Enriquez: In Argentina everything is political. The tradition of horror and mystery stories fascinates me. A very good Sunday morning talk, suggests Mariana, and sounds like she means it. They learned how to swim. The time stamp suggests that he at least knew that two young men were thrown into the Ricachuelo River. Silvia hated public. But now the streets are dead as the river. Normally there are people. We anticipate opening again for general submissions in September 2023. The Degenerate Dutch: The rivers pollution causes birth defects. Turning to Latin American literature, we observe that the gothic has borne relatively little fruit, often considered a subgenre within the fantastic, science fiction, or magical realism (see Brescia, Negroni, Braham, Dez Cobo, Casanova-Vizcano, and Ordiz). Fear is one of the most powerful and motivating emotions. Beyond this empty area live the citys poor by the thousands. The Villas not empty any more; the drums are passing in front of the church. Virgilio Piera said that Kafka was a costumbrista writer in Havana; we might suggest, with Enriquez in mind, that the gothic is a costumbrista genre in Argentina. Also hes very, very drunk. Get new fiction, essays, and poetry delivered to your inbox. After a few pages of that, walking corpses and abomination-imprisoning oil slicks just seem like a logical extension. And it definitely shouldnt be swelling. But the police throwing people in there, that was stupid. Welcome back to the Lovecraft reread, in which two modern Mythos writers get girl cooties all over old Howards sandbox, from those who inspired him to those who were inspired in turn. Virgilio Piera said that Kafka was a costumbrista writer in Havana; we might suggest, with Enriquez in mind, that the gothic is a costumbrista genre in Argentina. Pinats dressed down from her usual DA suits, and carries only enough money to get home and a cell phone to hand muggers if needed. Im a cultural journalist. They open the door, open the cabinet, cross the wall. Is this enormous symbolic production around evil a response to economic crises and the implementation of ever-more-savage neoliberal policies? I think so, yeah, Enriquez ponders, but what fiction does is slower, lets say In journalism, it's more urgent. An emaciated, nude boy lies chained in a neighbors courtyard. Not the only one but that I can assure you; that was weird. Defiled churches, shambling inhuman processions hey. and our T hough the terms are often used interchangeably, or as a compoundGothic Horrorin their primeval essences Gothic fiction and Horror fiction can be said to have as much to do with each other as classic and modern Country music.Modern Country, like Modern Horror, is a literal, unpretentious genre: we're from the American South, we sing how we talk, and primarily about the subjectsbeer . Spoilers ahead. The immense pleasure of Enriquezs fiction is the conclusiveness of her ambiguity. Just a few months ago, she helped win a case against a tannery that dumped toxic waste in the river for decades, causing a massive cluster of childhood cancers and birth defects: extra arms, cat-like noses, blind high-set eyes. And Enriquez achieves all this with an ambiguous, stark, coarse, and crude language that bombards us with uncomfortable questions: How does the gothic speak to us about the real? The rivers dead, unable to breathe. Oh come, Emanuel? I just wrote a review of the concert, but on another level, I always have antenna for this weirdness.. In my opinion, this was the finest moment in the collection and a powerful commentary on the violence and discrimination against the ones who live in the margins of a troubled . Enriquez: A very long and complex novel, but I cant tell you more than that. Her father, who once worked on a River Barge, told stories of the water running red. That is to sayI primarily write thinking about Argentina, and in a larger context about Latin America, because we share many similar realities. The children born with those defects are, alas, treated more as symbols than characters, or as indications that the river leaches humanity. Loading. You have to get out of here, Pinat tells him. In the middle of the night, invisible men pound on the shutters of a country hotel. Vitcavage: What are you working on next? Translation is its own art, of course, and je ne parle pas Espanol, so the story Ive actually read may be as much the work of Megan McDowel as Enriquez. Does it have a role to play? As it is, the cows head, and the yellowtainted cross and flowers, dont promise a happy relationship, regardless of who worships what. And of course, whatever lies beneath the river might have been less malevolent, if it hadnt spent all that time bathing its ectoplasm in toxic sludge. For her part, the Mexican activist Sayak Valencia proposes the category of gore capitalism to interpret the modes in which Latin American subjects and their bodies are disciplined: especially the working classes, which are allowed both to die and to kill. Hallelujah? Vitcavage: Who are some other Argentinian writers that readers shouldexplore? These are stories that speak of fear as the intimate driving force of our livesand the intimate is always politicalof the extreme violence of neoliberal capitalism, of the vulnerability of children, women, the sick, and the lower classes in the disciplinary, hyper-consumerist, normative, and patriarchal society of the twenty-first century. To withdraw your consent, see Your Choices. Normally theres music, motorcycles, sizzling grills, people talking. That is not hyperbole. That pause before the inevitable is the space of fabulist fiction, torqueing open the rigid rules of reality to create a gap of possibility. Im still intrigued by the idea of pollution as a messed-up attempt at bindingcontaining, of course, the seeds of its own destruction. 