Jorge is a Uruguayan PhD student in Latin American literature at the University of St Andrews, where he also teaches Spanish and Comparative Literature.
Elena knows that her daughter, Rita, did not commit suicide and is intent on finding the culprit, even if her mobility is severely impaired by Parkinson’s disease and the police investigation is closed. The title of the novel... Read Article
In the opening scene of Alelí (2019, dir. Leticia Jorge) a notary reads out loud the details of a sales agreement. A beach house in an indeterminate location is being sold for U$S 134,000 plus one unit in... Read Article
On November 15, 2012, the Argentinean parliament passed a new law inscribing femicidios (femicides) into the penal code, deeming them to be aggravated homicides which could, given certain conditions, punish the perpetrator with life in prison. Selva Almada’s... Read Article
The screen remains blank during the opening voiceover of Las niñas bien (2018, dir. Alejandra Márquez), while the protagonist, Sofia (Ilse Salas), muses over her birthday party preparations: “Silverware, Grand Marnier glasses, white wine glasses, I don’t know... Read Article
“Whether you like it or not, the only safe place out there is the past” When people ask me for literature recommendations from my own country, I normally go for Mario Benedetti. Not necessarily because I wish to... Read Article
“In Uruguay during 1974 almost anything would be preferable to being interrogated by the army” (p. 441) As so often occurs with vast, ambitious novels, a number of apparently unconnected narrative threads are rolled out from the beginning,... Read Article
“It is one of the saddest paradoxes in my life. Almost everything I have written has been meant for somebody who can’t read me.” Héctor Abad Faciolince’s El Olvido Que Seremos (published in English as Oblivion: A Memoir) is... Read Article
The infamous ‘War of the Triple Alliance’ (1864-1870) constitutes a watershed moment in the history of South America. The Brazilian, Argentinean and Uruguayan armies joined hands and invaded Paraguay to remove its leader, Francisco Solano López. The sheer... Read Article
“Do I have two bodies or does my mind have the capacity to transmit life in two different channels simultaneously?” (p. 110, my translation) Time-travelling, African-Caribbean traditions, house music, political corruption, Catholics-turned-terrorists, contemporary art, gender identity, prostitution and... Read Article
“Our situation is unbearable, stuck between the empire of Octavio Paz and the empire of Pablo Neruda” Los Detectives Salvajes (The Savage Detectives, 1998) is too vast and original to fit into any tag or category easily. It... Read Article
“(…) life would drag forward, enveloped in its own inertia” (p. 205, my translation). A woman who dates somebody looking exactly like her dead boyfriend. A journalist who dwells on what course of action to take after discovering... Read Article
“It is the government’s fault, boss. If there was no government, no politicians, no Americans above the River Bravo, Mexico would be a great place to live” (p. 373, my translation). A woman defies all odds by triumphing... Read Article
