#Contemporary Chilean Literature | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

nowtoboldlygo · 1 year ago

Text

twenty books in spanish, tbr

for when i'm fluent!! most with translations in english.

Sistema Nervoso, Lina Meruane (2021) - Latin American literature professor from Chile, contemporary litfic

Ansibles, perfiladores y otras máquinas de ingenio, Andrea Chapela (2020) - short story collection from a Mexican scifi author, likened to Black Mirror

Nuestra parte de noche, Mariana Enríquez (2019) - very long literary horror novel by incredibly famous Argentine journalist

Canto yo y la montaña baila, Irene Solà (2019) - translated into Spanish from Castilian by Concha Cardeñoso, contemporary litfic

Las malas, Camila Sosa Villada (2019) - very well rated memoir/autofiction from a trans Argentine author

Humo, Gabriela Alemán (2017) - short litfic set in Paraguay, by Ecuadoran author

La dimensión desconocida, Nona Fernández (2016) - really anything by this Chilean actress/writer; this one is a Pinochet-era historical fiction & v short

Distancia de rescate, Samanta Schweblin (2014) - super short litfic by an Argentinian author based in Germany, loved Fever Dream in English

La ridícula idea de no volver a verte, Rosa Montero (2013) - nonfiction; Spanish author discusses scientist Maria Skłodowska-Curie and through Curie, her own life

Lágrimas en la lluvia, Rosa Montero (2011) - sff trilogy by a Spanish journalist

Los peligros de fumar en la cama, Mariana Enríquez (2009) - short story collection, author noted above

Delirio, Laura Restrepo (2004) - most popular book (maybe) by an award-winning Colombian author; literary fiction

Todos los amores, Carmen Boullosa (1998) - poetry! very popular Mexican author, really open to anything on the backlist this is just inexpensive used online

Olvidado rey Gudú, Ana María Matute (1997) - cult classic, medieval fantasy-ish, award-winning Spanish author

Como agua para chocolate, Laura Esquivel (1989) - v famous novel by v famous Mexican author

Ekomo, María Nsué Angüe (1985) - super short litfic about woman's family, post-colonial Equatoguinean novel; out of print

La casa de los espíritus, Isabelle Allende (1982) - or really anything by her, Chilean author known for magical realism; read in English & didn't particularly love but would be willing to give it another try

Nada, Carmen Laforet (1945) - Spanish author who wrote after the Spanish civil war, v famous novel

Los pazos de Ulloa, Emilia Pardo Bazán (1886) - book one in a family drama literary fiction duology by a famous Galician author, pretty dense compared to the above

La Respuesta, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz (1691) - i actually have a bilingual poetry collection from our favorite 17th century feminist Mexican nun; this is an essay defending the right of women to be engaged in intellectual work (& it includes some poems)

bookmarked websites:

Separata Árabe, linked by Arablit

reading challenge Un viaje por la literatura en español

#spanish langblr #spanish notes #can you imagine that if i grind i can start reading these this time next year?!?!?#3 #nowtoboldlygo posts

154 notes · View notes

fatehbaz · 4 years ago

Text

Western nuclear testing in the Pacific, and in particular the French programme, which stretched across three decades (1966–96), has generated protest movements and literatures that – in keeping with Hauʻofa’s model – transcend imposed colonial divisions in the Pacific by fostering regional solidarity. [...]

Gorodé is a significant figure to consider within this context of transoceanic anti-nuclear protest, as like many Indigenous Pacific women she has been closely involved in the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Movement. She was also one of the founders of Groupe 1878 (a Kanak independence movement named after a 19th-century Indigenous uprising against French colonial rule), and when she was jailed in Camp-Est prison (in Noumea) for “disturbing the peace” during a 1974 sit-in at local law courts, she wrote two anti-nuclear poems: “Clapotis” (“Wave Song”) and “Zone Interdite” (“Forbidden Zone”). As the title of “Clapotis” (which could be translated more literally as “the lapping of water”) suggests, imagery of the sea is central to the poem, which begins by contrasting the sere, inhospitable environment of the prison exercise yard with the plentitude and dynamism of the sea beyond the prison walls.

Anticipating Hauʻofa’s model of an interconnected Oceania, Gorodé posits the movement of the waves as conveying ripples of protest from Oceania’s easternmost island, Rapanui, against the violence of the Chilean political regime that holds jurisdiction over “Easter Island”, and subsequently bearing witness to the nuclear violence “infecting the sky” over Moruroa. The wave also holds the potential to “carry” Indigenous Pacific peoples forward in their resistance to imperialism, gathering and imparting radical energies through its transoceanic trajectories [...].

Thus the poem establishes what Édouard Glissant terms a “poetics of relation”, a referential system that, rather than remaining rooted in individual national contexts, engages in a horizontal, transoceanic dialogue with other cultures, languages and value systems in its critique of colonialism (Glissant 1997, 44–46). Glissant’s theory (which takes the Caribbean as its main point of reference) is comparable to Hauʻofa’s in positing the sea as a basis for elaborating a regional, interpelagic identity, and as Elizabeth DeLoughrey has noted, Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s concept of tidalectics (another Caribbean theoretical model) is also a productive paradigm for analysing the “cyclic” ebb and flow of the Pacific, and of the diasporic populations that have moved across and within it [...].

Notably, Gorodé’s “Wave Song” extends its poetics of relation not just to francophone and hispanophone cultures elsewhere in Oceania, but also to the internal politics of Chile in the 1970s, making reference to the deposing of Salvador Allende’s [...] government and the torture and murder of left-wing activists [...]. Chile’s internecine violence, enacted on its own nationals, is shown to be redolent of its colonial conquest of Easter Island/Rapa Nui, and resonates, in a tidalectic pattern of ebb and flow, with the waves of French colonial violence rippling out from New Caledonia, via French Polynesia, towards the easternmost point of Oceania and back again.

-------

In an effort to transcend these [colonial, Euro-American-imposed] divisions, in the 1990s Hauʻofa produced a series of influential essays advocating a new regional “Oceanic” politico-ideological identity that would not only help unite and protect Pacific Islanders against the vicissitudes of global capitalism and climate change (a significant consideration given that Pacific Islanders are among the earliest casualties of rising sea levels, as well as suffering the long-term effects of nuclear imperialism), but could also serve as a source of inspiration to contemporary Pacific artists and creative writers (see Hauʻofa 2008). Hauʻofa’s model acknowledges the complex and interweaving local, regional and global networks that shape the lives of contemporary Pacific peoples [...].

-------

When Algeria gained its independence from France in 1962, France was forced to end its nuclear testing programme in what is now the Algerian Sahara, and chose French Polynesia as its new testing site, establishing facilities on two atolls in the Tuamotu Island group: Fangataufa and Moruroa [...]. As knowledge of the adverse impact of French nuclear testing became more widely publicized in the 1970s, increasing numbers of newly independent Pacific island nations (as well as settler and Indigenous communities in Australia and New Zealand) expressed vigorous opposition to the tests. [...] [I]n the ensuing years the movement intersected with other campaigns against large-scale military manoeuvres, the testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles at Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands, test bombing at Kahoʻolawe Island in Hawaiʻi, the mining of uranium in Australia, and the dumping of radioactive waste in the Pacific by Japan [...].

While such events created severe schisms between the nuclear powers and white settler nations [”New Zealand”] in the Pacific, they also prompted Indigenous Pacific peoples to unite against the nuclear desecration of their homelands, triggering affiliations that transcended the geopolitical and linguistic divides that often hamper creative dialogue between, for example, anglophone and francophone [...] writers. (This has particular significance given that it was the French explorer Dumont d’Urville who devised the tripartite geocultural division between Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia that still operates to this day [see Dumont D’Urville 1832].)

Maori artist Ralph Hotere, for example, made a significant gesture of solidarity with French Polynesians in his “Black Rainbow” series of lithographs and paintings produced in 1986, lamenting not just the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior, but also the French nuclear testing programme that continued in the wake of the attack. Hotere’s work inspired Samoan author Albert Wendt (1992) to write a dystopian novel, also entitled Black Rainbow, which establishes a homology between nuclear testing and other forms of environmental degradation and exploitation as a result of European incursion into the Pacific [...].

-------

Michelle Keown. “Waves of destruction: Nuclear imperialism and anti-nuclear protest in the indigenous literatures of the Pacific.” Journal of Postcolonial Writing. February 2019.

