Sunday, November 3, 2013

Argentina's Fading Diva


by Pola Oloixarac for The New York Times

BUENOS AIRES — After a decade in the public eye, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has started to fade in her starring role as Argentina’s diva. With her party’s loss of key districts in the midterm Congressional elections, her dream of re-election in 2015 for a third term as president — “Eternal Cristina,” as her acolytes say — comes to an end. But she will not go away without putting up a fight.

After her party, the Front for Victory, performed poorly in the primary elections in August, Ms. Kirchner set about to recapture the public imagination, though her administration was flooded with bad news: inflation is unofficially at 20 percent to 25 percent, public debt is swelling while central bank reserves are falling, and a growing discontent has created factions inside the party, which until now had behaved under the whip of “la Señora.”


Ms. Kirchner needed to stir the lingering ashes of her romance with the people, who had rewarded her with 54 percent of the vote just two years ago.
She gave a rare interview to a celebrity journalist, a baron of the yellow tabloids. She dropped nine kilograms. She switched from skirts to black leggings, updating the widow’s uniform she adopted after her husband, Néstor, died in 2010. Internet memes featuring Ms. Kirchner as Catwoman made the rounds in social media.
Suddenly, the comeback froze. Her bespectacled face was seen, for the first time without makeup, in a dark car entering a hospital. It was as if the pop star of the movement were entering rehab.
Ms. Kirchner needed brain surgery to remove a blood clot in early October; it was reported that she had fallen and hit her head. The circumstances of the fall remained mysterious, but doctors prescribed a 30-day rest period. Without her leading the charge, her candidates seemed adrift.
The campaign was surrounded by scandal. A hidden camera showed a Congressional candidate, Juan Cabandié, trying to get out of a traffic ticket by arguing that he was a son of desaparecidos (the disappeared, victims of the 1976-1983 dictatorship, resurrected as moral bishops in the Kirchner board of virtue). A 22-year-old transit officer lost her job, but was rehired after the public outcry. The episode exposed an abusive political caste.
Protective of her political legacy, Ms. Kirchner was careful in delaying the choice of her dauphin. She overlooked high-profile candidates such as Daniel Scioli, governor of the mighty province of Buenos Aires, whose stoicism in the face of the humiliations he suffers at her whims makes him a possible 2015 loyalist successor.
As for her vice president, Amado Boudou, corruption scandals have made him persona non grata. Mr. Boudou goes every day to the presidential palace, the Pink House, but he no longer has Ms. Kirchner’s ear. “The only thing he can handle is a motorbike,” said Congressman Felipe Solá, referring to the acting president’s hobby. Mr. Solá is part of the Peronist “renewal” faction aligned with Sergio Massa, Ms. Kirchner’s former cabinet chief, an up-and-comer who has promised to pursue a market-friendly economic approach. Mr. Massa was the darling of the recent election, winning roughly 44 percent of the vote.
Argentina recently negotiated a loan with the World Bank for $3 billion, which would give Ms. Kirchner’s administration some breathing room. “Under these conditions of inflation, with no anti-inflation plan and such low reserves, it would be a miracle if she makes it to 2015,” said Pablo Schiaffino, an economist who lives in Buenos Aires. “It’s like a car running out of gas.”
When she was first elected, Ms. Kirchner told the country: “We deserve a new story for ourselves.” She delivered on that. Since 2008, she has woven a dramatic story line infused with villains, éminences grises and corporate powers seeking to dethrone her. With postmodernist swag, the narrative flew free from accountable issues: recently, after a train crashed in the Once Station, the government announced that it was taking over the railroads. The Peronist party had nationalized them in the 1940s, and privatized them in the 1990s. The party’s position swings to the left and to the right, but the train cars are the same as in the 1940s.
Ms. Kirchner aspires to go into history as Argentina’s biggest reformer, and some of the legislation passed on her watch supports her case, including the Universal Child Allowance (a stipend for poor families), gay marriage laws and more money for scientific research and university education. She could try to position herself as the leader who never cut back on welfare-state spending and propel herself to a glorious comeback in 2019, becoming the country’s populist icon of the 21st century, overshadowing Evita Perón.
But the economic clock is ticking. If Ms. Kirchner manages to sustain the bloated state spending two more years, she’ll secure the glory — and let the one who replaces her worry about paying the bills.

Monday, October 21, 2013

A Rosario !

Mañana empieza un seminario de tres dias en la Facultad Libre de Rosario.
Parásitos, parodias, monstruos y exploraciones al alto Pacú, el matambrito de cerdo de río, manjar rosarino muy selecto en sus apetitos.