2021. She recognizes that little yellow house, so shes not lost. She also comes from a tradition of Argentinian fabulists, beginning with the revered Jorge Luis Borges. Vitcavage: What are some of the difficulties or obstacles you encounter while writing a shortstory? Shadow Over Argentina: Mariana Enriquezs Under the Black Water. Table of Contents: Things we lost in the fire - Schlow Library . I also draw inspiration from Alan Moore and his idea of evil as a form of social hygiene in the context of inequality and institutionalized violence. Do all lives have the same worth? In "Under the Black Water" from Things We Lost in the Fire, I read: "It was a procession. And in trying to make those insular locals truly terrifying, the narrative gets problematic as all hell. Not one of the blind kids with misshapen hands gets characterization, or even a speaking role other than to mouth platitudes about dead things dreaming. Through them, Enriquez explores tourism in Argentina, the rich visiting the slums, plus so many more dynamic perspectives on her homecountry. Its stench, he said, was caused by its lack of oxygen. Mariana Enriquez mesmerizing short story collection, Things We Lost in the Fire, is filled with vibrant depictions of her native Argentina, mostly Buenos Aires, as well as some ventures to surrounding countries. Anne M. Pillsworths short storyThe Madonna of the Abattoir appears on Tor.com. For a long time, it was considered elitist (protagonized by upper-class characters and set in opulent castles), escapist (appealing to a beyond that shuns the present), normative (vindicating a logocentrism that condemns the unknowable and the strange), and barbaric (it is no coincidence that the word gothic comes from the people called Goths, and cannibalism and violence are two of its recurring themes). Benedetto was tortured by the dictators militiathey faked his execution and he suffered a great deal. Shes trying to get a glimpse when the thing moves, and its gray arm falls over the side. In Under the Black Water, a female district attorney pursues a lead into the city's most dangerous neighbourhood, where she becomes trapped in a "living nightmare". The rivers dead, unable to breathe. Today we're reading Mariana Enriquez's "Under the Black Water," first published in English in Things We Lost in the Fire, translated by Megan McDowel. In short, Mariana Enriquez reads Argentine society with a feminist lens that evinces the structural violence imposed by necropolitics, class inequality, and gender. Support our mission to make literature more exciting, relevant, and inclusive. She met Father Francisco, who told her that no one even came to church. The boy opens the door; she goes in. Silvia was the one who came up with the idea of the quarry pools that summer, and we had to hand it to her, it was a really good idea. Additionally, the river marks the geographical limit between the city of Buenos Aires and what we call Gran Buenos Aires, or the suburbs. On the other hand, Enriquezs fiction also enters into dialogue with the deeply rooted tradition relating illness and literature (Foucault, Sontag, Guerrero, Giorgi), with stories of necrophilia, cannibalism, satanic rites, anorexia, social phobias, etc. The church has been painted yellow, decorated with a crown of flowers, and the walls are covered with graffiti: YAINGNGAHYOGSOTHOTHHEELGEBFAITHRODOG. Girls can be like bees or like locusts: there's something toxic and delicious and exotic about . Well, maybe not always that last. Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), 2023 Macmillan | All stories, art, and posts are the copyright of their respective authors, Shadow Over Argentina: Mariana Enriquezs Under the Black Water, What We Do for Wraithlike Bodies: Hilary Mantels, Easy Weeknight Recipes to Appease Ghosts: Deborah Davitts Feeding the Dead and Carly Racklins Unearthen, My Shoggoths Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun: Mythos Poetry by Ann K. Schwader. These ghostly images flicker out of Mariana Enriquezs stories, her characters witnessing atrocities or their shadows or afterimages. The boy opens the door; she goes in. What is the price of a body? The themes of horror and fantasy work for me in two ways. Mythos Making: The graffiti on the church includes the name Yog Sothoth amid its seeming gobbledygook. "She dreamed that . He runs Debutiful, a site dedicated to celebrating debut authors and their books. We discussed Argentina as a country and a character, the place of politics in literature, and what inspires Enriquez when shes working on astory. Whats Cyclopean: This is very much a place-as-character story. I love the country, but I think thats why Im harsh with it Im harsh because I care about it and I want it to change.. I used this incident, making minor modifications, as the point of departure for the rest of my story. Normally theres music, motorcycles, sizzling grills, people talking. There are hints of sacrifice, mysterious deaths of the young. A few years ago in Buenos Aires, two policemen detained two poor, young men who were coming back from a night club. [2] Since Esteban Echeverras foundational 1871 work The Slaughter Yard, Argentine literature has offered plentiful examplesArlt, Lamborghini, Chejfec, etc.of the representation of forms of violence. Her neo-Lovecraftian stories The Litany of Earth and Those Who Watch are available on Tor.com, along with the distinctly non-Lovecraftian Seven Commentaries on an Imperfect Land and The Deepest Rift. Ruthanna can frequently be found online onTwitterandDreamwidth, and offline in a mysterious manor house with her large, chaotic householdmostly mammalianoutside Washington DC. Yeah, skip