94 notes · View notes

vinaldaschileanlitblogthings · 5 years ago

Text

“Five interesting nonfiction books”

The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano

The Savage Detectives recounts the history of avant-garde poets from 1975 in Mexico City until 1996 in Africa. Their literary movement, visceral realism, begins with a mischievous revolutionary fervor but later spins apart through jealousy, murder, flight, despair, insanity, and, in a very few cases, self-discovery. Although the underlying plotline is straightforward, the narrative structure and multiple points of view belong uniquely to this novel. It is divided into three sections that present the story out of chronological order.

“Mexicans Lost in Mexico” concerns the last two months of 1975 and takes place wholly in Mexico City. It is told through the diary entries of Juan García Madero, a seventeen-year-old whose ambition is to study literature and become a poet. He encounters two older poets, Arturo Belano and Ulysses Lima. Belano and Lima are poètes maudits, the founders of visceral realism, which is defined mostly by its vigorous opposition to mainstream Mexican literature. They gather about them a variety of younger poets, painters, and dancers, publish magazines, organize or invade poetry readings, and migrate from one dive to another in endless discussion. To finance their literary work they peddle marijuana. By chance, the pair discovers that a previous poet also used the term visceral realism to describe a literary movement. This poet is Cesárea Tinajero, a shadowy figure from the 1920’s known for a single published poem. Belano and Lima decide to track her down.

https://www.enotes.com/topics/the-savage-detectives

The house of spirits by Isabelle Allende

On the day that the priest accused her of being possessed by the devil and that her Uncle Marcos's body was delivered to her house accompanied by a puppy, Barrabás, Clara del Valle began keeping a journal. Fifty years later, her husband Esteban and her granddaughter Alba refer to these journals as they piece together the story of their family.

Clara is a young girl when Barrabás arrives at the del Valle house. Her favorite sister, Rosa the Beautiful, is engaged to Esteban Trueba. Clara is clairvoyant and is able to predict almost every event in her life. She is not able to change the future, only to see it. While Esteban is off in the mines trying to make his fortune, Rosa is accidentally poisoned in the place of her father, Severo del Valle. Rosa dies. Clara is so shocked by the events that she stops talking. Nine years later, Esteban has made a fortune with his family property, Tres Marias, thanks to his hard work and to his exploitation of the local peasants. On top of exploiting their labor, Esteban exploits all of the young girls of the peasant families, notably Pancha, for his sexual satisfaction. In addition to the peasant girls, Esteban also has sexual relations with prostitutes, including Transito Soto. Transito and Esteban become friends, and he lends her money to move to the city. Esteban's mother is about to die, and he returns to the city, where he pays a visit to the del Valle home. Esteban and Clara become engaged and marry. They move into the big house on the corner that Esteban built for them. Esteban's sister Ferula moves in with them.

https://www.sparknotes.com/lit/houseofspirits/summary/

The Shrouded Woman by María Luisa Bombal

As Ana María lies dead in her coffin, her transition into the afterlife is haunted with vivid memories and surreal sensory experiences. Surrounded by the people closest to her that mourn her death, the protagonist relives some of her most defining moments as the reader slowly discovers her complex relationships and identities.

https://theculturetrip.com/south-america/chile/articles/an-introduction-to-chilean-literature-in-10-books/

Seeing Red by Lina Meruane

Seeing Red, by Chilean writer Lina Meruane, is an exemplary autobiographical novel. At a party in New York City, the main character, Lina, suffers from a stroke, which causes the blood vessels behind her corneas to burst. According to her, this stroke was inevitable and doctors forewarned her of this fate. Her vision disappears behind what she describes as “black blood.” Rather than panicking, Lina walks back out into the party she’s attending, acting as normal as she can while threads of blood float across her eyes.

https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2016/may/seeing-red-lina-meruane

Curfew by José Donoso

This is the political novel Donoso was unable to write while in exile from Chile. Unlike the allegorical A House in the Country, his seventh book provides a gritty, realistic, yet eloquent vision of the author's beleaguered homeland12 years into Pinochet's dictatorship. Manungo Vera, a pop singer who has had some success in Europe but is now on the way down, returns to Santiago and is swept up in preparations for the funeral of Matilde Neruda, widow of the poet. Vera meets an old lover, Judit Torre, at a bar. The radical daughter of a wealthy father front-page headline called her a "Debutante Turned Criminal'' Judit symbolizes elitist alienation. After a near brush with death, the two join the huge crowd that has gathered at the cemetery for the funeral, now an anarchic battleground as both the left and right try to manipulate the event to their own advantage. Time is compressed into 24 hours, giving a heady urgency to the lovers' plans. Donoso's powerful vision of contemporary Chileseen through the grotesque optic that is his trademark makes Curfew an important literary event.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-55584-166-9

3 notes · View notes

womenintranslation · 6 years ago

Link

Thursday, 7 February at the University of York, UK:

Alia Trabucco Zerán, Sophie Hughes and Stefan Tobler: And Other Stories in Conversation

Thursday 7 February 2019, 6.00pm

Join us for an evening on writing, translation, and publishing, with UK-based Chilean novelist Alia Trabucco Zerán, in conversation with her translator Sophie Hughes and editor Stefan Tobler, the founder of Sheffield-based publishing house And Other Stories.

Alia will also read from her award-winning debut novel The Remainder (2018). Alia Trabucco Zerán was born in Chile in 1983. She was awarded a Fulbright scholarship for her MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish at New York University and she holds a PhD in Latin American Studies from University College London. La Resta (The Remainder), her debut novel, won the prize for Best Unpublished Literary Work awarded by the Chilean Council for the Arts in 2014, and on publication was chosen by El País as one of its top ten debuts of 2015.

Sophie Hughes has translated novels by several contemporary Latin American and Spanish authors, including Best Translated Book Award 2017 finalist Laia Jufresa (Umami). Her translations, reviews and essays have been published in The Guardian, the White Review, the Times Literary Supplement and elsewhere. She has been the recipient of a British Centre for Literary Translation mentorship and residency, a PEN Heim Literary Translation grant, and in 2018 she was shortlisted for an Arts Foundation 25th Anniversary Fellowship. Publisher Stefan founded And Other Stories out of frustration at the great books not being published in English. With English and Swiss parents, he was born in the Amazon. After his first degree, he moved to Dresden for some years. He later did an MA and PhD at UEA, Norwich. He translates from Portuguese and German. His translations include the 2015 Oxford-Weidenfeld Translation Prize shortlisted Água Viva by Clarice Lispector, the 2016 Man Booker International Prize longlisted A Cup of Rage by Raduan Nassar (Penguin Modern Classics), the poetry collection Silence River by Antônio Moura (Arc), Rodrigo de Souza Leão’s All Dogs are Blue and Arno Geiger’s The Old King in His Exile. He reads French and Spanish too, and he's on Twitter @stefantobler. This event is part of the Writers at York series, which offers a lively programme of public readings and workshops, and aims to celebrate and explore the work of emerging and established contemporary writers.

Location: Bowland Auditorium, Berrick Saul Building, University of York Heslington West Campus

Admission: All welcome, admission free

2 notes · View notes

ericfruits · 5 years ago

Text

Antonio Di Benedetto and the Latin American condition

May 9th 2020

IT IS 1790 in Asunción. Today the capital of Paraguay, it was once an early colonial hub but by the end of the 18th century had become a backwater, the end of the line in a Spanish empire fast approaching the end of its time. Diego de Zama, the legal adviser to the governor, is a man with a brilliant past but, he confesses, now “subjugated by circumstances and without opportunities”. While he waits and waits for a half-promised posting, he is tortured by his desire for illicit love despite his inner promise of fidelity to his wife and children, distant by “half the length of two countries and the width of the second”.

So begins “Zama”, a short novel by Antonio Di Benedetto, published in 1956. Di Benedetto was born and lived for much of his life in Mendoza, an Argentine city in wine country at the foot of the Andes. He shunned the cosmopolitan cultural world of Buenos Aires. He preferred a life on the periphery. Though his work was appreciated in literary circles in Argentina and was translated into several European languages, only in 2016 was “Zama”, his masterwork, published in English (in a fluent translation by Esther Allen). Di Benedetto’s name is unmentioned in many histories of Latin American literature. In future ones it is likely to figure large.

In “Zama” he created a haunting novel about solitude and self-destruction that is both earthly and oneiric. Di Benedetto was influenced by Dostoyevsky and Kafka. But he also had much to say about the Latin American condition. “Zama” is dedicated to las víctimas de la espera, which Ms Allen translates as “the victims of expectation”, though the Spanish also means “the victims of waiting”. That could be said to sum up a region whose people are still waiting expectantly for progress and prosperity, or simply for a necessary piece of paperwork, a hospital appointment or for the bus.

