“A modernist urban novel in the tradition of James Joyce, Adam Buenosayres is a tour-de-force that does for Buenos Aires what Carlos Fuentes did for Mexico City or José Lezama Lima did for Havana – chronicles a city teeming with life in all its clever and crass, rude and intelligent forms. Employing a range of literary styles and a variety of voices, Leopoldo Marechal parodies and celebrates Argentina’s most brilliant literary and artistic generation, the martinfierristas of the 1920s, among them Jorge Luis Borges. First published in 1948 during the polarizing reign of Juan Perón, the novel was hailed by Julio Cortázar as an extraordinary event in twentieth-century Argentine literature. Set over the course of three break-neck days, Adam Buenosayres follows the protagonist through an apparent metaphysical awakening, a battle for his soul fought by angels and demons, and a descent through a place resembling a comic version of Dante’s hell. Presenting both a breathtaking translation and thorough explanatory notes, Norman Cheadle captures the limitless language of Marechal’s original and guides the reader along an unmatched journey through the culture of Buenos Aires. This first-ever English translation brings to light Marechal’s masterwork with an introduction outlining the novel’s importance in various contexts – Argentine, Latin American, and world literature – and with notes illuminating its literary, cultural, and historical references. A salient feature of the Argentine canon, Adam Buenosayres is both a path-breaking novel and a key text for understanding Argentina’s cultural and political history.” [. . .] –Amazon, April 1, 2014.
Florencia Gutman’s Artwork for Purgatorio 33
Florencia Gutman is an illustrator and graphic designer based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her work has been published in a number of outlets, such as La Nación newspaper, Adn Cultura, and Anfibia digital magazine, among numerous others. As part of the #Dante2018 social media movement, Gutman created the above illustration for Purgatorio 33.
To check out more of Gutman’s stunning work, you can follow her on Facebook, Behance, and you can visit her website.
See other posts related to #Dante2018 here.
Contributed by Pablo Maurette (Florida State University)
Sergio Ucedo’s #Dante2018 Artwork
Sergio Ucedo is an Argentine illustrator and graffiti artist. Ucedo created a number of striking art pieces during the #Dante2018 social media movement, such as the above piece promoting the hashtag. Ucedo also created the artwork below, which was featured in an article about #Dante2018 on Perfil.
To check out more of Ucedo’s artwork, you can follow him on Instagram and Twitter, and also visit his blog.
You can read the Perfil article that featured Ucedo’s artwork here.
See other posts related to #Dante2018 here.
Contributed by Pablo Maurette (Florida State University)
Esteban Serrano’s #Dante2018 Illustrations
Esteban Serrano is a designer and cartoonist, and also goes by Cien Perros online. During the #Dante2018 collective reading on social media, Serrano created a cartoon for each canto of the Divine Comedy. The artwork above are a few of Serrano’s illustrations. Clockwise from the top right is an illustration for Paradiso 26, an illustration for Purgatorio 29, an illustration for Inferno 34, and an illustration for Inferno 24.
You can see all of Serrano’s illustrations for the Divine Comedy on Medium.
To check out more of Serrano’s artwork, you can follow him on Instagram and Twitter.
See other posts related to #Dante2018 here.
Contributed by Pablo Maurette (Florida State University)
Interview with Maru Ceballos
“De la mano artística de Maru Ceballos, y para todos aquellos fanáticos de Dante Alighieri y su Divina Comedia, llega una muestra súper interesante al Museo Mitre. Hasta el 10 mayo de este año se podrá visitar la obra ‘Los círculos del Dante: La Divina Comedia ilustrada por Maru Ceballos’. ¿En qué consiste la obra? En la ilustración de los 100 cantos de La Divina Comedia más los mapas correspondientes a cada cántica (Infierno, Purgatorio, Paraíso). A continuación, la palabra de la mismísima autora.
“Maru Ceballos y su idea de ‘Los círculos del Dante’
‘Me contactó Luciana Ferrazzi del Museo Mitre (habían visto la serie en redes sociales a través de la movida #Dante2018 que inició en Twitter Pablo Maurette). Fue así que me propusieron armarla en el marco de varias actividades que se realizarán alrededor de Dante y la Divina Comedia. Mitre fue un fanático de la obra y – creo – el primer traductor latinoamericano de esa obra en español’ [. . .]
“¿Quiénes pueden participar de esta obra?
Maru Ceballos explica que al tratarse de una obra con énfasis en los simbolismos, hay mucha crudeza y violencia visual. ‘Nada que no esté en los textos de la Divina Comedia”, aclara. “Supongo que no apunta a un público que guste de resoluciones visuales texto-imagen literales. No se van a encontrar a Dante de la mano con Virgilio, sino con un cúmulo de situaciones con énfasis en lo simbólico. Creo que apunta a un público curioso con ganas de ver una versión no tradicional de las ilustraciones de la obra de Dante’
[. . .] –Julieta B. Mollo, .ITBuenosAires, March 14, 2018.
To view more of Maru Ceballos’ artwork, you can follow her on VSCO, Instagram, and Twitter.
See other posts related to #Dante2018 here.
Contributed by Pablo Maurette (Florida State University)