Along with Buenos Aires’ nomination as UNESCO’s World Book Capital for 2011 came a symbolic acknowledgement of Argentina’s commitment to the countrywide promotion of literature and reading.

Inside Argentina's iconic National Library (Photo: Tanoka)

Between last April and the coming April then, when Armenia’s capital Yereven will take over the title, we might reasonably expect to see some well-deserved promotion of home-grown authors, a hopeful boom in translation and a peaked interest in the country’s national literature. But with the exception of a few big-name cards, Argentina keeps her hand close to her chest with remarkable modesty.

Launching this Thursday, The Argentina Independent’s new ‘Beyond Borges’ series brings you a selection of the best known poets, essayists, short story writers and novelists whose writing has influenced and shaped the course of Argentine and Latin American literature.

In bi-weekly installments, we’ll introduce you to some of Argentina’s most-loved writers and landmark texts; beginning with the romantic writers and gauchesque poets of the 19th century and continuing through the heavyweights of 20th century literature, right up to some award-winning present day writers and those tipped as ones to watch.

Our ‘Beyond Borges’ series not only offers the opportunity to discover new authors and even genres you might not have read before, but also promises an enjoyable and more subconscious insight into the historical events and cultures that have shaped present day Argentina– without picking up a single history book!

So feel free to dip in and out of this new series, exploring our collection of Argentina’s most interesting and influential writers. For those of you who find yourselves with a budding interest in local literature but don’t know beyond Borges – this one’s for you.

Book Store on Corrientes (Photo: GuillermoTomoyose)

Buenos Aires is a book town. Choose a street and walk: you’re bound to pass a book store. If you’ve chosen Corrientes, you may pass 30. They say there are something near 350 bookstores in town, each one catering to who knows how many readers. The vibrancy of the literary culture, however, does not end at the city’s borders, but is fed by Argentina’s vast interior, where stories of gauchos and farmers, immigrants and indigenous peoples have inspired a long and varied literary tradition spanning back nearly two hundred years and including writers of international renown and consequence – the most emblematic and celebrated being Jorge Luis Borges and Julio Cortázar.

This year, in recognition of the importance of literary culture to Buenos Aires – and to Argentina as a whole – UNESCO has chosen to honour it with the title World Book Capital City. The honour took effect last week at the 37th annual Buenos Aires Book Fair (Feria del Libro de Buenos Aires) and will be celebrated all year long with special readings, events, publications and programming. Here, at the Argentina Independent, we’ve decided to use the honour as inspiration to launch an initiative of our own: a Literary Section.

From our vantage within Buenos Aires, but on the English speaking periphery, we’re excited by what we see as an increased profile for Argentine writing abroad: ‘Granta’ magazine naming eight Argentines among their 22 ‘Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists’ (the most of any one nation); Dalkey Archive Press reissuing the work of Manuel Puig in English; Cesar Aira, Juan Jose Saer, Alan Pauls and Sergio Chejfec gaining international exposure through a number of new translations.

We hope to further stoke these flames of interest by offering, every month, a new piece of writing in translation, selecting both work by overlooked Argentine writers of the past and those younger writers telling the Argentine story of today. Alongside these short fictions, poems and excerpts from novels and plays, we will run reviews of Argentine books in translation, interviews with authors, critics and literary figures and coverage of literary events in Buenos Aires and around Argentina.

We hope to offer a lively mix of educational and entertaining, original and historic; to create a stable English-language outlet for Argentine writing; to take part in the contemporary conversation Argentine literature is having within itself and with the literature of the world.  We hope to share work that is little known outside of the Spanish language as well as to provide exposure for authors who ought not to be.

Ernesto Sábato, 1964

Last week, when Argentina lost one of its great humanist voices and authors, Ernesto Sábato, who died at 99, many spoke of him as the last of a generation of writers who typified a literary rigor and cultural standing unmatched by Argentine writers before or since. We hope to honor Sábato’s legacy not by mourning a lost generation of literary greatness, but by celebrating, proliferating, translating and discussing those who have inherited it.

