
Die Argentynse letterkunde is natuurlik primêr bekend vir sy prosaskrywers soos Jorge Luis Borges en Julio Cortázar. Maar wat van die Argentynse digters? In ‘n onlangse artikel op The Guardian se webblad het Neil Willis, assistent-redakteur van die Guardian Weekly, met dr. Fred Bollig oor dié kwessie gesels. Laasgenoemde is ‘n dosent in Latyns-Amerikaanse studies wat verbonde is aan die Leeds Universiteit en skrywer van die boek “The Search for an Argentine Marginal Voice” wat in wese handel oor die lewe en werk van die Argentynse digter Néstor Perlongher.
Hieronder volg ‘n paar uittreksels uit dié gesprek wat ek as sulks aanbied aangesien dit op sigself ‘n (sukses)verhaal het om te vertel:
“Poetry has the ability, it seems, to respond to particular moments of economic and political crisis. For example, the poet who I’ve written most on, Néstor Perlongher, wrote an article in the early 80s called Argentina’s Secret Poetry Boom. He argued that poetry emerged in the late 70s because of the way in which the military dictatorship of the time closed down other spheres of political debate and cultural intervention in politics. Poetry was one of the few areas of oppositional discourse that survived. As a result, poetry from this era was often written in a quite opaque form. Although such work was important within Argentina, the international appeal was limited.”
“Argentina in the early 2000s was in a state of economic collapse and political crisis, the period resulted in a devaluing of the peso and a run of five presidents in a few weeks. A lot of publishing houses went to the wall or were bought by European conglomerates. Suddenly there emerged a lot of small, local, independent publishers, many of them with little in the way of resources and many of them using crude, raw materials […] This new way of publishing also ushered in new styles of writing, making Argentine poetry more accessible.”
“There has been money put into the promotion of Argentine writing overseas. There is money going into cultural projects, such as translations. Exhibitions like the one seen at the October’s Frankfurt Book Fair are helping the dissemination of Argentine poetry.”
“Latin American studies have also grown in popularity and importance, particularly in the US, where many academics and intellectuals went for political or economic reasons. That’s been important for the dissemination of this recent work.”
Nou ja, toe. Onwillekeurig begin ‘n mens wonder watter kans die bemarking van ‘n bepaalde letterkunde op internasionale vlak staan indien daar nie staatsteun in dié verband is nie? Gelukkig bestaan daar darem by ons heelwat privaat-instansies en -fondse wat op húl beskeie manier ‘n bydrae maak in hierdie opsig … Maar hoe fantasties sou dit nie wees indien ‘n mens al dié inisiatiewe kon saamsnoer in een magtige stukrag ten opsigte van internasionale bemarking nie?
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Vanoggend kan jy jou verlekker aan Yves T’Sjoen se inskrywing oor epi -, peri – en paratekste wat hy in twee aflewerings geplaas het hier en hier. En dan verskaf Andries Bezuidenhout op sy blog inligting geplaas oor ‘n besonderse poësievoorlesing wat eerskomende Saterdagaand by die Steak & Ale in Bothalaan, Lyttelton plaasvind. Maak seker dat jy dié makietie meemaak indien jy in die omstreke is.
Ten slotte, mag hierdie middel-in’ie-week-dag vir almal ‘n plesierige een wees …
Mooi bly.
LE