Sylvia Molloy (1938–2022)
Author of Certificate of Absence (Texas Pan American Series)
About the Author
Works by Sylvia Molloy
Back Home 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Molloy, Sylvia
- Birthdate
- 1938-08-19
- Date of death
- 2022-07-14
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- novelist
critic
professor - Nationality
- Argentina
- Associated Place (for map)
- Argentina
Members
Reviews
A harrowing premise treated rather coldly, I found. What depth was sacrificed to lucidity. Juxtapose the tenderness in the way the book preserves what happened, detail by detail. In any case I found it passed out of my mind quickly, leaving only a question of how I might behave in such a situation as the narrator found herself. I did not dwell within the narrator’s method of phrasing this situation in a very meaningful way; although, I did like the rhythm of consistently returning to a show more single room. show less
Encounters with a Disappearing Friend
Review of the Charco Press paperback (November 1, 2022) translated by Jennifer Croft from the Spanish language original "Desarticulaciones" (Disarticulations) (September 1, 2010)
Dislocations is a non-fiction novel/memoir recording a series of encounters by the author Sylvia Molloy with her friend M.L. who has Alzheimer's Disease and is gradually losing her memory. The encounters vary from visits to M.L.'s home (where she has regular caregivers) and show more regular phone calls. Gradually we learn that M.L. & Molloy had both a partner and an artistic writing relationship previously. Molloy writes in tribute to her friend is still with her and yet disappearing.
I did not know Sylvia Molloy's writing previously (this is her first work published in English) and did some research about her and the first publication of this book in Spanish (see links below). Molloy was a breakthrough writer for gay / lesbian writers in Argentina starting from her early novel En breve cárcel (In Brief Prison) (1981), published in Spain during the time of the Argentinean military dictatorship. She studied and worked abroad for most of her life, especially in Yale, Princeton and New York Universities, USA where she taught creative Spanish writing. After retirement she lived in Long Island, NY where she passed earlier this year.
Dislocations is translated by the prolific & multilingual Jennifer Croft (who won the International Booker Prize 2018 for her translation of Olga Tokarczuk's Flights (orig 2007) from Polish) and the arrangement of its brief chapters is reminiscent of her own non-fictional novel/memoir Homesick (2019 USA as a memoir/2022 UK as a novel). The blank pages and the spacing allows the work and the reader to "breathe", as we join Molloy in witnessing the loss of her friend, but also celebrating their life.
See photograph at https://eternacadencia.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/sylviamolloy.jpg
Author Sylvia Molloy in a photograph by Lucio Ramirez at the website of her Spanish language publisher Eterna Cadencia.
Trivia and Links
* Translated from the original: Sobre las caracterizaciones de escritora queer, Molloy aseguraba que se sentía "muy cómoda" porque explicitaba: "Si pensás de donde viene la palabra queer significa torcido, desubicado, raro y si creen que mis textos toman desvíos, tanto mejor. Me interesan textos que van por lados insólitos, incluso el ir de una lengua a otra. Tengo ese conflicto lingüístico desde un comienzo, ya que escribo en castellano pero me resuenan frases en otros idiomas".
Sylvia Molloy is interviewed at the time of the original Spanish language publication of Desarticularciones at her publisher Eterna Cadencia's website here. show less
Review of the Charco Press paperback (November 1, 2022) translated by Jennifer Croft from the Spanish language original "Desarticulaciones" (Disarticulations) (September 1, 2010)
Dislocations is a non-fiction novel/memoir recording a series of encounters by the author Sylvia Molloy with her friend M.L. who has Alzheimer's Disease and is gradually losing her memory. The encounters vary from visits to M.L.'s home (where she has regular caregivers) and show more regular phone calls. Gradually we learn that M.L. & Molloy had both a partner and an artistic writing relationship previously. Molloy writes in tribute to her friend is still with her and yet disappearing.