Friday, September 20, 2013

En Cornell



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II VOICES FOR THE NEW CENTURY CONFERENCE

A celebration of Latin American, Latino, and Spanish writing
A.D. White House, 20-21 September, 2013


SPONSORED BY THE ROMANCE STUDIES DEPARTMENT, THE DEANS’ OFFICE OF ARTS & SCIENCES, THE LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES PROGRAM, THE SOCIETY FOR THE HUMANITIES, THE LATINO STUDIES PROGRAM, THE ALICE COOK HOUSE, AND TELLURIDE HOUSE


FRIDAY, September 20



3:00     Opening remarks: Edmundo Paz-Soldán



3:15     Across Genres

Chair: Bécquer Medak-Seguín



Rafael Acosta: “Allá lejos se oye un ruido”

Christina Soto: “Mapa blanco”

Pablo Brescia: “Para llegar a D. F. W.”

Fernanda Trías: “Bienes muebles”

Francisco Díaz Klaassen: “El campeón de damas estilo libre”

5:15     Keynote Speaker
Cristina Rivera Garza: “Desapropiadamente: Escribir en comunalidad hoy”


SATURDAY, September 21


9:00     Breakfast

9:30     Works in progress
Chair: Geraldine Monterroso

Gustavo Llarull: “Fuga”
Martina Broner: “Fuego”
Mercedes Cebrián: “El Genuino Sabor”

10:45   Between Poetry and the Lyrical Essay
Chair: Pablo García Piñar

Mandy Gutmann-González: “Turn”
Ana Merino: “Extinción de las sirenas”
Melissa Castillo-Garsow: “From the Xochitl fields”
Janet Hendrickson: “Selecciones (traducidas) del Tesoro de la lengua castellana de Covarrubias”

12:30   Lunch

1:30     The Short Story Today
Chair: José Andrés Rojo

María José Navia: “París por la ventana”
Rodrigo Hasbún: “Tanta agua tan lejos de casa”
Sebastián Antezana: “Proteo, cazador”
Rodrigo Fuentes: “La mano de Fátima”

3:15     Across Genres II
Chair: Dafna Hornik

Liliana Colanzi: “Alfredito”
Antonio Díaz Oliva: “¿Sueñan los escritores latinoamericanos con libros digitales?”
Rafael Lemus: “Efrén”
Pola Oloixarac: “Expedición Langsdorff”

5:00     Keynote Address

Mario Bellatin: “El libro fantasma”


