Alicia Kozameh

Alicia Kozameh, 2006

Alicia Kozameh, 2007

Alicia Kozameh (born March 20, 1953 in Rosario , Argentina ) is an Argentine writer . She was best known for her literary processing of the Argentine military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983. On the one hand, her novels and stories contain numerous autobiographical elements and are also characterized by innovative literary techniques. Another main theme in her work is exile and migration .

Life

Alicia Kozameh was born as the daughter of a Jewish-Arab immigrant family in Rosario, Argentina. Her childhood was shaped by her close relationship with her sister Liliana, who was four years older than her, who was spastically paralyzed by a late caesarean section and died at the age of twenty-one.

From 1973 to 1975 Kozameh studied at the Universidad Nacional de Rosario "Filosofía y Letras" (humanities and literary studies).

The left-wing activist became involved in the political opposition, the Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores (PRT), from an early age. On September 24, 1975, she was arrested at the same time as her then partner and taken as a political prisoner to the notorious women's prison of the Rosario Police Department, the so-called "Sótano" (cellar). She was later transferred to the Villa Devoto Detention Center in Buenos Aires . Due to a Christmas amnesty , she was released on December 24, 1978, but had to report to the police at regular intervals (“libertad vigilada”).

Continuing to face reprisals and threats, she applied for a passport , which was not granted until 1980. Shortly afterwards she went into exile, first to California and later to Mexico .

After the end of the military dictatorship in Argentina, Alicia Kozameh decided in 1984 to return to her home country with her daughter Sara, who was just a few months old. In Buenos Aires she worked at the Escuela Freudiana de La Argentina from 1985 to 1987 . After the publication of her first novel, Pasos bajo el agua (1987), which processed her experiences as a political prisoner in literary terms, Kozameh was exposed to renewed threats, so that in 1988 she finally went into exile. The author has lived and worked in Los Angeles , USA, since 1988 . Currently (2017) she teaches "Creative Writing" at Chapman University in California.

Works

Novels

• Pasos bajo el agua , Buenos Aires: Contrapunto 1987. Extended revisions: Córdoba (Argentina): Alción 2002 and 2006.
• 259 saltos, uno inmortal , Córdoba (Argentina): Narvaja 2001. New edition: Córdoba (Argentina): Alción 2013.
• Patas de avestruz , Córdoba (Argentina): Alción 2003.
• Basse danse , Córdoba (Argentina): Alción 2007.
• Natatio aeterna , Córdoba (Argentina): Alción 2011.
• Eni Furtado no ha dejado de correr , Córdoba (Argentina): Alción 2013.
• Bruno regresa descalzo , Córdoba (Argentina): Alción, 2016.

stories

• Ofrenda de propia piel , Córdoba (Argentina): Alción 2004.

Poetry

• Mano en vuelo , Córdoba (Argentina): Alción 2009.
• Sal de sangres en guerra , Córdoba (Argentina): Alción 2018. ISBN 978-987-646-735-3

Co-author

• Nosotras, presas políticas . Obra colectiva de 112 prisioneras políticas entre 1974 y 1983. Alicia Kozameh, Blanca Becher, Mirta Clara, Silvia Echarte, Viviana Beguán, Nora Hilb et al. Prólogo: Inés Izaguirre. Buenos Aires: Editorial Nuestra América, 2006.

Published works

• Caleidoscopio. La mujer en la mira . Selección y prólogo de Alicia Kozameh. Buenos Aires: Instituto Movilizador de Fondos Cooperativos (Colección Desde la gente), 2005.
• Caleidoscopio 2. Inmigrantes en la mira . Selección de textos, entrevistas y prólogo de Alicia Kozameh. Buenos Aires: Instituto Movilizador de Fondos Cooperativos (Colección Desde la gente), 2006.

Others

• Dagas. Los cuadernos de la cárcel de Alicia Kozameh . Poitiers: CRLA, Archivos de Literatura Latinoamericana, Université de Poitiers, 2014 (Los cuadernos de la Colección Archivos, 1)

Work in translation

German

• "Like ostrich feet". Translated from the Spanish by Erna Pfeiffer . In: AMORica Latina: My continent - my body. Erotic texts by Latin American authors . Edited and translated by Erna Pfeiffer. Vienna: Wiener Frauenverlag, (1991), 281–287. (= Excerpt from Patas de avestruz )
• "Contour lines, fleetingly thrown". Translated from the Spanish by Erna Pfeiffer. In: Torturada - Of butchers and sexes. Texts by Latin American authors on torture and political violence . Edited and translated by Erna Pfeiffer. Vienna: Wiener Frauenverlag, (1993), 275–299. (= "Bosquejo de alturas", German)
• Ostrich legs . Novel. From the Argentine Spanish by Erna Pfeiffer. Vienna: Milena Verlag, 1997. (= Patas de avestruz , German)
• Steps under water . Novel. From the Argentine Spanish by Erna Pfeiffer, with an afterword by Saúl Sosnowski. Vienna: Milena Verlag, 1999. (= Pasos bajo el agua, German)
• "Vertical whirlwinds". Translated from the Spanish by Erna Pfeiffer. In: In the hands of the moon. Texts by Latin American women . Edited and translated by Erna Pfeiffer. Vienna: Milena, 2003, 49–55 (= "Vientos de rotación perpendicular", German)
• "Confession and Fruit Cream". Translated from the Spanish by Veronika Ölzant-Bah. In: Fixed. Eat. Recipes from women authors . Vienna: Milena, 2005, 212–215
• "Alcira in shades of yellow". In: With eyes in hand: Argentine Jews tell stories . Edited and translated by Erna Pfeiffer. With an introduction by Saúl Sosnowski, Leonardo Senkman, Florinda F. Goldberg and an afterword by Elisabeth Baldauf. Vienna: Mandelbaum Verlag, 2014, 220–227 (= "Alcira en amarillos", German)
• "I do not believe in a self-chosen victim role because it paralyzes the struggle for justice". Alicia Kozameh in conversation. In: "You have not been able to erase our memories". Jewish-Argentine authors in conversation. Edited and translated by Erna Pfeiffer. Vienna: Löcker-Verlag (edition pen, vol. 39), pp. 355-370.
• 259 jumps (including Salto Immortale) . Translated from Argentine Spanish by Erna Pfeiffer. Vienna: Löcker-Verlag, 2017 (edition pen, vol. 60) ISBN 978-3-85409-844-7