I did not know Sylvia Molloy's writing previously (this is her first work published in English) and did some research about her and the first publication of this book in Spanish (see links below). Molloy was a breakthrough writer for gay / lesbian writers in Argentina starting from her early novel En breve cárcel (In Brief Prison) (1981), published in Spain during the time of the Argentinean military dictatorship. She studied and worked abroad for most of her life, especially in Yale, Princeton and New York Universities, USA where she taught creative Spanish writing. After retirement she lived in Long Island, NY where she passed earlier this year.
Dislocations is translated by the prolific & multilingual Jennifer Croft (who won the International Booker Prize 2018 for her translation of Olga Tokarczuk's Flights (orig 2007) from Polish) and the arrangement of its brief chapters is reminiscent of her own non-fictional novel/memoir Homesick (2019 USA as a memoir/2022 UK as a novel). The blank pages and the spacing allows the work and the reader to "breathe", as we join Molloy in witnessing the loss of her friend, but also celebrating their life.
See photograph at https://eternacadencia.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/sylviamolloy.jpg
Author Sylvia Molloy in a photograph by Lucio Ramirez at the website of her Spanish language publisher Eterna Cadencia.
Regarding the characterization of a queer writer, Molloy assured us that she felt "very comfortable" because she explained: "If you think about where the word queer comes from, it means crooked, misplaced, strange and if they think that my texts take detours, so much the better. I am interested in texts that go in unusual directions, even going from one language to another. I've had this linguistic conflict from the beginning, since I write in Spanish but phrases in other languages resonate with me". - Sylvia Molloy (1938-2022) as quoted in a Spanish language obituary at Télam.
Trivia and Links
* Translated from the original: Sobre las caracterizaciones de escritora queer, Molloy aseguraba que se sentía "muy cómoda" porque explicitaba: "Si pensás de donde viene la palabra queer significa torcido, desubicado, raro y si creen que mis textos toman desvíos, tanto mejor. Me interesan textos que van por lados insólitos, incluso el ir de una lengua a otra. Tengo ese conflicto lingüístico desde un comienzo, ya que escribo en castellano pero me resuenan frases en otros idiomas".
Sylvia Molloy is interviewed at the time of the original Spanish language publication of Desarticularciones at her publisher Eterna Cadencia's website here. show less
2323 - 16
Este libro lo leí para el club de lectura de Asetrad y es muy interesante. Trata de lo que ocurre cuando no tienes una lengua materna, sino varias, y tienes que encontrar un hueco en tu vida para cada una. Es una situación conocida para muchos traductores y a veces es fuente de diversidad y riqueza y a veces es fuente de sufrimiento. En el caso de Molloy, tiene, además del español, el inglés para la familia paterna y el francés para la familia materna, y alguna otra lengua por show more ahí.
Me ha gustado porque me gusta el tema, pero la autora se me resistióa desde el primer momento, bastante sobrada y haciéndose la especial (hay veces que la clase social se nota tanto que me reboto en el acto), cuando el tema daba tanto para entrar en cosas mucho más profundas, pero todas las situaciones que plantea son interesantes y pueden tener eco en la situación de muchos de nosotros. show less
Este libro lo leí para el club de lectura de Asetrad y es muy interesante. Trata de lo que ocurre cuando no tienes una lengua materna, sino varias, y tienes que encontrar un hueco en tu vida para cada una. Es una situación conocida para muchos traductores y a veces es fuente de diversidad y riqueza y a veces es fuente de sufrimiento. En el caso de Molloy, tiene, además del español, el inglés para la familia paterna y el francés para la familia materna, y alguna otra lengua por show more ahí.
Me ha gustado porque me gusta el tema, pero la autora se me resistióa desde el primer momento, bastante sobrada y haciéndose la especial (hay veces que la clase social se nota tanto que me reboto en el acto), cuando el tema daba tanto para entrar en cosas mucho más profundas, pero todas las situaciones que plantea son interesantes y pueden tener eco en la situación de muchos de nosotros. show less
Aug 11, 2023Spanish
Aug 29, 2019Spanish
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Statistics
- Works
- 19
- Also by
- 1
- Members
- 213
- Popularity
- #104,443
- Rating
- 3.1
- Reviews
- 4
- ISBNs
- 37
- Languages
- 2