GABRIELA CABEZON CAMARA
THE ADVENTURES OF CHINA IRON
CHARCO PRESS

Páginas: 188
Formato:
Peso: 0.3 kgs.
ISBN: 9781916465664

THE ADVENTURES OF CHINA IRON SHORTLISTED FOR THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2020 (* China. Pronounced 'cheena': designation for female, from the Quechua. Iron: The English word for Fierro, reference to the gaucho Martín Fierro, from José Hernández's epic poem.) This is a riotous romp taking the reader from the turbulent frontier culture of the pampas deep into indigenous territories. It charts the adventures of Mrs China Iron, Martín Fierro's abandoned wife, in her travels across the pampas in a covered wagon with her new-found friend, soon to become lover, a Scottish woman named Liz. While Liz provides China with a sentimental education and schools her in the nefarious ways of the British Empire, their eyes are opened to the wonders of Argentina's richly diverse flora and fauna, cultures and languages, as well as to its national struggles. After a clash with Colonel Hernández (the author who 'stole' Martín Fierro's poems) and a drunken orgy with gauchos, they eventually find refuge and a peaceful future in a utopian indigenous community, the river- dwelling Iñchiñ people. Seen from an ox-drawn wagon, the narrative moves through the Argentinian landscape, charting the flora and fauna of the Pampas, Gaucho culture, Argentinian nation-building and British colonial projects. In a unique reformulation of history and literary tradition, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, with humour and sophistication, re-writes Martín Fierro from a feminist, LGBT, postcolonial point of view. She creates a hilarious novel that is nevertheless incisive in its criticism of the way societies come into being, and the way they venerate mythical heroes. GABRIELA CABEZÓN CÁMARA Gabriela Cabezón Cámara was born in Buenos Aires in 1968. She has published the novel Slum Virgin (known in Spanish as La Virgen Cabeza, 2009), the nouvelle Le viste la cara a Dios (You've Seen God's Face, 2011), and La Isla de la Luna (Island of the Moon, 2012). She has also published the comic Beya, le viste la cara a Dios (Biutiful, You've Seen God's Face), based on the former text and illustrated by Iñaki Echeverría (2013). The graphic novel won the Argentine Senate's Alfredo Palacios Prize and was recognised by Buenos Aires City Council and the Congress of Buenos Aires Province for its social and cultural significance and its vital contribution in the fight against human trafficking. In 2014 she published the novel Romance de la Negra Rubia (Romance of the Black Blonde) and the following year she produced Sacrificios (Sacrifices), edited by the Argentinian National Library for the Bicentenary Collection. Also in 2015 her book of stories, Y su despojo fue una muchedumbre (And Her Waste Was a Crowd) came out, illustrated once again by Iñaki Echeverría. In 2013 she was writer in residence at UC Berkeley, where she also taught. She was one of the founders of the NiUnaMenos ("Not One Less") movement against femicides and gender violence. The Adventures of C