If you’re a writer, translator or publisher and are interested in being involved, please get in touch. If you’re a reader, visit next week for our first installment: an original translation of the short story ‘The Train Robber’, written by Angela Pradelli and translated by Andrea Labinger.

It will be our first dispatch from the nation of Sábato and Borges, Martín Fierro and the gaucho epic, the beginning of our celebration of the World Book Capital City of 2011 and of Argentine writing as a whole. We hope you’ll join us.

Beso,

Joey Rubin

Literary Section Editor

Featured authors:

Ángela Pradelli: novel excerpt ‘The Train Robber‘

Inés Fernández Moreno: short fiction ‘Argentine Beef‘

Carlos Gamerro: short fiction ‘Bad Burgers‘

Marcelo Pitrola: theatre excerpt ‘The Peronist Princess‘

Carlos Chernov: novel excerpt ‘Soulless‘

Ana María Shua: short fiction ‘Microfictions‘

Guillermo Martínez: novel excerpt ‘I Also Had a Bisexual Girlfriend‘

It’s Friday again!

And I’ve had it with you.

No, really, enough with the emails! Look at this, just look:

“Hey man, nice job on the WNR, although I was thinking maybe you could add a little more information on politics and not so much pop culture.” Dude from Tampa, FL

Now look at this:

“Hi. I find your column very entertaining, although I feel that sometimes you talk too much about politics and leave other important stuff behind,” – Girl who lives in Buenos Aires but doesn’t tell me where she’s from.

See what you’re doing to me? What ever happened to just clicking “Like” and being on your way? And why the hell would you want to learn about Argentine politics if you live in Tampa, Florida?

Fuck it, you know what? Starting next week, I’m gonna be writing a new column every Wednesday so you can learn more about Argentine politics.  I mean, let’s face it, you don’t vote here so no one gives a shit about what you think. But you’ve been living in this country for quite some time now and you still don’t know who’s running for president.

So next time you want to impress some guy/girl/transsexual,  at least you’ll have enough information to make it sound like you really know what you’re talking about. Speaking of which, here’s what you need to know:

• 

  Famed writer Ernesto Sabato. You'd know who he was if you were into reading. (Photo/Wikipedia)

  Scandal! For the last couple of months, hundreds of thousands of Argentines opened their hearts and donated any little money they had to the “Un milagro para Agustin (A miracle for Agustin)” foundation, which was looking to raise US$1,200,000 so Agustin Bustos Fierro and his brothers, who suffered from a deadly disease called Adrenoleukodystrophy, could afford a life-saving operation in the United Stated. Celebrities, corporations and the population at large took the case to Twitter, Facebook, television and newspapers so the children could be saved. After much effort, the necessary amount was reached and everyone celebrated the achievement.  But last weekend, the police got involved in a street fight between a man and a prostitute (ohhh, you know where this is going, don’t cha). The man turned out to be Agustin’s dad, who claimed he was just fighting with the prostitute because she had stolen his cell phone, but as authorities began to question them, they found out that, for the last two weeks, the guy had been spending thousands of pesos on alcohol and prostitutes. And apparently when the hooker asked where he was getting all the money from, he allegedly said: “don’t worry, this is all paid for by those losers.” But don’t worry though! The kids are still having the operation! I mean, your donation may have been used to pay for a blowjob, but it’s the thought that counts.

• Argentina lost one of its greatest writers last week when 99-year old Ernesto Sabato passed away. The writer had published three highly praised novels, several essays and was considered for a Literature Nobel Prize in 2007. Of course, most of the people who lamented his death never actually read any of his work, since reading is for losers and nerds.