The book starts with a graphic image. In the eddies of the great river “a dead monkey, still whole, still undecomposed, drifted back and forth with a certain precision…there he was, ready to go and not going. And there we were.” They were there in a world of exuberant nature, celebrated in many Latin American novels of the past but, in “Zama”, a looming Freudian threat. Spiders, snakes, bolting horses and savage dogs appear. There is a threat of sudden violence.

They were there, too, in a geographical vastness, but in a social world of cloying smallness, of daily encounters “repeated over many months and long years”. In this world, recognisable still in the provinces in Latin America, money and race count for much but status even more. Indians and mulattos are exploited and subordinate, but also valued for their knowledge (the shaman more so than the surgeon, for example). Zama is an americano, of Spanish parents but born in America and thus barred from the top posts in the Spanish administration. As Ms Allen notes in her preface, it will be the americanos who soon afterwards rise against the metropolis and lead the battle for independence. There is a glimmering of what is to come in the novel’s final section.

The Spanish empire looked stronger than it was. Zama’s salary goes unpaid for many months, as sometimes happens to contemporary civil servants in Latin America. The law had little relevance to local realities. Zama’s structured life gradually disintegrates. Like the borders of the empire, the boundaries of his self seem fluid.

An early admirer said of “Zama” that it is “a deliberate refutation of the very idea of the historical novel”. In place of baroque magic realism, Di Benedetto writes in sharp, modern, deceptively simple prose. Without proposing to be so, he was a bridge between Jorge Luis Borges, with his mental labyrinths, and Roberto Bolaño, a peripatetic Chilean whose work explored both the condition of the writer and chronic violence in Latin America. Bolaño recognised a debt, paying fictional homage to Di Benedetto in a short story. More recognition has come with a film of “Zama” in 2017 directed by Lucrecia Martel, an Argentine.

In an extraordinary twist, Di Benedetto’s own life came to resemble that of Zama’s final years. He was politically moderate. Yet hours after the coup in Argentina in 1976 he was arrested, jailed, tortured and subjected to four mock executions. Released after 18 months, he went into exile in Spain. “I’ll never be sure whether I was jailed for something I published,” he said later. “The uncertainty is the worst of the tortures.” That, too, is a statement that many Latin Americans might identify with.

This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "The long wait"

https://ift.tt/35DAgB7

#IFTTT #Feedly

0 notes

onlymexico · 7 years ago

Photo

Laura Esquivel (born September 30, 1950) is a Mexican novelist, screenwriter and a politician who serves in the Chamber of Deputies (2012-2018) for the Morena Party. Her first novel Como agua para chocolate (Like Water for Chocolate) became a bestseller in Mexico and the United States, and was later developed into an award-winning film.

In her novel Como agua para chocolate (in English Like Water for Chocolate) released in 1989, Esquivel uses magical realism to combine the ordinary and the supernatural, with narrative devices similar to those used by Cuban author Alejo Carpentier as "el real maravilloso" and by Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez and Chilean author Isabel Allende. Como agua para chocolate is set during the Mexican Revolution of the early twentieth Century and features the importance of the kitchen and food in the life of its female protagonist, Tita. The novel is structured as a year of monthly issues of an old-style women's magazine containing recipes, home remedies, and love stories, and each chapter ("January," "February," "March," etc.) opens with the redaction of a traditional Mexican recipe followed by instructions for preparation. Each recipe recalls to the narrator a significant event in the protagonist's life.

Esquivel has stated that she believes that the kitchen is the most important part of the house and characterizes it as a source of knowledge and understanding that brings pleasure. The title Como agua para chocolate is a phrase used in Mexico to refers to someone whose emotions are about to "boil," because water for chocolate must be just at the boil when the chocolate is added and beaten The idea for the novel came to Esquivel "while she was cooking the recipes of her mother and grandmother." Reportedly, "Esquivel used an episode from her own family to write her book. She had a great-aunt named Tita who was forbidden to wed and spent her life caring for her mother. Soon after her mother died, so did Tita."

According to Esquivel critic Elizabeth M. Willingham, despite the fact that the novel was poorly received critically in Mexico, Como agua para chocolate "created a single-author economic boom, unprecedented in Mexican literature or film of any period by any author" and "went into second and third printings in the first year of its release and reached the second place in sales in 1989" and "became Mexico’s 'bestseller' in 1990". The novel has been translated into more than 20 languages.

Like Water for Chocolate was developed into a film, which was released in 1994 concurrently with the book's English translation by Carol Christensen and Thomas Christensen. In the United States, Like Water for Chocolate became one of the largest grossing foreign films ever released. The film "dominated" Mexico's film awards and received ten Arieles and, according to Susan Karlin in Variety (1993), the fine-tuned final version of the film garnered "'nearly two dozen' international awards".

Esquivel's second novel, La ley del amor (Grijalbo 1995 Mexico), translated as The Law of Love (trans. Margaret Sayers Peden, Crown–Random, 1996), is described by literary critic Lydia H. Rodríguez as a "narrative [that] deconstructs the present to create a twenty-third century where remarkable invention and familiar elements populate a gymnastically-paced text" whose "conflicts . . . set the Law of Love (as a cosmic philosophy) in motion" Literary critic Elizabeth Coonrod Martínez cautions, "Although Esquivel merges science fiction trappings with a love story in the novel, . . . [the author] attempts a blueprint for a harmonious future that remains beyond the experience of present societies, a future anchored by a central philosophy that individual wholeness can be achieved only by participation in and on behalf of the community"

Esquivel's non-fiction compilation Between Two Fires (NY: Crown, 2000) featured essays on life, love, and food.

Esquivel's third novel, Tan veloz como el deseo (Barcelona: Plaza y Janés, 2001), translated into English as Swift as Desire (Trans. Stephen A. Lytle. NY: Crown-Random, 2001), is set in Mexico City the apartment of Lluvia, a middle-aged divorcée caring for her debilitated father, Júbilo, a former telegraph operator born with a gift for understanding what people want to say rather than what they actually say. For the first time in this novel, according to critic Willingham, "Esquivel asks the reader to consider Mexico’s historical dialogue and [its] enduring truths" in a contemporary setting in which the characters seek a meaningful and lasting reconciliation that rises above historical errors and misunderstandings

Esquivel's fourth novel Malinche: novela (NY: Atria, 2006), translated as Malinche: A Novel (Trans. Ernesto Mestre-Reed. NY: Atria, 2006), adopts "Malinalli" as the name of the title character, also known as "Doña Marina," whose pejorative title "La Malinche" means "the woman of Malinche," the Aztecs' (Nahuatl) name for Spaniard Hernán Cortez.According to critic Ryan Long, Esquivel's naming of her title character and her novel "reflects upon the diverse and unpredictable revisions that [Malinalli/La Malinche's] mythical identity has undergone continuously since the period of the Conquest. . . . seek[ing] a middle ground between Malinalli’s autonomy and Malinche’s predetermination" The novel's book jacket features an Aztec-style codex designed and executed by Jordi Castells) printed on its interior surface that is meant to represent Malinalli's diary.

Esquivel's most recent novels are A Lupita le gusta planchar (2014 SUMA, Madrid) and El diario de Tita (May 2016 Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, Barcelona). The former has been translated into English as Pierced by the Sun (Trans. Jordi Castells. Amazon Crossing, Seattle 2016).

Personal life

Laura Alicia Palomares Esquivel was born the third of four children to Julio César Esquivel, a telegraph operator, and Josefa Valdés, a homemaker. Her father's death in 1999 was the inspiration for Tan veloz como el deseo. Trained as a teacher, Esquivel founded a children’s theater workshop and wrote and produced dramas for children She first married actor, producer, and director Alfonso Arau, with whom she collaborated on several films. Esquivel and her present husband make their home in Mexico City.

In March 2009 Laura Esquivel ran as preliminary candidate of the Local Council in District XXVII of Mexico City for the PRD. Her candidacy was supported by the current Izquierda Unida, which combined various PRD groups. In 2012, she was elected Federal Representative (in Spanish: diputada federal) for the Morena Party. She has also served as head of the Mexico City Cultural Committee and member of the Science & Technology and Environmental Committees for the Morena Party.

