Dear Tom, again, sorry for your loss. As you said, it’s amazing how small the world can be. As a fan of your work, it would’ve never occurred to me that you were related to a man who has done so much for my country’s culture (and whose book my girlfriend bought a few years ago). That being said, I admit, I didn’t know anything about him, so when you posted the news, I did a quick google search, and found this interview a local newspaper did with him sixteen years ago. I found it quite interesting and thought maybe you would, too. But since it’s in Spanish, and I don’t know if you know Spanish, I thought I might translate it and hope it helps you during these difficult times.
Anyway, here it is. (Oh, and if you want the link to the original interview, it’s here.)
GERALD TAYLOR: A LIFE FOR QUECHUA
– Did you choose Quechua or did Quechua choose you?
– I discovered Quechua in Colombia, I studied it in Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Its enormous spread and numerous variant interested me. But it was its historical depth which ended up convincing me: there are documents in Quechua -not necessarily religious- from the XVI century.
– And your linguistic calling?
– It started in Australia. My admittance into college coincided with Asian migration. After WWII, us Australians discovered we weren’t European. That’s where my interest in Indonesian languages was born.
– What was your first contact with the so called ‘exotic’ languages?
– One of my first trips was traveling around Indonesia, but when I travelled to Paris I discovered that in the Sorbonne old Javanese was being taught. And I also discovered Spanish in Paris, because back then (early 60’s) Spanish was spoken more than French around the Latin quarter.
– Is that how your interest in Peru was born?
– I coincided with many Latin-Americans, amongst them many Peruvians, such as Peruvian painters Gerardo Chávez and Alberto Quintanilla.
– And you decided to travel to Peru?
– Actually, I was traveling around Italy, and there was a ship parting towards Mexico. The fee was less than a hundred dollars and I embarked myself (laughs). Then I followed down to Colombia and Ecuador…
– And in Peru, which was your first Quechua?
– The Huanca dialect, thanks to a trip through the Mantaro valley. Then I travelled to Ayacucho and I met Luis Lumbreras and my countryman, John Earls.
– Did you stay in Ayacucho?
– I couldn’t stop travelling. I arrived in Cusco, followed to Bolivia, where I found a job, but I still moved on to Brasil and then back to France.
– Hey, Dr. Taylor, were you ever still?
– Of course I was. When I went back to France I enrolled in philology. Then I had the chance of a cheap trip to Brasil, but the crisis of May of 68 hit. The franc devaluated and I even had to sell my recorder to survive (laughs). That’s when I went back to Peru.
– At last. Is it true you met José María Arguedas?
– Alberto Torero recommended I study the northern Quechuas. In those days there was a meeting to which Arguedas couldn’t arrive.
– Arguedas had already translated the ‘Quechua Manuscript of Huarochiri’.
– That’s right. I dedicated myself to the French translation, but I discovered the paleography of the Manuscript left lots to be desired; I did some research and that’s where the Spanish translation came out.
– Why do you think runasimi* isn’t taught right in Peru?
– It’s a difficult topic, but there’s a lot of contempt for the indigenous [culture]. One of the many reasons a language is lost is because of the lack of self esteem and because the teaching of it must be attractive. In Peru, Quechua has been ideologized. It’s incredible that the Quechua Manuscript of Huarochiri isn’t part of the bilingual education in Peru, when it’s such a fundamental book for every Peruvian. It’s a work unique to it’s gender in all of Latin America.
*Another way of referring to the Quechua language.
Bruno tiene tiempo libre 