In our twenty-ninth issue, we dive into the world of Chilean writer Alejandro Zambra with a cover feature including an exclusive interview, notes by Megan McDowell and Margarita García Robayo, and a glimpse into the new English-language edition of My Documents. The second dossier highlights the poetics and perspectives of Venezuelan playwright, essayist, and literary journalist Elisa Lerner. Alongside these features are a selection of short fiction by Martín Kohan, three finalist essays from our literary essay contest, conversations with Álvaro Enrigue, Ana Negri, and Paula Vázquez, international voices from the pages of World Literature Today, poetry in Tutunakú and Nahuatl, a special section on Latin American literary translation in Spain, and the first installment of an ongoing collaboration with groundbreaking literary podcast Hablemos, escritoras, plus the three winners of our first-ever book review contest and much more.
I had read Alejandro Zambra before. Ways of Going Home in particular struck me as a very well realized book. I thought, somehow, I had come to understand his literary world just by reading it. But I was wrong. Reading his last three books, one after another, gave me a new idea of Zambra’s literature—something I had sensed before, but couldn’t quite put my finger on. Now I know: it’s the strength of his prose’s tone. An encompassing tone that wipes away all dissonance, that stacks up differing stories and moods almost unnoticed. It is not a sad tone, as some have said. Or perhaps it is, but there is something more to it. It is also, I think, a way of capturing the world. Or feeling it.
Photo: Martha Viaña Pulido
No one was sure how to act around Pablo Quiñonez, how to look at him, what to say (not that there was anything that could be said, it was horrible what was happening, simple as that). His teachers took pains to pat his head or lay a hand on his shoulder. The gym teacher gave him a big hug. His classmates tried to be close, they sat next to him or hovered nearby, in case he needed anything. The director called him to her office; once there, between the colored plate of San Martín and the wooden crucifix, she offered him some water and talked to him about God.
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