Love, A Reader

Blanca meets Leo, a married, Argentinean author in exile, who uses her in an effort to enter the publishing market in Barcelona. They have a short, passionate affair that she expects to become more, but, as Leo comes closer to finding the right agent and presenting himself for a literary prize that he thinks will help assure his future success, it becomes clear that he never considered her or her feelings at all. She was simply a stepping-stone to other connections, other people to seduce in one way or another. The visceral way in which the author narrates Blanca’s hopes, fears, illusions and subsequent disillusions gives the text its vibrancy and constant sense of movement. The scene of absolute despair as Blanca internalizes the extent to which she allowed herself to be used, and the comic and yet absolutely rational way in which she resolves her feelings and steps into her own as a fully adult woman is liberating for the reader as well. Blanca is a reader who becomes an author. She grasps the truths about human nature, across time and different situations, from her ability to read critically—not just the written word, but, finally, the reality of which she is a part. She gains insights about herself and others and then passes those on to her readers.

Translator’s Note: The text includes citations from a number of diaries, autobiographies, and novels from a diverse group of authors. I have located the texts in the original English (Plath, Smart) or, when possible, in a published English translation in the case of foreign authors (de la Bruyére, Amiel, Madame de Sévigné, Breton, Colette, Gide, Balabanoff, Barker, Serge). The texts marked with a footnote are cited in the endnotes. The quotations that I was unable to locate, or that simply have not been translated into English, are left without citation, and have been translated into English based on the author’s rendering in the Spanish.