Diverse and changing

A trademark of the Argentine cultural movement, literary workshops aim to improve technique and correct writing, although it is known that there is a certain gap between correctness and literary writing, which not all those who attend them always bridge.

This introduction serves to discuss this book, which brings together stories by five authors (some of whom have won awards and appear in various anthologies) who attend or have participated in workshops such as those coordinated by Pablo Alí, Marcelo Rubio, José María Brindisi, Cecilia Szperling, Ariel Idez, and Mauricio Kartum.

In this case, Pablo Alí was in charge of selecting twenty stories that demonstrate that it is possible to be original and generate interest without having to resort to the macabre to move or the fantastic to surprise.

The volume opens with “Dog Training,” by Gabriela Buscemi, which explores the extent to which a love for animals (and/or a rejection of human society) can transform us, while in “Someone at Home,” reality once again reveals itself to be strange in the form of noises that disturb a woman struggling with her ghosts.

Mariana Badino, for her part, recounts in "The Stonecutter," with captivating poetic prose, a seemingly peaceful situation in a garden, where a widowed woman toils until she uncovers a secret that ultimately transforms the protagonist and her surroundings into something deeply disturbing. This is also the case in "No Pee Here," about domestic violence, and "Antes del Desborde," where a man who has lost his daughter makes a decision that also involves death, as in the previous stories.

But since we are witnessing a multiplicity of voices, we move on to “Frozen Memory” by Edith Testa (also the author of an interesting first novel, Bridges Are Not Safe Places), whose theme is Alzheimer's, and then read from her pen “Nallkarhu”, which is about a woman who, in her eagerness to alleviate a love disappointment, travels to the Canary Islands, and “King Absalon”, with its masterfully described circus world and which, due to the tension it generates, refers to “Sachem” by Enrique Seinkewicz, that magnificent story about a tightrope walker who is the last Indian in a war waged by the Germans against his race.

In this multiplicity of voices, Rosario Sisco's voice is surprising, with a dry humor displayed in almost tragicomedies, as evidenced by "Special Sizes", "The First Club" and "Johnny, My Good Friend": the odyssey of finding a dress for a wedding, the jealousy and complicity (and fidelity) that can be found in "man's best friend" are combined in her prose with a charm that moves.

Finally, Adriana Francia, in “The Journey,” “The Fastest I Could,” “The Secret,” and “Handkerchiefs” (the most interesting, and award-winning), delves into human psychology to offer an insight into the dilemmas we often face, with ample narrative skill.

Diverse and ever-changing like any kaleidoscope, this volume offers us the opportunity to access these new voices, which are worth listening to, or rather, reading.

Kaleidoscopic

Authors: Mariana Badino, Gabriela Buscemi, Adriana Francia, Rosario Sisco and Edith Testa (photo)

Genre: story

Publisher: Flanelle, $20,000