Since there was no Argentinean Literature of Doom event to depress people with last year for the first time since 2012, I've decided--in my infinite wisdom--to wage a four-month version of the literary terror campaign this year to make up for lost time. Hence, "Entre Andreiev y Arlt" ["From Andreyev to Arlt"]: The 2017 Argentinean (& French & Russian) Literature(s) of Doom now running through the end of December. As past readers of the official Doom indoctrination communiqué may recall, "the ALoD was originally inspired by two great posts by Tom of
Wuthering Expectations that you can read about
here and
here and was at least partly dedicated to testing Roberto Bolaño's thesis that a 'strain of doom' evident in post-Borges Argentinean
belles-lettres was due to the noxious influence of one Osvaldo Lamborghini and his art terrorist pals and successors (César Aira, take a bow)." While that original idea still intrigues me, I thought it might be kind of amusing to set up a circular firing squad this year and allow Frenchmen like Marcel Schwob and Russians like Leonid Andreyev to run amok alongside Argentinean doomsters like Roberto Arlt. You're more than welcome to join me if you like--all you have to do to participate is to read and review at least one piece of fiction written by an Argentinean, a French or a Russian writer, read and review at least one nonfiction work on Argentina, France or Russia, or watch and review one film that falls under the same general criteria. I'll post links to your reviews at the end of each month. Note: I borrowed the "Entre Andreiev y Arlt" thing from critic Jorge Fornet, who uses it as the title of a heading in the first chapter of his book
El escritor y la tradición. Ricardo Piglia y la literatura argentina (Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2007). The photo at the top of the post is of Italian anarchist turned much feared Argentinean public enemy Giovanni Di Severino, the subject of a newspaper piece by Roberto Arlt and a biography by Osvaldo Bayer that may both make it onto the Doom syllabus alongside Fornet's book if I don't lose focus. Out.
Entradas
I am glad to hear that ALoD is back!
ResponderBorrarI need to learn more about Giovanni di Severino. I find anarchist types fascinating.
I'm happy to hear that, Brian, or maybe just relieved that there's any interest in the event. Good to know that violent early 20th century anarchists may prove to be clickbait for Doom as well!
BorrarGiven my poor showing in the double-month of Spanish-Portuguese, I suppose the 2017 season of Doom is more manageable with the extra months and the extra languages involved. Besides, this annual outbreak of the apocalypse is always an exciting literary scourge to usher in the Yuletide season. счастливого Рождества
ResponderBorrarRise, always glad to have your company for this "literary scourge" as you so mellifluously put it! Thanks for the Russian Yuletide greetings--a first for Doom--and thanks in advance for contributing whatever review(s) you can come up with over the double session. I'm sure it/they will be great/great fun. Cheers!
BorrarAh, just the ticket to breathe some fresh life into my failing bookish interest. Not much is better than reading a Russian author (to me), and how hopeful is the Gulag Archipelago? Wonderful stuff! Count me in.
ResponderBorrarDelighted to have you join Rise & me, Bellezza, esp. since my own Russian reading will likely be limited in scope compared with my Argentinean reading. In other words, I'm really looking forward to seeing what you pick to read for the event--and we might even have a Dostoevsky title in common if the picture over at your blog provides any clue. Until then, happy and/or doomy reading to you, my friend!
BorrarHow nice to see this event or existential howl or whatever it is continue. Too bad I can't join in, for obvious reasons. I will be reading French books, yes, but they will be entirely Doom-free. They will be written for five-year-olds, and be about balloons and ponies and so on. French Doom will have to wait. But Lord knows there is plenty of it.
ResponderBorrarI'm sorry you won't be able to join in this year, L'amateur, but it'll almost be like you will anyway: my French readings in partic. will be a sort of dialogue with much of your Weird France trailblazing. Thanks, as always, for the moral/amoral support of Doom!
BorrarHi Richard. Here's my contribution to the event, just in case you are collecting links:
ResponderBorrarhttps://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/the-executioner-weeps-by-frederic-dard-tr-david-coward/