• After realizing that he had no chance of beating President Fernandez de Kirchner in the coming October presidential elections, City Mayor Mauricio Macri decided to step down from the race in seek reelection in the city. And you know what that means don’t you? If he wins, not only we’ll keep stepping into dog shit for four more years, we’ll actually have to see him repeating his embarrassing rendition of Queen’s “We Will Rock You” on national television. (Did you click on that? I wouldn’t do it if I were you, the whole thing is really painful to watch).

• President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner cried again, naturally.

• With astounding unanimity, Congress finally passed a health care reform bill, aimed at regulating insurance companies. You hear that, US politicians? Maybe you could learn a thing or two about this. I guess one of the good things about Argentina is that all the Sarah Palins of the country are locked up in an insane asylum, not dictating policy and instilling fear in the population.

• A gang of vandals had no better idea than setting several passenger trains on fire during the morning rush hour in the Greater Buenos Aires area of Ramos Mejia. And even though at the beginning it was said to have been “a spontaneous protest” led by angry passengers who were complaining about the train’s tardiness, it was later proven that whoever started the fire had actually sprayed the carts with gasoline. Terrible, I know, but since the only kind of mass transportation service you use is the ever-cool Subte, I’m sure you don’t give a shit about all this.

• This week, in your (last!) obligatory Big Brother column: Well, it’s finally over! And the winner is… this douchebag! Argentina made a choice, and the majority of votes went to the violent, Machiavellian wife beater with a gambling problem. So as he was leaving the Big Brother house last Sunday night with all pomp and cheesy fireworks, many around the country cried of joy as they – OH MY GOD OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD!

• Yeah, that last part is exactly what went through the mind of all Argentines, because only a few minutes after the Big Brother game was over, all major networks announced the killing of Osama Bin Laden, stealing the winner’s thunder forever. So when he said after winning the game that it was now time for his fifteen minutes of fame, he literally meant fifteen minutes.

• Aaaaaand if that wasn’t embarrassing enough, as the winner was leaving the house, his girlfriend ran to hug him, and forgetting that he was still wearing a microphone, she whispered: “Don’t sign any contract with the network.” Needless to say, the whole country heard it, even the host of the show, who wasn’t very happy with her statement. Oops.

• Great news kids! As of this week, passengers will be able to pay for cab fare with their debit/credit cards! So next time you take a taxi outside Asia de Cuba at 7 AM because you’re too drunk to even stand, the good news is that the driver will not be able to take advantage of your rich wallet and your poor Spanish. The bad news is they will have your credit card information.

• If you thought the idiots from the Diego Maradona church were,
  

  Forefather Manuel Belgrano, quite possibly turning in his grave right now. (Photo/Wikipedia)

  indeed, idiots, wait until you hear the new proposal by these brain dead losers: they have created several Facebook pages asking for the replacement of the image of forefather Manuel Belgrano (creator of the Argentine flag) on the obverse of the $10 bill for that of, you guessed it, former soccer star and current pariah Diego Armando Maradona. So thousands of people have now- ugh, why bother. I’m not gonna keep talking about these assholes.

• Say hello to post-modernity kids, the Federal Police has officially joined Twitter! Under the username @PFAOficial , the so-called Buenos Aires’ finest have been drawing attention due to their, ehem, strange tweets. Here are some of them:

1. “Usually robbers work together, and they will surely try to steal something from you.”
2. “Kids use drugs to be in better touch with society.”
3. “Teach your children not to become an insecure, boring, dependent person.”
4. “Above all, teach them to love.”
5. Teach your children that they own their own body and no one should touch it without their permission.
6. No, I am not kidding.

• You know that giant metal flower located in the middle of the United Nations Park, in Palermo? You know, that flower that opens at 8 AM and closes at sunset, which become one of the symbols of the city in the last couple of years? Well, it broke. And even though technically the warranty is still valid, the company that manufactured it, Lockheed-Martin has left the country. So yeah, we’re fucked.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Send Adrian your comments, thoughts or tips at adrianbono@hotmail.com or follow him on Twitter at @AdrianBono