A space that preserves the "living legacy" of Augusto Roa Bastos opens its doors in Paraguay.

A space that collects notes, childhood memories, copies of a "lost library" and even musical instruments of the writer and Cervantes Prize winner in 1989, Augusto Roa Bastos , opened its doors in Asunción, to keep the legacy alive. of the "eternal exile" who never lost contact with his Paraguay.

This place, named Espacio Cultural Roa Bastos , is the result of the joint work between the Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) and the Augusto Roa Bastos Foundation, led by Mirta and Carlos Roa, the author's children.

Its objective is to preserve from oblivion the legacy of the creator of the novel Yo el Supremo (1974), born in Asunción in June 1917 and where he died in 2005, after a life marked by exile.

"We have here everything that has been the preparation of his writings, his first editions, his personal objects , from his childhood to his maturity," explained the director of the OEI office in Paraguay, Germán García da Rosa, who highlighted the importance of "having a space dedicated to literature and the promotion of reading with the living legacy " of Roa Bastos.

Among the collection that makes up the permanent exhibition of this place, several of the 150 books and countless notes handwritten by Roa Bastos stand out, which he lost in Argentina, where he went into exile in 1947 after the newspaper he worked for, El País , an opposition newspaper, was attacked, according to his biography, written by Paraguayan journalist Antonio Pecci.

The documents appeared in Buenos Aires in 2020 and were delivered to the author's family two years later.

" They have enormous value , because inside these books there are notes that Don Augusto was making when he was preparing his great work, I the Supreme , at the height of his career," said García da Rosa about this text that has been translated into more than 20 languages.

The writer's pilgrimage , which left Argentina in 1976 for Europe following the military coup of General Jorge Rafael Videla , and then, in 1982, returned to the Old Continent, after being expelled by the Paraguayan dictator Alfredo Stroessner, is also evident in a suitcase, clothing, travel documents and correspondence on display.

The exhibition is completed with personal belongings of Roa Bastos —who received Spanish citizenship during his second European exile—with mementos from his childhood, adolescence, and the process of creative maturity, as well as his musical instruments, his desk, and the computer where he prepared his latest works.

But also, García da Rosa explained, there are photographs of the writer that show his contacts with "the intellectual world, with his writer friends," among them the Spanish poet and playwright Josefina Plá, or that immortalize memories, such as a visit to Asunción by the recently deceased Peruvian author Mario Vargas Llosa, with whom he maintained a "profuse" correspondence.

Of that collection of images, the official added, one that also stands out is a photo of Roa Bastos at the airport, when, he said, "he had to go into exile."

" That is the eternal exile . We must recognize him (Roa Bastos) as the eternal exile who always maintained contact with his beloved Paraguay," concluded García da Rosa.