Cry For Me, Argentina

The Performance of Trauma in the Short Narratives of Aida Bortnik, Griselda Gambaro, and Tununa Mercado

Annette H. Levine

Inspired by the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo's work for memory and justice, Cry for Me, Argentina is an interdisciplinary study that draws on Latin American literary, trauma, performance, and cultural studies to analyze the narrative of three Argentine women writers/activists - Aida Bortnik, Griselda Gambaro, and Tununa Mercado - whose work reveals the traumatic repercussions of the Dirty War (1976-83) and cultivates a narrative space for working through traumatic impact of the era: the grave losses of human life (30,000 disappeared individuals), the breakdown of civil liberties, and the ongoing struggles these problems have perpetuated.

Dr. Levine argues that the work of all three authors emphasizes the imperative to restore the dialogical principal obliterated by repressive authoritarian regimes. By doing so within their narrative, they cultivate a performance space in which they incite the reader to participate in the process of mourning, working toward social justice and healing.

University Press Copublishing Division / Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

Pages: 178 • Trim: 6¾ x 9¾

978-1-61147-371-1 • Hardback • December 2008 • $105.00 • (£81.00)

Subjects: Literary Criticism / Reference, History / Latin America / Central America, History / Latin America / General, History / Latin America / South America, Literary Criticism / Caribbean & Latin American, Literary Criticism / Women Authors

Cry For Me, Argentina

The Performance of Trauma in the Short Narratives of Aida Bortnik, Griselda Gambaro, and Tununa Mercado

Hardback

Summary

Inspired by the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo's work for memory and justice, Cry for Me, Argentina is an interdisciplinary study that draws on Latin American literary, trauma, performance, and cultural studies to analyze the narrative of three Argentine women writers/activists - Aida Bortnik, Griselda Gambaro, and Tununa Mercado - whose work reveals the traumatic repercussions of the Dirty War (1976-83) and cultivates a narrative space for working through traumatic impact of the era: the grave losses of human life (30,000 disappeared individuals), the breakdown of civil liberties, and the ongoing struggles these problems have perpetuated.

Dr. Levine argues that the work of all three authors emphasizes the imperative to restore the dialogical principal obliterated by repressive authoritarian regimes. By doing so within their narrative, they cultivate a performance space in which they incite the reader to participate in the process of mourning, working toward social justice and healing.

Details

University Press Copublishing Division / Fairleigh Dickinson University Press

Pages: 178 • Trim: 6¾ x 9¾

978-1-61147-371-1 • Hardback • December 2008 • $105.00 • (£81.00)

Subjects: Literary Criticism / Reference, History / Latin America / Central America, History / Latin America / General, History / Latin America / South America, Literary Criticism / Caribbean & Latin American, Literary Criticism / Women Authors

Author

A child of refugees, Annette H. Levine has always had a vested interest in stories of exile and diaspora. Her passion for Hispanic cultures and the Spanish language is the fruit of a childhood spent living in a largely Puerto Rican and Dominican community in the Bronx. She holds a PhD from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a Master's Degreefrom the University of Chicago. She is now a professor of Spanish and Latin American studies at Ithaca College. In manuscript form, this book won the 2006 Northeast Modern Language Association Book Award. Dr. Levine is also a translator whose work has been published by editorial Mila, World Literature Today, and Translation.