AN ARCHEOLOGY OF LATIN AMERICAN NARRATIVE

If archeology studies the changes that are made in a society using its material remains, then this workshop proposes a similar search in Latin America, through its contemporary fiction.

Perhaps literature is still the most precise thermometer, the most faithful approximation to the interests, the collective imaginations, and the moods of countries as different as Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and Chile.  From the compelxity of relationships normally considered natural as seen in the tales of “The Red Fish Couple" [El matrimonio de los peces rojos] by Mexican author Guadalupe Nettel to digressive and ironic construction of “Medical Autobiography" [Autobiografía médica] by Argentine Damián Tavarobsky; from the implosion and disorder that is brought on by the loss of vision in “Blood In The Eye” [Sangre en el ojo] by Chilean author Lina Meruane to the threat of inclement weather that approaches from the pampa moving toward the cities, making human constructions disappear, in the novel “The Year of the Desert" [El año del desierto] by Argentinian author Pedro Mairal, making a stop in the reconstruction of memory as an escape from the present in the novel “The Layers" [Los estratos] by Colombian Juan Cárdenas.  Nothing unites these authors other than the geographic fault that crosses the American continent.  These are not themed readings, nor do they deal with generational differences; what it is about is literary power and a search within one language, following particular languages and signs.

During each session there will be a search for common meaning from the reading within the group, followed by an online dialogue with the author, intended to complement the effects of the reading or, contrarily, add unexpected shades of meaning.

For more information, and to sign up, click here.