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The memoirs of Maradona and Di Stéfano Dribbles wich light up pupils Jesús Castañón Rodríguez The last year of the XXth century has amazed the editorial Iberoamerican world with an unprecedented success of the books with the Alfredo Di Stéfano and Diego Armando Maradona’s memoirs. From June to the beginnings of November Gracias, Vieja has had an outstanding position every week; that is, it has been between the 10 works which are at the top of the selling lists in Spain and, from the beginnings of October to nowadays it has been relieved by Yo soy el Diego de la gente in the lists of Argentine and Spain. The first one is selling more than 30.000 copies and 5 editions. It is one of the most triumphant works from the "Feria del Libro" in Madrid, with an special welcome in Spain between supporters who are more than 60 and teenagers from 15 to 20, and with an enormeous queues in order to get copies autographed by the author. The second one has sold the 130.000 copies from the first edition in one week, it has sold 7 editions, 275.000 copies which are been bought by all kind of readers in general, a translation to 28 countries an a lot of sales in Argentine. According to the legend, its author has received an incredible amount paid as an advance for the copyright: One million of dollars. These memoirs about their life trajectory and the traces which have leave in them, have become a sociological phenomenon which goes through the increasing and social demand of sport, the supporter’s avidity in order to know teams and players who perhaps can never know or the yearning for discovering the feats and miseries of the private life of these contemporary heroes.
Gracias, Vieja was edited in Madrid (Spain) and it was presented in May. It consists of 7 parts: Childhood in La Boca, the first steps in the professional soccer, arrival at Spain, the Real Madrid, the soccer since the wall, epilogue and appendices. Yo soy el Diego de la gente was edited between La Habana (Cuba) and Buenos Aires (Agentine); its presentation took place in the city of Buenos Aires in September, 29th 2000. It is composed of 15 parts:the origin, the explosion, the passion, the frustration, the resurrection, the glory, the friends and enemies, the fight, the revenge, the sorrow, the returns, the goodbye, a look about affections and final message accompanied by its sporting record. An accomplice reading in order to reconcile contraries They are written in a journalistic style which plays to the attack from the simplicity and the talent to emphasized the improvement of along and doubtful life path in which we can avoid important difficulties by means of the ball. They shape the report of emotional stories, of feelings and a tireless fight in life in which there are only left the fundamental affections. They stick out similar qualities: soberness in the resources, an agile intelligence , elegant personal style, facility in order to get out of jams, capacity of improvisation in order to avoid the destiny . They are an example of defiance against a wait based on having to cede the way, its hatred directed to people who damage the others and a way of transforming the row in a creative manner into a fuel which gives energy to overcome the adversities. Also, they are sensitive to dead team-mates’ sons’ sad eyes, they are also sensitive to the poor boys one’s or about the special splendor of the unlimited admiration which, for example, they drive Maradona to play with them in his house’s living room after the popular pilgrimages which took place till his home after the win in the Cup of the World in Mexico in 1986. The best player of the XXth century, Maradona, and the honorable chairman of the best club in the XXth century, Di Stéfano, they are sharing a hatred directed to those intellectuals who hold a book with their arm to turn the football players into ignorant people. But in spite of their short fondness for reading books and having got an editorial success, the accomplice reading based on the content or their memoirs allows us to discover a new dimension whose content can be organized in five thematic groups: the peace of the ball, the trajectory as players, the career as trainers, the facet as journalist and the human side of the myth. THE PEACE OF THE BALL The Sweet Music Based On The Ring Of The Ball In these two star´s life , the ball was not an ordinary ball. It has been an scope for the fantasy against a hostile reality. It shapes a generating element as far as interior peace is concerned and its developments in the open spaces and the outskirts transformed these spaces into places for freedom, into places in order to improvise and created without fixed rules. In Maradona’s words, to challenge the sun. The ball takes part in the children’s illusions. Diego slept tenderly hugging his first real ball which his cousin Beto Zárate gave it to him as a present, Alfredo played with a gum ball and his greatest sorrows were when the Three Wise Men to whom he had asked for a pair of football shoes and a ball, gave him a gum ball and a pair of training shoes as present and also his first ball which got from a raffle in the cinema. The new dimension based on the ring of the ball was so magic, this new bell of emotions was so emotional that the boy Diego changed rags, oranges or balls made of paper into footballs when he went to school or when he went to do daily shopping and the boy Alfredo used a tin which dented till transform it into a circular shape. Eventually, although it is not compiled in books based on memoirs, from the concentration in Argentine in Trigoria, while The Cup of World in 1990 was being celebrated, Maradona and the writer Osvaldo Soriano met each other. The fascination which felt this writer when he realized that the football player’s skill kicking an orange with a great impulse, it was used for the creation of the tale "El Hijo De Butch Cassidy". The Redeeming Talent Since
that moment, football appears as an element to make equal different
origins and also as an element to make a tough character based on
learning to fight from the beginning, to try to elevate things against
everything and everybody and also it is based on a peculiar way
of feeling invariable the passage of time and the improvement of
standard of living. In the case of Di Stéfano, the talent took place in a family from Barracas who originate in the European immigration: his father came from Italian origin and his mother had a French and Irish origin. They are moments for the memories when they usually went to their grandparent’s house to take a nap, they are also moments for the memory of the name of Stopita which is given by his grandfather Miguel because his hair was blonde and it looked liked the burlap in order to clean the ships, they are the moments for the memory of the footballer father’s injury in River Plate, for the giving up of his studies when he was 15 years old in order to try to work. It was also the fight against the hostile reality if the extortion based in the American gang with the Chico Grande group. Football was the method to make new friends in the neighborhood , they are going to put to the test to different teams after a travel by bus or by train with the soccer wrapped with a peace of paper from the daily. In both lives, the ball meant peace entertainment and a source of pleasure till it was transformed into a new way of life, a way to help the family, a cohabitation with wonderful people and a way of meeting people which wasn’t dreamt previously. To such an extent that Di Stéfano sculpted the ball in his house appearing in its stand of legend ¡Gracias, Vieja!. Trajectory as footballer, coach and journalist The human side, style and bibliographical references Traducción: María Elena Martín Pérez
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