entrevista abierta

Fundación Proa y Sur de Babel Club de libros
independientes

Invitan a participar de la entrevista abierta a Fernanda García Lao, autora de Muerta de hambre.
El encuentro es el sábado 6 de junio, a las 17 hs. en Fundación Proa (Pedro de Mendoza 1929)

"Con el estómago abarrotado me siento más indulgente. Abro ligeramente la puerta, como siempre, para que el chico de la parrilla deje el paquete. No quiero ver en sus ojos el tamaño de mi desgracia. Por su cara sabría lo paquidérmica que me encuentro. Así que seguimos nuestro juego de gato y ratón. El deja la carne y me tira un cordel y yo le lanzo el dinero. Recojo el cordel como quien pesca un pejerrey caliente. Después de haberme abalanzado sobre el paquete de carne y de haber olvidado el tenedor prefiriendo las manos, hay algo delicado en mi manera de digerirlo. Observo por la ventana una luna informe que sin embargo brilla, y me identifico con ella. Podría escribir canciones de cuna sin resultar monstruosa. El embotamiento que dejan las vacas en mí, me vuelve ligera. Lechera como la luna. Doméstica y sin embargo fría.
Cepillo mis dientes muy lentamente, con regocijo. Como un caballero que lustra sus armas".

(Me hizo gracia el asunto. En la página de Proa está la versión en inglés del encuentro):

Fernanda García Lao signed copies in the PROA Library
On Saturday, June 6th, an open interview with Fernanda Garcia Lao was held in Fundación PROA´s Auditorium. Afterwards, the author of the novel Muerta de Hambre signed copies in our Library.

The event was organized by Fundación Proa and Sur de Babel, an independent book club that intends to give a broader reach to the books edited by smaller Argentine book publishers.

“I have been thick and unfortunate ever since I can remember (…) I had hidden secrets behind the couch. Useless, but fresh things. Dessert spoons and scissors. I used them to stroke my face heated with fury for being and thinking like a fat 39 year old”.
Extract from the novel ‘Muerta de hambre’

About the novel

“My mouth is full of hunger. Nevertheless, my body is too heavy to engulf. I’ve gained several pounds in the last days. I can’t stand the clarity of existence: my fat rolls are confused with the sofa where I am interlocked”.

Aesthetics, beauty, and thinness are elemental when thinking of the cannons used to analyze the feminine stereotypes of today. At first, Muerta de Hambre could be considered to rival against postmodern stereotypes, at the same time as being a story charged with educative and moral teachings. Nevertheless, none of this happens, as the story progresses we notice that the irony, sarcasm, and huge “weight” of the protagonist are the support for an ominous and turbulent dialogue that even the reader finds hard to digest.

Maria Bernabé Castelar, amongst spoons, desserts, and candy wrappers allows for us to penetrate the story of her life with a variety of short stories that regenerate themselves within the confinement and jail-like appearance of the body. Bernabe represents pure loneliness. A child, a teenager, and a hungry, un-loved woman that finds herself in a place that starts and ends “by the plate”. Garcia Lao, at the core of a desolate monologue, shows as a woman chained to the insurrection of her own boundaries, of her own personal discourse, and to the most intimate gastronomical compulsion. It is at this point that the reader finds himself within the boundaries of a body, and of a discourse that can explode at any minute. Fatality surrounds the protagonist and those around her but even inside the tragedy, they make us smile with a bit of sarcasm and irony about the destiny of our weighty protagonist.

The aesthetic plurality, the delicate writing and an argument that stands out by its creative tone and good humor, are only some of the reasons why Sur de Babel chooses to celebrate Muerta de Hambre. A story rooted in a delicious stylistic support, and a woman that makes us smile and laugh with a captivating argument that allows for us to step back from the recently digested words.

About the author

Fernanda Garcia Lao was born in Mendoza in 1966. At the young age of 10, due to the political situation affecting the country, her family decided to move to Madrid, where she lived until 1993. “My way of being, my personality, is strongly related to being exiled”, expressed the author and adds the following on regards to her life and work: “My words gained importance when I had to leave everything behind, from a young age I have cultivated monologues”.

Garcia Leo has lived in Buenos Aires for over 16 years and possesses an extensive, varied, and interesting artistic career. She is also a narrator, dancer, playwright, actress and journalist. No doubt her work presents all her integrity and artistic plurality. She received the following awards: First Prize for a Novel given by Fondo Nacional de las Artes, and Third Prize of the Julio Cortázar Novel (2004). She also received a grant from Fundación Antorchas for her play Ser el amo, and the award from Secretaría de Cultura de la Nación for La mirada horrible (2002), among others.