5:45     Closing Remarks






Saturday, August 17, 2013

Omnia Caro Tenebrarum

por Pola Oloixarac
acerca de STOA, Luciana Rondolini & Diana Drake en MiauMiau

The living and the dead at his command,
Were coupled, face to face, and hand in hand
Virgil, The Aeneid, VIII 483-88
En cuevas de rocas como éstas, Cicerón reporta (Aristóteles constata) la metafísica oscura de los piratas etruscos. Sus dominios se extendían por el Mar Tirreno a los bajos de la Gallia Cisalpina hasta Alalia y el Latium, antes de la coalición de Cartago; comenta Herodoto que sus barcos blandían enormes arañas de oro o pulpos gigantes como emblemas. Ataban los barcos en formaciones rocosas de alumbre, resquicios de fondo marino elevado a la superficie de los hombres; bajaban con sus sogas a las grutas devenidas tumbas.
(Estas grutas no son ajenas a la atracción por los seres humanos. No son indiferentes a lo orgánico. Es la voz de la tundra, recubrir a los seres de sus excrecencias, sin distinguir proveniencia alguna. La cueva imita los insectos que se adentran en expediciones íntimas, en formaciones de cristal que parasitan.)
Comandados por su rey Mezentius, los piratas etruscos extendían las sogas y disponían al condenado vivo vis-à-vis el cuerpo de un muerto. Se los ataba de modo tal que brazos, piernas y ojos coincidieran en todo detalle, las bocas rozándose; la muerte del cadáver se inoculaba al vivo a través de un proceso misterioso que fascinaba a los etruscos porque en él veían la transmutación explosiva de la paleta cromática, los enrojecimientos y amarillos perseguidos por tonos negros, la red venosa dibujándose; una mancha verde en el abdomen, que se expandía en hinchazones, los pactos de lo duro y lo blando deshaciéndose, el negro vencedor devorándolo todo.
La tiniebla se acelera sobre el cuerpo del vivo, a quien los etruscos no dejan de alimentar para no interferir con las fases sagradas de la comunión pictórica entre vivos y muertos. Eventualmente, los gusanos precursores se abren paso uniendo ambos cuerpos a través de la zona abdominal, preñada de seres diminutos; cuando el negro pinta ambos cuerpos, dejan de llevarle comida.
Pioneros experimentales de la vanitas, los etruscos meditaban sobre la naturaleza terrenal a través de sus obras. En sus Confesiones, San Agustín se despega del horror que entumece las plumas de los cronistas previos y comenta filosóficamente que es la naturaleza del humano estar atado a un cuerpo que se pudre. Teóricos y agentes de la imagen-movimiento inexorable, el mapa de los etruscos se funde hasta desaparecer en el mapa de Roma.
Till chok’d with stench, in loath’d embraces tied,The ling’ring wretches pin’d away and died.
Es probable que el sufrimiento moral y estético fuera el verdaderamente intolerable –que la metafísica implacable del método los matara de horror. Las instalaciones de vanitas etruscas en las cuevas no descartan esta posibilidad: el vivo enfrentado a su espejo, observando de cerca su nuevo rostro como habitante del ultramundo. Adoradores de la simetría en las gemas (su gusto por pulpos y arañas, seres donde la simetría cabalga entre dos mundos, el de la forma radial de los organismos inferiores y la bilateral hacia la que tendió el humano), los etruscos sembraban estos monstruos bifurcos en la piel interior de la gruta. Creaban seres nuevos con ocho extremidades, y poblaban la cueva.
Virgilio comenta su novedad (tormenti genus); la técnica elidía las pasiones bajas del torturador y traía la innovación de la muerte por contagio, horizontal, contigua. El ἀγών (la lucha humana, trivial) se transforma en “agonía”: la contienda entre dos se introyecta a uno solo, el condenado devorado por la muerte que le viene desde adentro, que tiene delante y enfrenta.
Estoicas, las rocas de la cueva observan impasibles la decoloración de las fases de las nuevas criaturas, las declinaciones de la vida alumbrándose y descomponiéndose. Los filósofos de la Stoa, que soñaron con imitar la roca, habían aceptado que el saber implicaba desterrar los éxtasis del ἀγών y volverse una forma de la prosa –el lugar del hombre en la frase del mundo. La muerte por la muerte misma –sin la mediación de un verdugo.
La cueva, la soga y un espectador vigilante, el que trae el alimento.
Quid memorem infandas caedes, quid facta tyranni effera?
Di capiti ipsius generique reservent!
Mortua quin etiam iungebat corpora vivis
componens manibusque manus atque oribus ora,
tormenti genus, et sanie taboque fluentis
complexu in misero longa sic morte necabat.
Publi Vergili MaronisAeneidos
* *
Stoa. Luciana Rondolini-Diana Drake en miau miau. Bulnes 2705. Hasta el 27 de agosto.Agradecimientos: Esteban Bieda, Gabriel Catrén y las artistas.
* *
english version -> Buenos Aires Review

Friday, June 21, 2013

Ce soir!


CE SOIR vendredi à 18h !!!!!!!!!!!
Salon à la Maison Dora Maar
Rencontres avec des artists en résidences :
Pola Oloixarac
was selected as one of the Best Spanish Novelists by Granta. Pola´s debut novel The wild theories is available en seven languages. She has held literary fellowships at Yaddo, the International Writers Program at Iowa, the Amsterdam Writers Residence in Netherlands, and MEET Maison des Ecrivains Etrangers et Traducteurs à Saint Nazaire, France. Pola contributes articles on literature and technology for several media such as New York Times International, Folha de Sao Paulo, The Telegraph UK, Rolling Stone and Pagina 12, among others.
Pola Oloixarac
a été sélectionnée comme une des Meilleur Ecrivain Espagnol par Granta. Le premier roman de Pola Le theories sauvages (Seuil) est disponible en sept langues. Elle a obtenu des bourses littéraires de Yaddo, du International Writers Program en Iowa, de la Amsterdam Writers Residence aux Pays-Bas, et de MEET Maison des Ecrivains Etrangers et Traducteurs à Saint Nazaire, France. Pola écrit des articles sur la littérature et la technologie pour plusieurs journaux tels que New York Times International, Folha de Sao Paulo, The Telegraph UK, Rolling Stone et Pagina 12, parmi de nombreux autres.

Myriam Bornand
quadryptique
Myriam Bornand
is a French-Swiss artist, who works in multiple mediums: paint, collage, photography, video, texts and installations. Her work has been exhibited in France and internationally, including Musée Ingres, Le Ministère de la Culture in Paris, le MACA, la Gaité Lyrique. In 2010/2011 she presented a solo exhibition around the actress Charlotte Rampling at la Galerie Porte Avion in Marseille. Most recently her work was included in the collective show Ekphrasis, which gathered writers with visual artists, and was curated by CO AR CO.
Myriam Bornand
est une artiste franco-suisse, qui s´exprime en utilisant différentes disciplines: la peinture, le collage, la photographie, la vidéo, l´écriture et l´art de l´installation. Son travail a été exposé en France ainsi qu´à l´étranger dans des lieux tels que le Musée Ingres, le Ministère de la Culture à Paris, le MACA et La Gaité Lyrique. En 2010/2011, elle présente une exposition individuelle avec comme sujet l´actrice Charlotte Rampling à la galerie Porte Avion à Marseille. Depuis, son travail a été sélectionné pour l´exposition collective Ekphrasis, qui incluait aussi bien des écrivains que des plasticiens et été sélectionné par CO AR CO.