continents, and the tainted roots of horror will still get you. Among the children marked by the black water, she thinks she spots the cop, violating his house arrest. Of murdered teens who return from beneath dark polluted waters. Sign up for our newsletter to get submission announcements and stay on top of our best work. Welcome to r/bookclub! $24.00. The pollution, holding down whatever lies under the river, shapes the community, its children, its resentment, until they burst forth into something that will stir the river and release what lies beneath. In his house, says the boy, the dead man waits dreaming. The priest is furious, and furious with Pinat for being stupid enough to come. And of course, whatever lies beneath the river might have been less malevolent, if it hadnt spent all that time bathing its ectoplasm in toxic sludge. A demonic idol is borne on a mattress through city streets. What is the relationship like in Argentina between politics and literature? Argentina is a theme and a character in my stories. His life and works were never the same afterthat. The poor men, she deadpans back. Just a while ago an English work of Antonio Di Benedetto was recovered. Is fear political? The story ends with a lingering look towards her exemplary act of violence, which must soon follow. Mythos Making: The graffiti on the church includes the name Yog Sothoth amid its seeming gobbledygook. Augusto Mora is a Mexican comics artist and graphic designer. Dissipation and Disenchantment: The Writing Life in Argentina in the 1990s. But hes not getting out, and neither is she. In effect, Enriquezs short fiction is populated by women suppressed by patriarchal necropolitics: lesbian teenagers (The Inn), girls both sexual and cruel (The Intoxicated Years), sufferers of anorexia (No Flesh over Our Bones), self-mutilated schoolgirls (End of Term), women who are raped, satanic, etc. Normally there are people. How many forms of violence run rampant with impunity in the present day? Hes tried! I sincerely believe that they dont have a true idea of what it is like to live in a highly politicized society. Other contemporary authors to look for are Leila Guerriero, Samanta Schweblin, Juan Jos Saer, Hernn Ronsino, Liliana Bodoc, Rodrigo Fresn, and Hebe Uhart. The driver makes her walk the last 300 meters; the dead boys lawyer wont come at all. A few years ago in Buenos Aires, two policemen detained two poor, young men who were coming back from a night club. A demonic idol is borne on a mattress through city streets. And then, of course, its even worse than that: a mutant child, rotting meat, a thing with gray arms, all vivid and inexplicable. Shadow Over Argentina: Mariana Enriquez's "Under the Black Water". This seems very different from the American horror trope, which often involves the comeuppance of someone blithely heedless of what lies beneaththe burial ground under the housing development, or the bland cheerleader unsuspecting of the slashers claws. Her most recent published books areLas novelas argentinas del siglo 21:Nuevos modos de produccin, circulacin y recepcin(2019) andOtros:Ricardo Piglia y la literatura mundial(2019). She lives in Edgewood, a Victorian trolley car suburb of Providence, Rhode Island, uncomfortably near Joseph Curwens underground laboratory. The title story almost takes up where Spiderweb left off, with women protesting domestic violence with a violence of their own. The dictatorship killed or helped to make important Argentinean writers disappear, like Haroldo Conti, Rodolfo Walsh, and Paco Urondo. Already in 1976, Ellen Moers had coined the term female gothic to refer to women writers who cultivated this genre as a subversive space in which to display the social and political oppression of women, the confinement of their bodies, the marginalization of their work, and the impossibility of their expressing their sexual freedom. How do they affect women? An abandoned house brims with shelves holding fingernails and teeth. Enriquez: Sure, for example, "Under the Black Water" was inspired by a true story of police violence. On Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enriquez By Angela Woodward New York, NY: Hogarth Press, 2016. "[4] Jennifer Szalai, writing in The New York Times, wrote "[Enriquez] is after a truth more profound, and more disturbing, than whatever the strict dictates of realism will allow. The protagonists in Enriquezs stories are mostly aware of their privilege, if its a privilege to have a place to live, food to eat, a face thats not grotesquely disfigured. Considering her writings overlap between Borges and King, Ocampo and Jackson, an accurate term might be 'black magical realism', and its possible this strange genre brew is a result of Enriquez' historical vantage point; born just prior to the coup but too young to be complicit, or even fully aware. Eventually, still unable to reach anyone, she tries to find her way to Father Franciscos church. Theyre ancient, theyre the stories we told orally. New York. Enriquez: Time! Pinats dubious about all this, or wants to be. And death, how much is death worth? And he says to me, I think its because we dont own the narrative. But then, that sort of thing happens a lot in the Villa Moreno slum, and convictions are few. I remember having a conversation with a friend and saying, 'But you never complain when men are portrayed as corrupt politicians, violent cops, serial killers. She runs, not looking back, and covers her ears against the sound of the drums. Maybe the girl is lying? He hasnt brought a lawyerafter all, he says, hes innocent. In others, "Adela's House" and "An Invocation of the Big-Earred Runt," past crimes reach out from the past to claim new victims.

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