Latina writers speak at ULV

by Adrianna Gardner
Staff Writer

The University of La Verne’s Department of Modern Languages, in collaboration with the University’s honors program, on Wednesday gathered three prominent Latin American writers for a roundtable discussion, speaking on “Writing as Subversion: Latin American Women Speak Out.”

The event, in honor of Women’s History Month, evoked a roundtable discussion on experiences and opinions of Latina writers and their contributions to writing, using unique perspectives.

March is Women’s History Month and the author’s talk was one of several campus events honoring women’s struggles.

The topic of discussion in La Fetra Hall was no matter of persuasion or corruption.

Latina authors Ana Maria Shua, Alicia Kozameh, and Nora Skejilevich shared their experiences of triumph and ideas on writing in subversion.

“It was interesting seeing that these three ladies went through a troubled time, and still have positive, reflective images to share with other people,” said Tiffany Davis, a sophomore behavioral science major, who attended the Wednesday event.

Andrea Labinger, professor of Spanish, served as a moderator for the discussion that included University’s faculty and students.

She began the discussion by introducing the audience to the idea of literature, the many forms it can take on, and the relationship between literature and subversion. All three writers agreed that subversion in literature is an artistic expression. One of the authors, Ana Shua, a Buenos Aires native, has been widely anthologized and her novel “Los Amores de Laurita” (The Loves of Laurita) has been made into a motion picture. Shua said that a writer’s optimal goal is to make her writing immortal. The writers seek to tell readers their stories like they seek an obsession, she said.

“We need to write about them,” said Alicia Kozameh, native of Rosario, Argentina, and author of “Pasos Bajo el Aua” ("Steps Under Water"), which fictionalizes her experience as a political prisoner during the country’s dictatorship of the 1970s. She added: “I feel like I’m always fighting.”

Kozameh said that writers sometimes have the intention to be subversive but other times do not. She used the example of the public’s metaphor of Argentina’s dictatorship and the female protagonist’s search for liberation in Shua’s "Soy paciente" (1979).

Shua offered merely a black humorist perspective and had no idea of its subversive undertones. The authors spoke of having the urgency to change their reader’s minds. They all said they view fiction as an art, and their obsession with telling their story as a gateway to work artistically to breathe life into the pages.

“This topic is larger than life, and language is insufficient to its story,” said Nora Skejilevich, an Argentinean/Canadian writer, professor of literature, and survivor of a concentration camp during the Argentine “Dirty War.”

The human rights activist said writing became subversive because she wasn’t able to tell the story. “We tell the same stories but with different shades,” Skejilevich said.

The writers suggest techniques of using different voices, allusion, and other literary devices to mix a level of subversion into their writing.

“I put my effort into being different,” said Kozameh.

As a part of the University’s honors program, Labinger said she was grateful for the good turn out at the event.

For Labinger, the experience of having translated many of their works gave her insight to the women’s courage and resourcefulness.

Labinger told students of Kozameh’s “ingenious” ideas to entertain both fellow political prisoners and her while locked in a basement. Upon receiving gifts from relatives, the women would save wrappers from gum and paper to roll their cigarettes.

“It was really good to see how they want their memory alive in order for them to continue,” said Arleen Lopez, a junior television broadcasting major on the authors’ roles during Women History Month.

“I like their courage and the fact that they are women,” Lopez said.

The women displayed boldness and resilience that define the human spirit. “In life, if you do not have a revolution, you can make it in a book,” Skejilevich said.