary. In the same entry, the writer and filmmaker gives definitions that can even be contradictory. ‘Verbolario’ (Random House), a column that appears every day in the newspaper ‘ABC’, is also the name of the latest work by Cortés, a versatile man who takes a clear, penetrating and humorous look at things. From A to Z, from “abandonment” to “zuzón”, the writer shows a high dose of poetic and philosophical ingenuity. “I try to look at the world very soberly. Reality is sometimes cruel because it is ruthless’, says Cortés of his book, edited with care and in the old way, with an artisan invoice. The author is aware that he is treading slippery ground when he tries to grasp reality and reduce it to its essence, as poets do. For this reason, to take gravity away from what it is dealing with, it offers an ironic vision. “I’m not trying to fall into gravity or solemnity.”
It was Juan Gómez-Jurado, a friend and colleague of the podcast ‘Here are dragons’, who sent a sample of his work to the director of ‘ABC’ without Rodrigo Cortés knowing. Since then, this practitioner of the art of brevity has been sharpening the words. His proposal was well received by the director of the newspaper and since August 1, 2015 he illustrates a page with a flash of insight. This is how he wrote 2500 entries in his particular dictionary.
Readers come across one or more meanings that dazzle and briefly drive the reader’s mind. For example, brain synapses fall apart when reading the definition of “chess”: “A game that consists of squeezing your temples together as time passes.”
The author, turned into a lexicographer, starts from the premise that «language serves more to hide than to reveal». The intricacies of each word, its true meaning is often the “opposite” attributed to it by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE). It is this spirit that leads him to understand “failure” as “the verdict of the jury, even what is right.”
Sometimes a sense of pessimism creeps into the book, but ultimately skepticism predominates. When he distances himself from his work, Rodrigo Cortés thinks he never takes himself too seriously. “I understand my smallness, I consider the words from many points of view, all capable of provoking some sort of laughter.”
‘Verbolario’ wouldn’t exist without Isabel Vigiola, widow of cartoonist Mingote. Vigiola was reading Cortés and one day invited him to dinner and showed him his library, where he showed him a copy of Ambrose Bierce’s “Devil’s Dictionary,” a hard-to-find book that requires the purchase of collectors. . It is a rare work, in which the author shows his satirical and sarcastic talent to turn the world upside down. Isabel Vigiola saw the fascination that that book aroused in her guest, in which Bierce invested 25 years of his life, and she gave it to him. Already at home, the filmmaker started to play with verbs and nouns and made unexpected discoveries from the vein of language. Findings that, put together in a book, work magically: the words are related to each other and reveal encrypted messages between their folds.
«Isabel Vigiola was a very special woman, a commanding officer. He wrote everything down in a notebook. Once he went to buy a sole in the market and offered himself a measuring tape to check if it would fit in the oven».
Knowing that humor and current events do not mix well, the author has fled from journalistic work to give his work a label of sustainability. “Humour and current events aren’t necessarily opposites, but they’re not the best friends in the world. What sticks to reality is generally replaceable, three days later it is invalid, although sometimes strange synchronizations occur». Nor was it the author’s intention to pursue aphorism, a genre he has cultivated on other occasions. “As soon as something threatens to be celebrated, I try to break the glass.”
Unlike Bierce, who developed his definitions further, Cortés seeks the essence. Part of a complex information to express the highest density in the smallest possible space. “The reader takes a pill that decompresses in his mouth and recovers all the aromas and evocations of the information.” After seven years, Cortés is not tired: his vocation as a lexicographer stands and will continue to give the game.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