English

• Steps under water . Translated by David E. Davis. Foreword by Saúl Sosnowski. Berkeley / Los Angeles / London: University of California Press, 1996. (= Pasos bajo el agua , English)
• 259 Leaps, the Last Immortal . Translated from the Spanish by Clare E. Sullivan, Introduction by Gwendolyn Díaz. San Antonio, Texas: Wings Press, 2006. (= 259 somersaults, uno inmortal , English)
• Ostrich legs . A novel by Alicia Kozameh. Translated from the Spanish by David E. Davis. San Antonio, TX: Wings Press, 2013 (= Patas de avestruz , English)
• Eni Furtado Has Never Stopped Running . Andrea Labinger, trans. San Antonio, TX: Wings Press, 2014 (= Eni Furtado no ha dejado de correr , English)

French

• Main en vol . Traduit de l'espagnol (Argentine) by Anne-Claire Huby. Lyon, France: L'atelier du tilde, 2011. (= Mano en vuelo , French).
• Esquisse des hauteurs (Récit) . Traduit de l'espagnol (Argentine) by Anne-Claire Huby. Lyon, France: L'atelier du tilde, 2011. (= "Bosquejo de alturas", French)
• 259 sauts, un immortel . Traduit de l'espagnol (Argentine) by Anne-Claire Huby. Lyon: Zinnia Éditions, 2013 (= 259 saltos, uno inmortal , French)
• La peau même en offrande . Traduit de l'espagnol (Argentine) by Anne-Claire Huby. Lyon: Zinnia Éditions, 2013 (= Ofrenda de propia piel , French)
• Pattes d'autruche . Traduit de l'espagnol (Argentine) by Anne-Claire Huby. Lyon: Zinnia Éditions, 2014 (= Patas de avestruz , French)

Italian

• Passi sotto l'acqua . Brunilde Scalabrini, trad. Postfazione di Emilia Perassi. Milán: et al./EDIZIONI, 2013 (= Pasos bajo el agua , Italian).

literature

In book form

• Gwendolyn Díaz: Women and Power in Argentine Literature. Stories, Interviews and Critical Essays. University of Texas Press, Austin TX 2007, ISBN 978-0-292-71649-0 ( Texas Pan-American Literature in Translation Series ).
• Edith Dimo ​​(ed.): Escribir una generación. La palabra de Alicia Kozameh. Alción, Córdoba (Argentina) 2005, ISBN 950-9402-391-5 (Spanish).
• Erna Pfeiffer (Ed.): Exiliadas, emigrantes, viajeras. Encuentros con diez escritoras latinoamericanas. Vervuert u. a., Frankfurt a. a. 1995, ISBN 3-89354-073-3 (Spanish).
• Erna Pfeiffer: Territory woman. Body experience as a cognitive process in texts by contemporary Latin American authors. Vervuert, Frankfurt am Main 1998, ISBN 3-89354-098-9 (also: Graz, Univ., Habil.-Schr., 1996).
• M. Edurne Portela: Displaced Memories. The Poetics of Trauma in Argentine Women's Writing. Bucknell University Press, Lewisburg PA 2009, ISBN 978-0-8387-5732-1 (English).
• Erna Pfeiffer (Ed.): Alicia Kozameh: Ética, estética y las acrobacias de la palabra escrita . Pittsburgh, PA: IILI, 2013 (= Antonio Cornejo Polar series, 8). ISBN 978-1-930744-57-8 (Spanish)

Essays

• Erna Pfeiffer: "Text body - body texts: Living with disabilities in works by contemporary Latin American authors: Alicia Kozameh, Elena Poniatowska, María Luisa Puga", in: Prettenthaler-Ziegerhofer, Anita (ed.): People with disabilities: Do you live like others? Graz: Grazer Universitätsverlag, 2006, pp. 247–256.
• Erna Pfeiffer: "Giving shape to the unspeakable: Alicia Kozameh combines experimental forms and political commitment", in: ila (Journal of the Information Center Latin America, Bonn), No. 335, May 2010, pp. 8–9.

Web links

Commons : Alicia Kozameh  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Alicia Kozameh in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature by and about Alicia Kozameh in the catalog of the Ibero-American Institute of Prussian Cultural Heritage, Berlin
• Literatura Argentina Contemporánea (Spanish)