Dossier Bellatin
The Buenos Aires Review just turned two, and we’re celebrating with champagne and a dossier on one of our favorite writers: Mario Bellatin.
Bellatin is a luminary of contemporary Latin American literature, a creator who connects writing with performance art. From the haunting, critically acclaimed Beauty Salon to the apocryphal (but meticulously documented) biography of the Japanese writer Shiki Nagaoka, Bellatin builds complex literary systems with his characteristically spare prose. His aesthetic project also extends beyond the page: in 2003 he organized a Conference of Doubles in Paris, at which the invited authors listed on the marquee (including Sergio Pitol and Margo Glantz) were replaced by stand-ins trained to answer questions in their stead.
Though he cuts a mischievous, unpredictable figure within the literary establishment, there is also a consistency to Bellatin’s work, certain ideas and gestures that resonate between texts. This is why we’re thrilled that more and more of his books are beginning to appear in translation, and why we’re so pleased to share this dossier with you.
Inside you’ll find:
David Shook‘s lucid, witty translation of a piece Bellatin has yet to write, accompanied by a series of emails clarifying the finer points of the text.
Craig Epplin‘s reflections on doubles, Converse, and the author’s search for Frida Kahlo.
Mat Chiappe‘s interview with the author featuring, among other things, Kamikaze Taxi, the (near omni-) presence of Japan in Bellatin’s work, and the adaptation of Bola negra for the stage.
Edmundo Paz Soldán‘s uncanny encounter with The Uruguayan Book of the Dead, for which Bellatin won the prestigious José María Arguedas prize.
Andrea Rosenberg‘s elegant rendition of Bellatin’s Bola negra.
To top things off, the pieces are all bedecked with images from the great Sebastián Freire and a few from Bellatin himself, together with Ben Rodkin and David Shook for the film Barú.
We hope you’ll enjoy reading this collection as much as we’ve enjoyed putting it together.
—The editors
*
Oh, and if you’re inspired to dig for more, here are a few places to start:
Beauty Salon tr. Kurt Hollander (City Lights 2009)
(Read about the book @ Molossus)
Shiki Nagaoka: A Nose for Fiction tr. David Shook (Phoneme Media 2013)
(Read about the book in The New York Times, or check out a review @ Words Without Borders)
The Transparent Bird’s Gaze tr. David Shook (Phoneme Media 2014)
Jacob the Mutant tr. Jacob Steinberg (Phoneme Media 2015)
(Reviewed for Music & Literature by BAR Founding Editor Heather Cleary)
* *
Image: Ben Rodkin with Mario Bellatin and David Shook for Barú.
[ + bar ]
Bellatin and Japan: an Interview
Mat Chiappe translated by Anna Hardin
Mario Bellatin once said to me: “I don’t want to go to Japan.” I don’t know if we went on talking... Read More »
Condensed Water
Anja Kampmann
About the Sea
The horizon is the concern here the
distance applying color the bright crackling
of surfaces of light and the spreading
of the light as it surges the... Read More »
La Inestable [lima]
Alicia Bisso translated by Heather Cleary
I never liked poetry. My self-imposed task of learning to read it began with a strange discovery. One afternoon, a traffic jam... Read More »
The Skies of Brasilia: an interview with João Almino
Jonathan Blitzer
Jonathan Blitzer: You’re originally from northern Brazil—Mossoró—but your novels bring you to the geographic heart of the country: Brasilia. How did you wind up... Read More »