This Wednesday, April 19, they will deliver the Belisario Domínguez Medal to the writer and journalist Elena Poniatowskawho was born in Paris, France on May 19, 1932. Yes, this day the author of “The night of Tlatelolco” will receive recognition in the Senate of the Republic, so we want to take advantage of to tell you about her relationship with one of the most important Mexican poets in our literature: Guadalupe “Pita” Amor, who was also her aunt.
Elena Poniatowska, niece of Pita Amor
Hélène Elizabeth Louise Amélie Paula Dolores Poniatowska Amor, or better known as Elena Poniatowska, was born on May 19, 1932, the daughter of Jean Jose Evremond Sperry Poniatowski and María de los Dolores Amor Escandón. His mother, part of a Porfirian family that went into exile after the Mexican Revolution, was the first cousin of Guadalupe Teresa Amor Schmidtlein, better known as Pita Amor..
while helenawho arrived in Mexico at the age of 10 because of World War II, decided to dedicate himself to journalism in our country, working in newspapers such as excelsior o News and interviewing great characters such as the painter María Izquierdo, the writer Juan Rulfo and the actress Dolores del Río; her aunt, Pita Amor, was already a renowned 20th-century Mexican poet.
It is precisely in this context and moment in history that one of the most curious anecdotes in our literature occurred, when the controversial poet asked her niece not to compare herself with her, as she told her that, while she was a goddess, Elena Poniatowska was only a “fucking journalist”.
But before… Who was Pita Amor?
Guadalupe “Pita” LoveIn addition to being a poet, she was a storyteller and oralist, and many consider that was a precursor of women’s liberation in Mexico, precisely in the fifties. Unfortunately, his work was almost always under controversy, which both the media and the people created due to his extravagant way of being.
According to Elena Poniatowska herself, despite the fact that she was born into a conservative family, she defied the customs of her time with her actions; from being a single mother, something that was not common in those years, to the doubts and questions she made about the existence of God.
Yes, the author of works like “I am my house”, “Another love book” y “Tenths to God”It was a volcano, as she came to say. She posed nude for painters, compared herself to the actress María Félix and said that she was better than Octavio Paz. She was a poet who, as Michael K. Schuessler noted at her centennial celebration, opened many paths for the women writers of the following generations.
“Don’t compare yourself to your fire aunt!”
In a new book publication “Dust” of Pita Amor, Elena Poniatowska wrote as a prologue a portrait of the poet that she previously included in her book “The Seven Little Goats”. Yes, in this text, the Mexican journalist narrated the occasion when her aunt asked her not to compare herself with her.
“Don’t compare yourself to your fire aunt! Don’t you dare appear next to me, next to my hurricane winds, my storms, my rivers of lava! I am the sun, little girl, as soon as you get close my rays will carbonize you! I am a volcano!”Pita Amor told her during a party in 1954.
The next day, the then 22-year-old writer received a call; It was her aunt, who asked her if she was happy, to which she said yes. The conversation continued and once again he confronted the journalist, even forbidding her to use her mother’s last name: Amor.. Then he sentenced: “You are a fucking journalist, I am a goddess”.
But despite all this, Elena Poniatowska has always shown great admiration for her aunt: “Pita is, to this day, a legend of surprising contrasts and emotions and, as she herself indicated, to eternity already sentenced”.
*With information from Indigo Report y The universal
