Guest of the ilb 2007
Guadalupe Nettel was born in
Mexico City in 1973. She grew up in her native country and in France,
where she became fluent in French. After graduating in Hispanic
Language and Literature at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma in Mexico
City, she lived in Paris for five years and received a DEA in
Linguistics from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes. At the young age of
nineteen she won the prize for the best French-language story from
beyond the francophone world, awarded by Radio France Internationale.
Since then she has published numerous short stories, which have
appeared in collections and in anthologies such as »Dispersión
multitudinaria« (1997; t: Mass dispersion), and a novel. She writes for
various newspapers, among them »Lateral« and »Letras Libres«, as well
as for the supplements in »Culturas« and »Le Monde des livres«.
Her first short story
collection, »Juegos de artificio« (2003; t: Fireworks), was followed by
the French-published volume »Les jours fossils« (t: Fossil days) in
2006. That same year her first novel, »El huésped« (t: The guest), came
out. It tells the story of Ana who since childhood has been
accompanied, in her imagination, by an unknown being she calls »the
Thing« that radically governs her existence. Following the death of the
brother whom she adored and her father abandoning the family she lives
with her mother in autistic seclusion until she begins working as a
reader at an institution for the blind. She gets to know several
handicapped and marginalized beings, who introduce her to the
mysterious and surreal underworlds of Mexico City. Ana gradually learns
to deal with her fears and her surroundings, to free herself from the
strange being that has followed her for so long, and to find her own
identity.
The novel, which appeared in
French and Spanish at the same time, is narrated by an omniscient first
person-narrator using various temporal planes. By borrowing from the
literature of the fantastic – in which Nettel finds »a series of
illuminations when it comes to defining the individuality and
subjectivity of the people at hand« – a play between the inner world
and external environment of the protagonist, between the surface and
subterranean of Mexico City, between the manifest and the hidden, is
created. In this way a system of metaphor develops that reveals how
confrontation with the uncanny side of the self can lead to the
formation of a liberated self. The author comments: »The key to our
existence is located in that which frightens us, that which puts us to
shame: the possibility of unravelling ourselves. This is because that
which frightens us also distinguishes us from everyone else.«
»El huésped« was on the
shortlist of the Spanish Premio Herralde. Nettel’s new book, »Pétalos«
(t: Petals), was awarded the Mexican Premio Gilberto Owen. The
collection of short stories will appear in late 2007. The author is
currently at work on her second novel and lives in Barcelona, where she
works as a translator.
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