“Literature is very political, but it’s politics that works best in spaces where other politics can’t go, in more sensitive spaces. Because somebody has to, glyphosate,” Schweblin said. .
Schweblin’s social commentary in “Fever Dream” is precisely written as a dialogue between a dying woman and a real or imaginary boy, moving between fantasy and everyday life. Similarly, Ojeda’s “Jawbone”, which focuses on the abduction of a young woman by a relentless teacher, uses fear to explore adolescence and female anxieties in contemporary Ecuador.
“We always associate fear with ugliness, but most of all I think it’s associated with beauty,” Ojeda said in an email. It seemed natural to think of adolescence in that light.”
Like Dueñas and Dávila before them, Ojeda and other contemporary writers in Latin America use different means to confront realities that are often difficult for women in the region. But their form of feminism represents an “evolution” from the writings of the last century, Alemany Bey said.
“Writers like Davila have embraced the inner world, the world of nightmares, the world of madness. And that inner psychology can be a hallmark of women’s writing,” said Alemany Bay. says. “Current writers are also embracing this inner world, but now they’re in a different place and don’t have to prove the fact that they’re women. In that sense, I think they’ve taken a step forward.”
For Schweblin, it took time to fully understand the more personal forms of feminism.
“‘Mouthful of Birds’ has all the issues feminism has been obsessed with over the last decade, but it’s written with the naivete of an 18-year-old,” she said. “I don’t know if it was feminist, but there was urgency and anger.”
Yet, recognizing these realities can be uncomfortable. Schweblin said that when he first moved to Berlin, he didn’t understand why riding home alone at night without worrying about the consequences would be happy and fulfilling. Her friends didn’t understand why she was texting her after being late.