Summer Readings

SUMMER READINGS

This last summer (2023), I gave myself the opportunity to just read for pleasure. I didn't read thinking of a larger research agenda, nor a specific publication. Rather, I wanted to be able to live in those universes and just let them unfold until reaching the last page.

Last summer (2022), I had established as a goal to go through some theoretical works that I thought were fundamental to turn the articles and presentations of the last few years into a larger research project. This did not pan out... I did the reading... but with each work I finished, I was left with a sense that my project is further from my grasp that I had anticipated. And so, summer of 2022 was dedicated to several theoretical volumes by Gilles Delleuze and Felix Guattari; but mainly, spending so many hours by Cedar Lake in Minneapois reading Alain Badiou left me with a sense that the urgency of the event in the present eludes me. The event is that which is never fully enclosed by the subject... one should not rush to declare it as completed. And so, my endeavor to understand contemporary Colombian and Latin American Literature is to be paused. This is done as I am humbled by what colleagues in Colombian literary studies are doing, the success of their endeavors and their ability to build and sustain teams of research and interest. I am still contributing to efforts of colleagues to address what literary expression has to say about the so-called post-agreement era in my native Colombia; but I am pausing on what my own voice can do to provide an overarching sense behind this on-going event. Also, this is the result of my own research in Retos de lo diabólico. I was expecting that the publisher would be more engaged in the promotion of my volume. Instead, they decided to charge over 100 dollars for the volume and I haven't seen any specific attempts from them to disseminate the publication. I was supposed to do this and to share the text with possible reviewers. I was able to get the volume out to a few readers, but only got one review. Maybe, I am supposed to be more active in visibilizing my academic scholarship, but I find it questionable that an academic press would ask one to subsidize one's publications and then have one take the lead in efforts to market the book. I am thus discouraged and disappointed by the current state of these types of publications. Not to mention the fact that the publisher, after two years, has yet to send me a single sales report. I don't expect that this book will be a best seller (and I do have some issues with the end product), but the lack of sales reports, and the fact that they fail to respond to my emails, make me wonder about the transparency of these publishers.

So, this summer I read for my own enjoyment. And this is what I read:

Nuestra parte de noche by Mariana Enríquez.(Buy in English here from Thriftbooks.com or buy in Spanish from Abebooks here)

[Fallen Angel by Alexandre Cabanel and used in the cover of the Anagrama edition of the novel]

This a long novel that traces the adventures of a father and a son, as they attempt to hide from a dark cult in the 1970s in Argentina. As we follow them, the readers discover the role of the father plays in that cult, as well as the possibly dark fate that awaits his son if the cult gets their hands on them. This novel also develops aspects of Mariana Enríquez short stories, particularly, "La casa de Adela".

Kafka by Reiner Stach. (Buy here)

This lengthy biography immersed me in the changing world of Prague during the turn of the Nineteenth/Twentieth century. It highlights how the accelerated pace of world transformations (from the industrial revolution, to the rise of avant-garde movements, and the advent of World War I and the flu pandemic, among other historical milestones that turned individual experiences into global phenomena) impacted the life and works of this Czech writer. It was a real pleasure to follow the footsteps of Kafka, peaking into his personal letters with Felice Bauer, glancing at how his life came through his works, and surprisingly discovering all the impactful world events that are less visibly present in his writings (e.g. how his work in the insurance industry prompted him to device protocols to determine the kinds of jobs that soldiers mutilated by war). In the end, it is no surprise that the same types of antisemitic sentiments that Kafka witnessed come and go throughout his life; after his death, are responsible for the loss of some of his work and, worse yet, the almost extermination of his relatives.

Prohibido salir a la calle by Consuelo Triviño Anzola. (Buy the book in Spanish here in Amazon, or here from Librería Nacional)

This novel is an intimate account of growing up in Bogotá in the last third of the Twentieth Century. By following a small girl resisting her mother's effort to control her and to make her a decent girl, we are prompted to identify the little things that make up the life of a lower middle class family.

La encomienda, by Margarita García Robayo (Buy in Spanish in Amazon here)

This is a puzzling story of a Colombian who has migrated to Argentina and receives a package from her sister. In it, she discovers that what was sent was her mother. Or was it? The narrative is mysterious and leaves the reader with the aftertaste of having witnessed an enigma that is impossible to resolve.

Diario de abordo de un niño astronauta by Humberto Ballesteros (Buy the Kindle version in Spanish from Amazon here)

Seven year old Saúl finds in his bedroom a portal to space... this is a transgression... he senses danger. As he faces this apparently imaginary threat, his mother tries to eliminate from his life all references to his father, who was a pilot, and who provided him with a "diario" where life in space in detailed. This new short novel by Humberto Ballesteros, reminded me a lot of his first work, Razones para destruir una ciudad, where a personal world of fantasy faces the challenges of a reality where there is little place for innocence and playful invention.

El año del sol negro by Daniel Ferreira. (Buy in Spanish from Penguin here)

I have enjoyed reading Ferreira's novels in the past... in particular Viaje al interior de una gota de sangre (Buy in Spanish from Barnes and Noble here) and La rebelión de los oficios inútiles (Buy in Spanish from Thriftbooks.com). However, I found the narrative of El año del sol negro, which revolves around the historical events of the one thousand days war in Colombia (1899-1902), to be uneven. The narrator guides us through different perspectives of people involved in the conflict, starting with a common soldier who joins the liberal armies, then moving on to the daughter of a conservative civilian, the leaders of both sides, and finally tracing the efforts of a character in England trying to purchase guns for the rebellion. Some of these narrative lines were more effective in moving my particular interest as a reader. I am usually bored by detailed accounts of military plans and battles. Putting aside an "impressionistic" critique of the novel, the project of a lengthy narrative of this period in Colombian history is worthy of praise and the author, without a doubt, succeeds in painting the human fresco of war at the turn of the Nineteenth Century in a Latin American country.

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. (Buy from Amazon here)

As two kids find each other in a gaming room at a hospital, a story of friendship and support starts to unfold. It's the story of Sadie and Sam, who grow up to discover their passion for designing video games. Their story corresponds to the years that saw that industry explode into exploration of innovative game mechanics, art expression, and into a highly profitable market. Sam's experience is shaped by his ethnic background (Asian American), a chronic pain in his leg, and the traumatic experience of a car accident in which he not only suffers a life-changing injury, but also he loses his mother. Sadie, on the other hand, is a Jewish American girl who struggles to be taken seriously in the industry she goes into, furthermore, she falls under the grasp of an overpowering and charismatic abusive boyfriend (who happens to be her college professor and admired role model). The novel's highest points can be found in the beginning, as we see Sadie and Sam begin their friendship through video games, and in a chapter that focuses completely on the victim of a mass shooting and which is titled "NPC." Unfortunately, most of the second half of the novel becomes increasingly less interesting (with the exception of the NPC chapter). Furthermore, to define my own reader experience here, I lost interest in the novel in a chapter that seems to be the centerpiece of the author's organization of the plot, and in which we follow the narrative through avatars of the characters in an online multiplayer game. Although I admire the idea and the experiment at that point, I'm not sure about the execution.

The Magician by Colm Tóibín (Buy from AbeBooks here)

This is a fictionalized biography of German author Thomas Mann. This novel approaches the life of one the most renowned authors from the Twentieth Century, tracing his origins in the downfall of his family, his fluid sexuality, his political shortcomings and commitments, and his difficulties with fatherhood. Overall, the novel creates the picture of an individual who, for some magic reason, seems to be approached as a leader in many ways, but who mainly wanted to be able to have his own spaces to write in peace and to share his writings with others.