Bibliography Como agua para chocolate (1989) (English: Like Water for Chocolate) La ley del amor (1995) (English: The Law of Love) Íntimas suculencias (1998) Estrellita marinera (1999) El libro de las emociones (2000) Tan veloz como el deseo (2001) (English: Swift as Desire) Malinche (2006) (English: Malinche: A Novel) A Lupita le gustaba planchar (2014) (English: Pierced by the Sun)

#laura esquivel #mexican woman #mexican writers

30 notes · View notes

goginame · 5 years ago

Text

Relazione surrealismo in Spagna tra cinema e letteratura Peter Rostovsky

Monica28812 aprile 20185-7 minutes

Surrealismo in Spagna tra cinema e letteratura Il 30 Novembre 2017, in aula Shakeaspere, nella sede didattica G.Tucci, si è svolta una conferenza il cui tema principale è stato quello del Surrealismo in Spagna. A cominciare la conferenza, il Professor Gabriele Morelli che, inizialmente, espose i primi movimenti d’avanguardia spagnola. Il primo è quello del Futurismo, un movimento in cui troviamo un rifiuto del passato. Ma questo tema risalta anche nel Dadaismo che propone una nuova forma di linguaggio. In Spagna questo movimento è detto Ultraismo, poiché guarda soprattutto alla figura della macchina fotografica e dell’immagine che deforma la realtà. Dalla sua evoluzione si passa al Creazionismo dove troviamo un rifiuto dei maestri e della letteratura. Fa riferimento al poeta cileno Vicente Huidobro il quale afferma che: “come la natura crea l’albero, così il poeta deve inventare l’immagine.” Il sentimento dentro il nostro cuore è quadrato, l’unica forma di libertà è l’orizzonte. La capitale di questi movimenti è Parigi. Un altro movimento che precede il surrealismo è il Cubismo dove l’autore principale è Picasso. Il Surrealismo è un movimento che nasce in Francia nel 1924. Il maggiore esponente di questa corrente è Peter Rostovsky, artista contemporaneo russo, che predilige raffigurazioni di tipo magico-fantastiche o realistico-macabre, due temi di grande impatto emozionale. Il professor Morelli ha voluto dare una definizione a questo movimento con queste parole: “Automatismo psichico puro con il quale ci si propone di esprimere sia verbalmente che in ogni altro modo il funzionamento reale del pensiero in assenza di qualsiasi controllo esercitato dalla ragione al di fuori di ogni preoccupazione estetica o morale.” Infatti esce fuori un pensiero disordinato e libero.

Poi il professore ha fatto riferimento ad alcuni testi letterari del poeta e drammaturgo Federico Garcia Lorca, il quale scrive poesie tradizionali e poesie surrealiste. Un esempio di poesia tradizionale è “Poema del cante jondo” (1931) in cui si parla della morte. Oppone all’immagine della morte tutte immagini positive, ad esempio: (chitarra = canto della vita) (aranci = sapore, colore, profumo) (banderuola = immagine irrazionale/surreale = indica vita, movimento, gioco). In seguito abbiamo analizzato “Canciones” (1921-1924) in cui anche gli oggetti più insignificanti partecipano alla passione d’amore che fa soffrire. Poi il professore ci ha analizzato “Poeta en Nueva York” (1929-1930) in cui Federico Garcia Lorca sta ricordando quando alla sorella gli è stata regalata una rana e il gatto se l’ha mangiata. Queste immagini che sembrano surreali hanno poi una proiezione della vita. Successivamente abbiamo osservato la poesia “New York” (1929) in cui ci sono delle immagini irrazionali. Sta facendo una critica contro New York. Esempio: (Anatra = sacrificio di essere mangiata) (Marinaio = sacrificio di un lavoro pericoloso.) (Sangue tenero = sacrifico degli innocenti).

Per quanto riguarda il cinema surreale abbiamo assistito alla visione del film: “Un Chien Andalou” di Luis Bunuel, del 1929. In questo film troviamo l’annullamento di tutti i sentimenti e l’affermazione dei sensi. I principali nuclei tematici sono: il desiderio dell’uomo impedito dal peso che si trascina dietro, rappresentato dall’immagine del

pianoforte; la corruzione, rappresentata dall’immagine dell’asino putrefatto; la punizione dell’uomo che entra nella stanza, in questa immagine troviamo il riflesso della biografia di Dalì perché aveva un padre molto autorevole. La prima immagine dell’occhio tagliato con il rasoio è un’immagine violenta, dissacrante e crea un rapporto istintivo e non sentimentale. In questo film ci sono anche delle immagini surrealistiche, ad esempio, le formiche e la farfalla, che è tipico del mondo di Freud.

Successivamente il professore ha fatto riferimento a Ramon Gomez De La Serna il quale creò per la prima volta nel 1910 la “Gregueria” ovvero, accostare un oggetto con un altro. Ad esempio:

- Una macchina da scrivere silenziosa è una macchina in pantofole

- Dante andava tutti i sabati dal parrucchiere per farsi tagliare la corona d’alloro

- La forchetta è il pettine degli spaghetti

- L’ateo non dovrebbe avere osso sacro

- La A è la tenda dell’alfabeto

- Le spighe fanno il solletico al vento

Complessivamente ho trovato la conferenza tenuta dal Professor Gabriele Morelli molto interessante, anche se, personalmente, sono stata attratta dalla storia del surrealismo spagnolo. Essendo interessata molto di più al cinema e alla fotografia, sono stata molto colpita dalle immagini del cortometraggio di Luis Bunuel: la scena dell’occhio tagliato, quella dell’investimento, la mano invasa dalle formiche, l’asino putrefatto e il pianoforte. Queste, oltre ad aver scosso la mia vista per la loro crudeltà, accompagnate dal silenzio del film muto sono l’emblema di un malessere interiore che viene trasmesso pienamente dal regista.

Monica De Santis

Scienze Politiche, della comunicazione e delle relazioni internazionali

INDIRIZZO: Amministrativo-Gestionale

webcache.googleusercontent.com

Report surrealism in Spain between cinema and literature

Monica28812 April 2018

5-7 minutes

Surrealism in Spain between cinema and literature On November 30, 2017, in the Shakeaspere classroom, in the G.Tucci teaching site, a conference was held whose main theme was that of Surrealism in Spain. Beginning the conference, Professor Gabriele Morelli, who initially exhibited the first Spanish avant-garde movements. The first is that of Futurism, a movement in which we find a rejection of the past. But this theme also stands out in Dadaism which proposes a new form of language. In Spain this movement is called Ultraism, because it looks above all at the figure of the camera and the image that deforms reality. From its evolution we move on to Creationism where we find a rejection of masters and literature. He refers to the Chilean poet Vicente Huidobro who states that: "how nature creates the tree, so the poet must invent the image. "The feeling inside our heart is square, the only form of freedom is the horizon. The capital of these movements is Paris. Another movement that precedes surrealism is Cubism, where the main author is Picasso. Surrealism is a movement that was born in France in 1924. The greatest exponent of this current is Peter Rostovsky, a Russian contemporary artist, who prefers magical-fantastic or realistic-macabre-type representations, two themes of great emotional impact. Professor Morelli wanted to give a definition to this movement with these words: "pure psychic automatism with which one proposes to express both verbally and in every other way the real functioning of the thought in the absence of any control Exercised by reason outside of any aesthetic or moral preoccupation. " In fact it comes out a messy and free thought. Then the professor referred to some literary texts of the poet and dramatist Federico Garcia Lorca, who wrote traditional poems and surrealist poems. An example of traditional poetry is "Poema del cante jondo" (1931), which speaks of death. Opposes the image of death all positive images, for example: (guitar = song of life) (orange = taste, color, scent) (vane = irrational / surreal image = indicates life, movement, game). Later we analyzed "Canciones" (1921-1924) in which even the most insignificant objects participate in the passion of love that makes us suffer. Then the professor analyzed "Poeta en Nueva York" (1929-1930) in which Federico Garcia Lorca is remembering when his sister was given a frog and the cat has eaten it. These images that seem surreal then have a projection of life. Later we observed the poem "New York" (1929) in which there are irrational images. He is criticizing New York. Example: (Duck = sacrifice of being eaten) (Sailor = sacrifice of a dangerous job.) (Soft blood = sacrifice of the innocents).

As for the surreal cinema we witnessed the vision of the film: "Un Chien Andalou" by Luis Bunuel, from 1929. In this film we find the annulment of all the feelings and the affirmation of the senses. The main thematic nuclei are: the human desire prevented by the weight that is dragged behind, represented by the image of the

piano; corruption, represented by the image of the rotten ass; the punishment of the man who enters the room, in this image we find the reflection of Dali's biography because he had a very authoritative father. The first image of the eye cut with a razor is a violent, irreverent image and creates an instinctive and non-sentimental relationship. In this film there are also surrealistic images, for example, the ants and the butterfly, which is typical of the world of Freud.

