Latin American Literature

[nnyhav]

"Briefly Noted", The New Yorker, Aug 9, 2010:

How Pleasure Works, by Paul Bloom (Norton, $26.95). Bloom's anatomy of our predilictions extends from the banal to the fervid and the bizarre. His account is strewn with startling academic studies, tales of cannibalism and sexual fetishes, and even a passage from Borges.

[pugetopolis]

Motorcycle Diaries

After the Revolution (2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niqrrmev4mA

“To me her song
is the sound of the
night (la noche entre
en calor) at the Mais
Oui, the legendary
West Did cha-cha bar
Of the late fifties”
—James McCourt,
Introduction, Cobra by
Severo Sarduy

Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro” video—dances on the YouTube Big Screen ceiling tonight. It captures the spirit of the Revolution—all these years later.

The leather queens, the boots, the marching, the stomping, the whips, the S & M nazi bondage & delicious Latino deliverance.

Lady Gaga is at her stylish chic best—truly the YouTube born-again reincarnation of none other than Evita Peron herself—the Beloved Queen of Fascismo Argentina!!!

Even tho I’m dead & gone now—my Latino muse speaks to you thru these Ouija Board Bored Rubbery Lips. Thru my Severo Sarduy “Cobra Queen” Cuban Magic & Realist Fabulated Cuban kitschy Lips. It's simply impossible these dayz now, my dear. Maria Montez ladies of the night like me—we have to resort to tacky baroque magic realismo tricks of the trade, dontchaknow.

Baroque kitsch escapes from Cuba. Lost drag Havana Eden drag queens—Cuba Libra chicas. Forbidden Fernando de Roja La Celestina glories behind us. Sarduy Scheherazade seraglio gigolo baby-paste ahead of us.

My Apache kitsch Tel Quel ventriloquist theatrics dayz behind me. All those long lost nights—Genet drag Notre Dame des Fleurs, Haute Surveillance, La Balcon, Les Paravants… Left Bank jazz boîte trumpets crooning & drifting into the night.

Oh the Eros of Exile—those hot Havana SM rotten Arriba Tangos!!! The Latino unconscious—knows no negative. It plunges ahead—to Paris & New York. Sarduy gets shanghaied—Marlene Dietrich Oriental Express sweeping her away!!!

“Don’t call my name, Alejandro!!! Oh Roberto let me go!!!”

Thus, my dears, you can see me—falling into the kitschy exiled present. The haughty here & now of Roberto Bolaño—the new los perros románticos.

For am I not—just an old burned-out revolutionary Romantic Dog:

“Not working, not praying
Not studying in the morning light
Alongside the romantic dogs”

“Ni trabajar ni rezar
ni estudiar en la madrugada
junto a los perros románticos”

“I get a kick outta me,” like Evita & Imelda. My Afro-Cuban camp baroque kitsch power. Like the Cognoscenti from Cherry Grove on Fire Island. All the way to Art Deco Key West “¡como no!?!”

This Cuban planet—torn from its course. Falling back into Gulf of Mexico Big Oil spill slime—the BP Gringo Gusher that wiped out the Gulf Coast Riviera Rednecks.

Mother-of-pearl luminous spiraling bones—down there off Key West. Down with Davy Jones—and the bones of Hart Crane. Jumping off the Orizaba—down into the beautiful blue Gay Carib.

Shrimp, sharks, seagulls, pelicans—my sister Hart Crane sinking deep. Down into poisonous, iridescent conch-shell of death. Blown by benzene clouds & hurricanes. Alejandro!!! Alejandro!!! Alejandro!!!

Cigarette butt love—gone badboy bad. Bad Romance boyfriends—Fernando!!! Roberto!!! Armando!!!

Don’t call my name—it hurts too much!!! My pouty lips—pursed in these Twilight Zone “Alejandro” lost dayz. Your YouTube video Bad Romance images & lyrics—Oh Lady Gaga!!! Our Lovely Lady of Guadalupe—Save me!!! Arriba baby!!! Save me now!!!