Myriam Bornand
I take off my skin
A voir chez notre partenaire:
Un lieu une œuvre 

Raymond Galle
Le Printemps à Ménerbes
Du 2 au 30 juin
Vitrine visible tous les jours 24h/24
Une verre d´amitiés sera servi dans le jardin.


Thursday, June 13, 2013

Finland, Soccer, Literature and Sauna


flying to helsinki tomorrow, for the Lahti International Writers Reunion 2013
below the plans:

THE REUNION PROGRAMME
The Reunion lasts three days, each containing panel debates and discussions headed by the chairpersons Mrs Virpi Hämeen-Anttila and Mr Joni Pyysalo. All discussions are interpreted into English, French, and Finnish. Some of the participants have been asked to prepare short presentations, on which the discussions are then focused. The discussions are otherwise open. And as is usually the case, eventually the most interesting and heated exchanges of ideas happen during free time, in the sauna or over dinner.
A detailed programme will also be available on the website www.liwre.fi.
All debates, discussions and poetry evenings are open to the public free of charge.

Sunday June 16th
8.0010.00 Breakfast
10.0012.30 Opening of the Reunion; Discussion session 1
Presentations: Goce Smilevski (Macedonia), Hava Pinhas-Cohen (Israel), Tommi Melender (Finland)
12.3014.00 Lunch
14.0017.00 Session 2
Presentations: Farid Benyoucef (Algeria), Johanna Venho (Finland), Anna Szabó (Hungary)
17.0019.30 Dinner, free time
19.3023.00 Open microphone

Monday June 17th
8.00-10.00 Breakfast
10.00–12.30 S
ession 3
Presentations: Ville Ranta (Finland), Davide Enia (Italy), Pola Oloixarac (Argentina)
12.30–14.00 Lunch
14.00–17.00 Session 4
Presentations: Abilio Estevez (Cuba/Spain), Eeva-Kaarina Aronen (Finland), Martin Page (France)
17.00 Dinner
18.30 Bus from Messilä to Sibelius Hall
19.00–21.30 International poetry evening
21.30 Bus from Sibelius Hall to Messilä
23.30
Soccer match: Finland vs. The Rest of the World
00.30 Sauna for the footballers

Tuesday June 18th
8.00–10.00 Breakfast
10.00–12.30 S
ession 5
Presentations: Kader Abdolah (Iran/Netherlands), Kārlis Vērdiņš (Latvia), Heikki Aittokoski (Finland)
12.30–14.00 Lunch
14.00–17.00 Closing panel
17.00–19.00 Free time
19.00 Farewell party


Thursday, May 9, 2013

The Buenos Aires Review is up!





The Buenos Aires Review presents the best and latest work by emerging and established writers from the Americas, in both Spanish and English. We value translation and conversation. We publish poetry, fiction, essays, criticism, visual art, and interviews.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Fête du livre à Bron



http://www.fetedulivredebron.com/

Des mots et des mets


Bonjour théories

A la praia com Alan

[o eu que escrevi sobre A vida descalço, o livro maravilhoso do Alan, pela Cosac Naify]


“Nós, os que vamos à praia, vamos sempre mais ou menos atrás da mesma
coisa: das marcas do que o mundo era antes que a mão do homem
decidisse reescrevê-lo”, afirma o narrador de A vida descalço, em uma deriva que o levará da
memória à história social, do ensaio cultural a tudo aquilo que jaz
sob a areia deste lugar “franco, transparente, aberto ao céu como uma
boca ou uma ferida”.
Desafiando os lugares-comuns tanto do pensamento como do prazer, Alan
Pauls nos apresenta a praia como o ambiente da imaginação. Entre
hordas turísticas e a areia deserta, os enigmas da praia se vêem
auscultados ao contrário: a beira-mar como lente de aumento para
investigar a vida civil, a superprodução de sonhos (“sonha-se muito na
praia”), a utopia política, o corpos bronzeados, o verão como invenção
midiática.
Fenomenologia íntima e paródia do intelectual em férias, A vida
descalço nos conduz à praia da infância do narrador, às ficções
estivais de François Ozon e Eric Rohmer, às areias do Rio de Janeiro
dos anos 70, às fantasias ascéticas da anti-praia invernal. Ilumina as
dunas impensadas dos espaços onde imaginamos a liberdade e nos coloca
diante de um relato onde a fineza especulativa, o humor rasante e o
descobrimento inusual do que está próximo brilham como nunca na
elegante música que faz de Alan Pauls um dos príncipes mais distintos
da literatura em língua espanhola.