Subsequently, the professor referred to Ramon Gomez De La Serna who created the "Gregueria" for the first time in 1910, that is, approaching one object with another. Eg:

- A silent typewriter is a machine in slippers

- Dante went every Saturday to the hairdresser to get his laurel wreath cut

- The fork is the spaghetti comb

- The atheist should not have a sacred bone

- A is the tent of the alphabet

- The ears tickle the wind

Overall I found the conference held by Professor Gabriele Morelli very interesting, even though, personally, I was attracted by the history of Spanish surrealism. Being much more interested in cinema and photography, I was very impressed by the images of Luis Bunuel's short film: the scene of the cut eye, that of the investment, the hand invaded by the ants, the rotten ass and the piano. These, in addition to shaking my sight for their cruelty, accompanied by the silence of the silent film are the emblem of an inner malaise that is fully transmitted by the director.

Monica De Santis

Political Sciences, Communication and International Relations

ADDRESS: Administrative-Management

#PETER ROSTOVSKY

0 notes

arts-su · 7 years ago

Text

UPCOMING EXHIBITION: THE FRAGILITY OF CULTURE IN A DISPOSABLE WORLD

- Room 700 in Leeds Central Library is inviting the general public to a visual arts exhibition that reflects on the value of culture in our contemporary society.

- The Chilean artist Tere Chad, through various media exposes how culture struggles to survive in an over rationalized society, using the image of the circus as a metaphor.

We are living in a disposable and capitalist society where old values have been replaced by how many things you are able to buy, to achieve a certain state of happiness. How does a cultural entity like a Library positions itself?

Therefore when the artist Tere Chad, saw in the news in her hometown, Santiago, that they where selling the ground of a traditional circus to build a white box Miami style building with palm trees (even though Santiago is not a tropical city), she felt so sorrowful about it, that she decided to go to the last functions to draw some sketches. She realized that she might not save the world, but that through her artworks she has the power to communicate and invite to reflection about the value we give to culture nowadays. Hence in ‘The Fragility of Culture in a Disposable World’, she is going to be exhibiting oil paintings, an interactive sculpture, a paper installation made with photocopies of the books of Leeds Central Library, and her research, that encourages visitors to think about the subject matter.

She uses the image of a circus not just to tell a story, but also in a metaphorical sense, expresses the melancholy and nostalgia that people feel about old times as better compared to emptiness of a hyper stimulated society. The style could also be defined as naïve, intending to show how naïve we behave as a society to changes that are faster to what we are really able to grasp. Maybe, they where not better old times after all, and we just need to recover our haptic sensitiveness; reason why all the artworks presented are totally handmade.

For her research she combined literature review of Leeds Central Library’s collection, with empirical ethnographical research. She uses two ethnographic research techniques: first she decided to ‘flâneur’ on London’s underground and overground to observe people’s behavior, and second she does a visual anthropological classification of free London’s newspapers advertisements; aiming to find to what extent we are departing from our tactile and instinctive nature.

All whom are interested can attend the private view on Thursday 24th of August 18:00, at Room 700, first floor Central Library, Calverley Street, Leeds, LS1 3AB.

The exhibition will be open free to public from the 25th of August till the 14th of September.

You can check the venue website for opening hours. The artist will be additionally giving some papier-mâché workshops and guiding cultural visits with the local school to incorporate the community in the activity.

If you would like to participate please contact the Library staff writing to [email protected] or call to +44 (0) 113 378 5005. You can also check the artist’s account instagram @terechad where she updates information.

#events

1 note · View note

cryptodictation · 5 years ago

Text

Three good reasons to read in isolation

Alejandro Chacoff, author of Aptridas (photo: Companhia das Letras / Divulgao)

One of the wonders of reading is that it awakens empathy and humanity, two elements that will be needed more than ever in the face of a rapidly spreading epidemic. Reading, too, is a way of traveling without leaving the place, flanking through other times and other scenarios, learning about cultures and taking reflection beyond the obvious and superficial. Another resource needed to keep the mind alone in a period of confinement. And for that, contemporary Brazilian literary production is full of excellent narrators and thinkers and, despite the coronavirus, editors follow the task of bringing this production to readers. THE post office made a list of some titles released recently and others that have entered the catalogs a few months ago: a suggestion for the reader who wants to immerse himself in the good contemporary Brazilian production. And all are available in digital formats, on the publishers' websites.

To understand music

For 12 years, pianist and conductor Leandro Oliveira has been in charge of the project Speaking of music, a series of meetings that take place before the presentations of the São Paulo State Symphonic Orchestra (Osesp) and focus on explanations related to the universe of classical music. Faced with a list of doubts that are repeated year after year, Leandro decided to write the book Speaking of music, recently released by However.

Each of the eight indito texts published in the book brings one of the frequently asked questions during the meetings. “In the three weeks without the members of the audience asking me questions about whether symphonic or philharmonic, why don't I applaud, what do I have to hear when I get home, should I play an instrument or listen to music, what is classical music?” , says the author, who is also a music critic and a specialist in filming live performances by orchestras. “There are others, but these eight trials are a very humane invitation. The idea is not to be a technical book or an almanac, but a conversation that the person who is curious can somehow open the frame of reference and be stimulated by the questions. ”

“Even an interesting thing, in this moment of crisis, all this work of transmitting concerts and events has intensified a lot, large institutions are making available collections to watch these concerts on the internet. Some are very stimulating whose access has been released. It is a good opportunity to immerse yourself in the great music ”, by Leandro Oliveira

A delicate Brazil

Bibiana and Belonsia are two sisters united by much more than the blood tie. Daughters of rural workers who touch a farm that they do not own, they suffer an accident that limits the speech of one of them. They then need to learn to understand, through their gaze and gestures, what each one thinks. Belonsia and Bibiana are also women immersed in a cruel universe, of social inequality, of struggle for land and of a historical violence that denies, until today, the impact of the slavery legacy in Brazilian society.

The romance Crooked plow, by Itamar Vieira Jr., has the sisters in front of a text that is already born classic, with deeply Brazilian reasons and a hard look at a country that is unable to extricate itself from the worst part of its history. The novel won the 2018 Leya award and was published in Portugal. Last year, it arrived in Brazil by the publisher Todavia.

With a degree in geography and a doctorate in Ethnic and African Studies from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), Vieira Jr. is also an expert on the situation of rural workers in Brazil. “Since the conception of the story, 20 years ago, the sisters are the protagonists. Afterwards, I went to work in the fields, with rural workers, and I was once again touched by the power that women have in certain groups, even though we live in an extremely patriarchal country. It was these women – from the family and the countryside – who allowed me to build the entire fictional universe of Crooked plow”, Says Vieira Jr, who was raised by a family headed by women.

“Fico is a form of communication and ancestral reflection, and the ability to elaborate it is what distinguishes us, as far as we know, from other species. Since we stand up and start thinking, we do it. Literary fiction, in turn, is an expression of art that allows us to live the lives of others. Like solitary reading, and we carry it out in intimacy, it allows us to exchange lives with the characters without suffering censorship from those who return. Literature, source of empathy and humanity, allows us to expand our horizons and live lives we never lived. Read so we can understand the world around us and ourselves ”, by Itamar Vieira Jr.

Real and imaginary borders

The son of a Brazilian with a Chilean, Alejandro Chacoff was born in Cuiab and moved to the United States at the age of 2. He lived in several countries, was a political analyst in London at 23 and, one day, tired of the harsh and presumptuous language of the reports and surrendered to literature. He was always a voracious reader, but at one point he felt the need to go beyond and write. Thus was born Aptridasis a novel about a boy who is the son of a Chilean with a Brazilian woman whose trajectory goes through questions of identity and borders, physical or not, that shape the personality and understanding of the world. “I can't say what moved me to write Aptridas, any more than I can say what moves anyone to write. I suppose it has something to do with the sensation of displacement, that perpetual sensation of floating on the edge of something collective (a family, a nation, an empire) and never feeling completely part of the whole ”, says the author.

The book deals with these issues quite literally. The narrator is a boy who returns to Brazil with his mother and sister after a season in the United States. The father, an absent Chilean, an uncomfortable presence that hangs in the air, but never appears. And the boy feels eternally out of place within a rich family in the interior of Mato Grosso. “Literal either in the geographical movement of the characters, or in the narrator's strange social position – a quasi-aggregate, since he does not fit into the 'classic' aggregate condition – but this is also a condition that seems universal to me. And it may even sound like a romantic condition, of a certain exclusive lance; But she is also maddening and cruel, because everyone sometimes feels the desire, fleeting or not, to belong to something greater, explains Chacoff.

“The pandemic is a tragedy that comes at a time when many government officials refuse to understand the transnational nature of challenges to the public good. There are two options for how to react to it: becoming more and more cloistered in xenophobia, or resuming some minimal idea of cooperation. Honestly, I don't know which way to be chosen. Staying at home is obviously necessary at that time, due to the zeal for public health. In a moment of exacerbated xenophobia, perhaps in a very mild way the virus can give some idea of the violence involved in a movement ban ”, by Alejandro Chacoff.

Speaking of music

By Leandro Oliveira. However, 128 pages. R $ 44.90

Crooked plow

By Itamar Vieira Jr. However, 262 pages. R $ 54.90

Aptridas

By Alejandro Chacoff. Companhia das Letras, 192 pages. R $ 49.90

The post Three good reasons to read in isolation appeared first on Cryptodictation.

from WordPress https://cryptodictation.com/2020/03/31/three-good-reasons-to-read-in-isolation/

#Entertainment

0 notes

cynthiadshaw · 5 years ago

Text

A Date with a Dude in Dallas

Most of us have secure jobs work in static, humdrum settings with little to no visual stimulation, which is why we go to shopping centers and classy restaurants on weekends—to distract ourselves from everyday routines. Eventually, those getaways become routines, too, unless you find new places to explore. You may not have time to explore, you say, but then a date pops into your calendar—and not just that; it’s a first date with an artsy guy, and you want it to be perfect. Are you really going to limit your date plans with your usual getaways?

When it comes to dating in a city like Dallas, it can be challenging to choose destinations different than that go-to premium casual restaurant or the nearest Cinemark. It’s especially challenging when the guy you’re going on a date with is so jaded even Deep Ellum seems like a bore.

So you run through some date ideas that a guy might like. Coffee at Denny’s? Too common. Walk in the park? Yeah, you and the other ten couples strolling by you. Applebee’s? C’mon, you’re trying to make a good impression. This guy is wearing obscure designer clothes, is into urban living, and has already passed by the Arts District multiple times. Rest assured, there are other parts of town that offer a similar environment but feel more unique.

Imagine your male companion has already had the tourist tour of downtown Dallas. What would you suggest that tells him you know all the trendy places hidden within the city? If you still don’t know where to go on a first date, here are a few options situated around the downtown area.

West Village

He seems fashionable enough to admire high-class apparel, so why not take him to West Village, where you can walk around and gaze at Uptown’s riches. Built in 2001, this nearly-100-shop district equips enough retail stores dedicated to both men’s and women’s fashion that you could spend an entire late afternoon dressing each other up, pretending to be rich. If that’s not to his liking, go to the Magnolia, where they usually screen the latest independent and foreign films. Hungry? There are more than 20 chic restaurants and bars to choose from. Even if these things don’t suit your taste, you can’t go wrong with walking under string lights.

Museums and Galleries

It seems you both share an interest in art but have already seen the permanent collection in the Arts District museums. What do you do? You go to Google Maps and look around the Design District, because, believe me, there are dozens of other museums that don’t get as much deserved recognition as the Dallas Museum of Art or the Nasher. For example, the Haas Moto Museum and Sculpture Gallery owns over 170 beautifully-designed motorcycles sure to catch any artist’s attention. The Museum of Geometric and MADI Art is the only one of its kind in North America and has a collection of abstract art so playful and colorful that would make fans of Suprematism scream with joy. Dallas Contemporary is one of the older museums within the Design District, having been founded in 1978, and stays relevant by constantly rotating or adding exhibitions by local and nationally-renowned contemporary artists. Drive around the design district long enough and you’ll soon be sharing art opinions with your date in places like Site131, Conduit Gallery, Laura Rathe Fine Art gallery, Samuel Lynne Galleries, LuminArte Fine Art Gallery, PDNB Gallery, Cris Worley Fine Arts gallery, and Goss Michael Foundation gallery—just to name ALL museums and galleries in the Design District alone. If you do decide to explore the area, don’t be thrown off by all the industrial, factory businesses around these museums; that’s just the typical underground art space.

Lula B’s

In case you weren’t aware, vintage aesthetics are currently ‘in.’ It’s the perfect time to visit thrift stores and antique shops for retro needs, and what better place to visit than Lula B’s, where most items are pricy but the information you get is worth more. Lula B’s can make for the right first date environment for a variety of reasons: you learn what a person is attracted to just from what they decide to pick up, comments about an object illustrates personality, and the history of these ancient objects might cause nostalgia, perhaps letting the person speak about their past through that. At any rate, Lula B’s has an eclectic inventory of furniture and other miscellaneous goods that are bound to start multiple conversations and keep the guy you’re with engaged. Not engaged as in…well, you get the point.

Trinity Groves

One of the most popular things to do on a first date with a guy is go out to eat. An artsy man likes artsy things, obviously, so the ideal place seems to point a finger at Trinity Groves, where everything in this area speaks the language of art. Just past Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge leaving downtown, some of the best restaurants for first dates hide within this posh plaza. From sushi to BBQ grill and pastries, you can find different places to eat appetizers, entrees, and desserts individually. Once you finish your meal, take a walk throughout the complex. No matter where you go within its borders, eye-catching designs and intimate lights will follow you.

Wild Detectives

A combination of books and booze never fails to give the coziest feeling ever and Wild Detectives not only offers that; it provides the ideal atmosphere to talk all things culture, literature, and music. In a way, it appears like the main hangout of Dallas’ intelligentsia due to its camping cabin size, but really, it’s designed that way to spark off face-to-face conversation. The coffee shop/bookstore/bar is loosely named after Chilean novelist Roberto Bolaño’s novel The Savage Detectives and also follows the book’s essence: to push a flow of ideas between people and get them to experience a wholesome get-together. Any man who’s into the arts will adore you for bringing him here. Just remember: talk!

The post A Date with a Dude in Dallas appeared first on FunCity Stuff DFW.

source https://funcitystuff.com/a-date-with-a-dude-in-dallas/

0 notes

fatehbaz · 5 years ago

Text

Dreams, anticolonial maps, place-making and place-naming, Mapuche autonomy, poetry in Chile:

In Wallmapu, many recent protests have centered on mega-development projects like the Pangue and Ralco Dams on the Bio Bio River and the massive expansion of the logging industry, all of which have weakened Indigenous territorial autonomy. Where the pacification campaigns of the 1800s, reduced the Mapuche to a mere 5 percent of their previous territory, the incursion of neoliberalism in Chile has further confined them [...]. [T]he substantial growth in agribusiness over the past three decades has place even greater pressures on the Mapuche community [...]. Many Mapuche have engaged in acts of protest [...]. Joanna Crow observes that “by the end of the 1990s, major regional and national newspapers were bombarding readers with images of burned-out forestry vehicles and stick-wielding, masked Mapuche in the ‘conflict zone’ of Araucania” [...]. The Green Scare on Turtle Island thus has direct parallels in Wallmapu, where the Mapuche protest powerful lumber corporations, whose practice of clear-cutting temperate rainforests to create tree farms has the effect of leaching the soil and polluting rivers and groundwater. [...] [M]ainstream discourse perpetuates an image of the Mapuche as dangerous subversives who disturb the harmony of a new democratic and prosperous Chile. [...]

[H]ow do Mapuche writers combat the coloniality of terror [...]?

Political poetry is a well-established tradition in Chile, where the works of Vicente Huidobro, Pablo de Rokha, Pablo Neruda, and many others frequently touch on domestic and international conflicts, from Popular Unity and Pinochet to the Spanish Civil War and the Cuban Revolution. [...] Neruda’s influence is evident in the next generation of Mapuche authors as well; Elicura Chihuailaf translated several of his poems into Mapudungun [...]. Nonetheless, poetry ostensibly serves a different function for Mapuche authors writing against the logic of the state than for a Chilean diplomat and statesman [...]. In the introduction to Paulo Huirimilla’s anthology of Mapuche political poetry, Weichapeyuchi ul / Cantos de guerrero (Warrior Songs, 2012), Amado Lascar contends that the term “political” does not refer here to the fatherland or polis, as the root of the word implies. Instead, it denotes an autonomy rooted in a conception of the world in conflict with the established order. As a result, the goal is not to secure a subaltern position within that system but rather to envision the full exercise of Mapuche sovereignty. [...]

My point is not simply that everything is political -- or at least not that everything is equally political -- but rather that there are multiple different forms of resistance. [...] [P]oetics would thus comprise not only weichapeyuchi ul in a restricted sense of the term but also poems about dreams and the space above us where spirits reside.

The motif of perwma, or dreams, is nearly ubiqituous in Mapuche poetry. Not only does it appear in the titles of five works by the two most well-known Mapuche writers, Elicura Chihuailaf and Leonel Lienlaf, but it is also a recurrent theme for others, such as Maribel Mora Curriao, Cesar Millahueique, and Maria Isabel Lara Millapan.

In Jaime Huenun’s anthology Epu mari ulkatufe te fachantu / 20 poetas mapuche contemporaneos (20 Contemporary Mapuche Poets, 2003), 16 of the authors reference dreams explicitly, and the words sueno (dream) and sonar (to dream) appear a total of 68 times in 112 poems. Less frequent are similar, related terms like dormir (to sleep), dormirse (to fall asleep), despertarse (to wake up), cerrar los ojos (to close one’s eyes), profecia (prophesy), and perrimontun, the Mapudungun term for the visions and supernatural experiences of a machi, or spiritual leader [...].

[D]reams constitute a key mechanism for communicating [...] and the daily practice of recounting and interpreting them helps to maintain a sense of community. As a result, they also provide the means to cultivate a kind of knowledge that differs from Western science [...]. For example, Swiss geographer Irene Hirt worked with Mapuche lonkos from 2004 to 2006 in an intercultural countermapping project in Chodoy lof mapu, south of Temuco. The project consisted of combining GPS technology with Indigenous cartographic knowledge communicated through dreams and dreaming practices, such that both techniques functioned in tandem to locate sacred, cultural, and historic sites. Based on the team’s findings, the government officially recognized the land claims of communities in Chodoy and Quemchue in 2007.

The Chodoy lof mapu map exemplifies a collaborative research model that serves the Mapuche movement’s political goals of territorial repatriation, rather than simply using Indigenous knowledge in the service of scientific discovery. [...]

By extension, the centrality of dreams in Mapuche literature not only illustrates their cultural significance but also affirms the power of poetic language to bridge the divide between visible and invisible worlds [...].

---

Hannah Burdette. Revealing Rebellion in Abiayala. 2019.

46 notes · View notes

gladysnmccary · 5 years ago

Text

A Date with a Dude in Dallas

West Village

Museums and Galleries

Lula B’s

Trinity Groves

Wild Detectives

The post A Date with a Dude in Dallas appeared first on FunCity Stuff DFW.

source https://funcitystuff.com/a-date-with-a-dude-in-dallas/

0 notes

xavieralexander1980 · 7 years ago

Text

A Guideline to Reading My Work and Generally Blowhard Post About Poets, Activism, and Performance Art

(Written for Facebook were I post usually)

(Warning, I was drinking coffee and just started writing to clarify some things. It has turned out to be an EXTREMELY LONG post. You might want to visit later if you care and have the time):

--I stared into the sun one time for three or four hours. For a long while afterwards there was a floating blue and red dot or floater in my field of vision, but my eyes adjusted. It's kind of a miracle that I can see at all. I completely destroyed my macula. That is why you often see mistakes in punctuation. I think it is a comma when it is a period. I was delusional when I stared at the sun.

--I started writing poetry at 15 in 1995. In 2008, I branched out to poetry films in grad school, which you can see those films on my page, Caruso Films. That is a long time of writing only poetry.

--After reading David Foster Wallace in 2011, I branched out into nonfiction, memoir, and experimental essays. Some of those essays have been published in journals, such as "Sugar Mule" and "And/Or". However, it has only been 5 years of truly writing prose, so if you think my prose is weird or rough or shaky, it is because I am an amateur experimental essayist.

--In poetry and experimental writing, there has to be an entry point into the author's style. Every day if you are following any of this, I am experimenting. One thing I notice is that I try to be as clear as a fucking idiot who is grasping for words in my prose. I don't want you to think I am being condescending at all. Or that everything I write is somehow profound. Because it isn't usually: Being profound or not, after a while, I have learned, in writing is all the same. In learning the craft of writing, writers say that you have to "earn" interesting and profound points and ideas. There is no shortcut in earning something, as you know. It is all doing and work hours.

--Writers usually don't show the world their work hours. What you see is the finished, polished product. In a sense, I don't see my writing as "nonfiction" in any conventional sense. Since this is Facebook, and it is like town hall square in olden days, I have always intended it to be performance art. I am a great admirer of performance art, such as spoken word, magic, jesters, busking, impromptu comedy, jazz, or even ballet. I see poetry as my strength, prose my weakness. At least, that is my opinion. I don't want to impose that, though. I notice people actually prefer my little blogs and essays. I also notice people prefer brevity, but here's the thing about that: this is all published, and can be perused by anyone on earth later. I don't hide my profile or any status updates.

--As an activist, which much of my writing is political, and I would argue Facebook, as a public forum, is all political and social dynamic, I have always enjoyed independent and maverick art and statements, such as Neil Young or Lou Reed or Emerson or Thoreau or just about any poet in World Literature. While poets have come in groups like the Beats or Romantics or Dadaists (the first punk rock artists), within those groups, there have always been individual and political differences between poets, such as Ginsberg and Kerouac, or Byron and Wordsworth, or Marcel DuChamp and Tristan Tzara. I try to allude to poets and literature I admire, btw. Here is a compendium: (I sort of went hogwild. Skip for time sake.) -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. Welsh maverick and alcoholic prodigy, Dylan Thomas, my first love. To know more about his style and who he is, see Gerard Manley Hopkins and John Donne, both Protestant ministers.

2. I prefer World Literature. a. Russian poets: Brodsky, Mayakovsky, Mendlestam, Voznesensky, and Pushkin (Shakespeare of Russia). b. Germanic, Polish, Eastern European and Jewish: Goethe (Shakespeare of Germanic Literature), Paul Celan, Maria Wisława Anna Szymborska, Edmond Jabes are good starting points. c. Western European poets come in schools: French Symbolists (who invented free verse and influenced TS Eliot), Surrealists, Dadaists and Futurists (who opened poetry to all the arts), and British poets you know. d. Although not technically World Lit, American Southern Poets are not discussed near enough: John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren are like the Willie Nelsons and Johnny Cashes of the South.

3. American Schools and Poets I would recommend: John Cage (John Lennon and Yoko Ono), David Antin (who didn't write but spoke all of his poetry and recorded it), Language School, and Black Mountain School.

4. For Queer poets: Allen Ginsberg, Walt Whitman, Jack Spicer, are the big guys. Lesbian poets: you should know are Sappho and Adrienne Rich. Just talk to your gay and lesbian friends about poets they like.

5. For Black and African lit, "Negritude" school, see amiri baraka and Aime Cesaire, who are, to me, very important for their poetic styles. Check out your local Spoken Word show. There are a million things going on.

6. I don't even know where to begin with Asian Literature. Haiku poet Basho and Korean poet Yi Sang are two big poets. In China, poetry was the literature of the scholar class. Prose wasn't invented until 1900 and it was considered pulp. I would refer you to my Professor Walter K. Lew for all Asian and Buddhist Literature. Lao Tzu is phenomenal, in so many ways. From religion to spirituality to poetry, it is all one and the same.

7. Spanish poets I like are Chilean Poet Pablo Neruda (His sonnets are the best love poems), Brazilian Poet Carlos Drummond de Andrade, and to know these poets, check out Federico Garcia Lorca from Spain. It doesn't hurt to know the first novelist Cervantes, who birthed the modern novel, Don Quixote. I like the 1940s translation by Samuel Putnam. Critic (Big Blowhard of English Lit) Harold Bloom considered Cervantes the only equal to Shakespeare, who both were writing at the same time (and didn't know about each other).

8. Middle Eastern and Persian poets: Rumi, Ghalib (who wrote ghazals, one of my favorite forms). I can't say I am too familiar with Contemporary Middle Eastern poets, but you come across them in literary journals. See the Koran, as well.

9. For Feminist poets, see Anne Sexton, HD, Gertrude Stein, Diane Wakowski, and Adrienne Rich, again, to name a few. Although not a poet, see Renaissance Italian writer, Christine de Pizan, and her fictional story, "The Book of the City of Ladies", which birthed Feminist Literature.

10. The Bible, Torah, Tao Te Ching, Koran, Gnostic Judaic and Christian Books, Bhagavad Gita , Vedas and Upanishads, and Homer, (Most Buddhist Literature was orally passed down but all we have is prose versions. Except certain Chinese Buddhist Schools: See Haiku and Renga forms): all of which is technically poetry. And that is a different entry point or lens into those important works. I think in this day of organized religion it is very important to remember that spiritual texts and myths were written as poetry, and translated into all languages. People have noted some of my religious views, but I do so from poetry.

(I don't know why I just gave you a compendium of poets and authors. I got excited and took a trip down memory lane. I prefer World Literature translations. I just have always gravitated toward them and learning about the world through their poets.)

In case you don't want to go through all of World Literature, here are anthologies I would recommend: 1. Norton Anthologies, of course. 2. Poems For the Millennium by Jerome Rothenberg and Pierre Joris (Most of the poets I mentioned can be found in the first two volumes and it is a great starting off point). -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--Personally, I have always enjoyed anthologies and literary journals over individual poets. I enjoy poems over poets, generally speaking. The best guide to literary journals is New Pages.com. Everything from experimental writing to traditional writing can be found there. The big thing now or in the last few years is "hybrid' writing, which is basically not identifying the style of writing and blending all the styles. So just to be obvious, my Facebook page could be quote hybrid. The other big thing is a more "personal style". To paraphrase Frank O Hara, why write a poem when you can just call your friend on the telephone?

--My father has told me a million times that he doesn't get my poetry. And my father is more intelligent than I am. He is a doctor. I really don't have an answer or explanation. I read poetry like I read an article in the Washington Post. I read poetry on the toilet. I try not to "comprehend" it. Sure there are different ways to analyze it, and there are scholars who do that all day long. I have done that and can do that. But the difference is kinda like hearing "Kind of Blue" and studying it. I just appreciate the album, I don't know Jazz Theory. Most of the time, I just feel or listen to poetry. School and scholarship is the time and place to scan, do close readings, and theorize poetry, in my opinion. I am not a scholar. I am not a critic. I am an artist. I create. Most of theory and criticism stifles me. And I would recommend both scholarship and theory for any artist, but I wouldn't bog myself too much, not until you are interested in it. There are people who have been doing that all their life. And so much more power to them.

--Last point: I have Bipolar Disorder. I have coped with this illness all my life. Mental illness is a debilitating illness in the sense of functioning in conventional society. You know someone who has a mental illness, beside me. And not much is truly understood about mental illness. David Foster Wallace hung himself due to chronic depression, and he is arguably the greatest nonfiction writer in the last twenty years. Dostoevsky suffered from fits of seizures in which he had profound revelations. Hemingway shot himself due to alcoholism and some underlying mental illness. Sylvia Plath committed suicide due to a mental illness and I believe it was un-diagnosed bipolar disorder (I could be wrong). Emily Dickinson suffered from agoraphobia and stayed home for most of her life. While I am not saying I am like those geniuses, and it is a misnomer to think that everyone with a mental illness is an artist or genius, I bring it up because artists I admire had mental illnesses. The point is to show that sometimes society is wrong about things, as you know. Blacks, immigrants, queer folk, women, veterans, homeless people, poor people, and virtually every marginalized group I can think of society has been wrong about. And many of these marginalized people are starting to come out of the closets and say, guess what, society doesn't quite get me. And they are doing so in art and argument.

"In conclusion," LOL, these are guidelines and entry points for readers. For the most part, I believe people don't care actually. But neither do I most of the time. I also have been drinking coffee this morning and I get rolling with thoughts, which explains the length of this post. LOL.

#blog #essay #experimental essay #prose #poets #activism #performance art

0 notes

nibaldop · 7 years ago

Photo

Hoy es feriado. Día libre. Sin evaluaciones que corregir. Salí de la cama casi al mediodía. La oportunidad propicia para comenzar a leer esta antología de "Cuentos chilenos contemporáneos" que compré bajo la excelente asesoría de mi amigo y excompañero de máster Gabriel, en la feria chilena del libro, en enero pasado, en Santiago de chile. ¿Y qué mejor que hacerlo con este delicioso chocolate de Savoy, que me regaló mi mamá?/ Today is a free holiday. No evaluations to correct. I left the bed almost at noon. The opportunity to start reading this anthology of "Contemporary Chilean Tales" I bought under the excellent advice of my friend and former classmate , Gabriel, at the Chilean book fair, last January, in Santiago de Chile. And what better than to do with this delicious Savoy chocolate that my mom gave me? #miercoles #wednesday #feriado #holiday #libros #book #cuentos #tales #cuentoschilenos #chileantales #literatura #literature #narrativa #literaturachilena #chileanliterature #feriachilenadellibro #literaturalatinoamericana #latinamericanliterature #narrative #lomediciones #merienda #snacks #chocolate #savoy #hechoenvenezuela #municipiosanfrancisco #zulia #Venezuela

0 notes

freechoicedreamer · 8 years ago

Text

Once Upon a Time as a Magic Realism genre

In Latin American there are some classic books and plays in this literary genre, “a narrative strategy that is characterized by the matter-of-fact inclusion of fantastic or mythical elements into seemingly realistic fiction. Although this strategy is known in the literature of many cultures in many ages, the term magic realism is a relatively recent designation, first applied in the 1940s by Cuban novelist Alejo Carpentier, who recognized this characteristic in much Latin-American literature. Some scholars have posited that magic realism is a natural outcome of postcolonial writing, which must make sense of at least two separate realities—the reality of the conquerors as well as that of the conquered. Prominent among the Latin-American magic realists are the Colombian Gabriel García Márquez, the Brazilian Jorge Amado, the Argentines Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortazar, and the Chilean Isabel Allende.” X

(I have read and enjoyed the work of practically all of those above, in special García Márquez, Amado and Cortazar).

The above definition should be taken carefully, as argues Bruce Holland Rogers in his article What Is Magical Realism, Really?. According to him...

"Magical realism" has become a debased term. When it first came into use to describe the work of certain Latin American writers, and then a small number of writers from many places in the world, it had a specific meaning that made it useful for critics. If someone made a list of recent magical realist works, there were certain characteristics that works on the list would share. The term also pointed to a particular array of techniques that writers could put to specialized use. Now the words have been applied so haphazardly that to call a work "magical realism" doesn't convey a very clear sense of what the work will be like.

If a magazine editor these days asks for contributions that are magical realism, what she's really saying is that she wants contemporary fantasy written to a high literary standard---fantasy that readers who "don't read escapist literature" will happily read. It's a marketing label and an attempt to carve out a part of the prestige readership for speculative works.

I don't object to using labels to make readers more comfortable, to draw them to work that they might otherwise unfairly dismiss. But by over-using the term, we've obscured a distinctive branch of literature. More importantly from my perspective, we've made it harder for new writers to discover the tools of magical realism as a distinct set allowing them to create work that portrays particular ways of looking at the world. If writers read a hundred works labeled "magical realism," they will encounter such a hodgepodge that they may not recognize the minority of such works that are doing something different, something those writers may want to try themselves.

So what is magical realism?

It is, first of all, a branch of serious fiction, which is to say, it is not escapist. Let me be clear: I like escapist fiction, and some of what I write is escapism. I'm with C.S. Lewis when he observes that the only person who opposes escape is, by definition, a jailer. Entertainment, release, fun...these are all good reasons to read and to write. But serious fiction's task is not escape, but engagement. Serious fiction helps us to name our world and see our place in it. It conveys or explores truth.

Any genre of fiction can get at truths, of course. Some science fiction and fantasy do so, and are serious fiction. Some SF and fantasy are escapist. But magical realism is always serious, never escapist, because it is trying to convey the reality of one or several worldviews that actually exist, or have existed. Magical realism is a kind of realism, but one different from the realism that most of our culture now experiences.

Science fiction and fantasy are always speculative. They are always positing that some aspect of objective reality were different. What if vampires were real? What if we could travel faster than light?

Magical realism is not speculative and does not conduct thought experiments. Instead, it tells its stories from the perspective of people who live in our world and experience a different reality from the one we call objective. If there is a ghost in a story of magical realism, the ghost is not a fantasy element but a manifestation of the reality of people who believe in and have "real" experiences of ghosts. Magical realist fiction depicts the real world of people whose reality is different from ours. It's not a thought experiment. It's not speculation. Magical realism endeavors to show us the world through other eyes. When it works, as I think it does very well in, say, Leslie Marmon Silko's novel Ceremony, some readers will inhabit this other reality so thoroughly that the "unreal" elements of the story, such as witches, will seem frighteningly real long after the book is finished. A fantasy about southwestern Indian witches allows you to put down the book with perhaps a little shiver but reassurance that what you just read is made up. Magical realism leaves you with the understanding that this world of witches is one that people really live in and the feeling that maybe this view is correct.

It's possible to read magical realism as fantasy, just as it's possible to dismiss people who believe in witches as primitives or fools. But the literature at its best invites the reader to compassionately experience the world as many of our fellow human beings see it.

#magic realism #magical realism #post 4562

0 notes