Paperweight: “The Ages” by Teresa Cabrera and two other recommended books for the week

Author: Teresa Cabrera

Poetry

Pages: 68

Publisher: Bakterial Universe Album

Unlike the common literary use of dreams as a hackneyed and predictable resource, in “The Ages” the oneiric function rather as a state of sensations. One similar to that of a body submerged in water (like the one described by the author in some of her poems), with its strange slowness or variations in its weight. In fact, reading this collection of poems seems in itself an act of immersion, an experience that Cabrera configures through a language that is always surprising and disconcerting.

For example, in those passages in which the body that Cabrera alludes to is a diseased body and, at the same time, subjugated to a sinister state apparatus, overwhelmingly fearsome: “in the form I had to mark/ what parts of my body do not belong to the State / what remains is detached / the word a contagious disease / a deterioration that I cannot reverse” (p. 19). It is in these stretches that the initial dream turns into a palpable nightmare: “the doctor tells me from now on any question must be addressed to the result of the analysis/ this is how the State will respond/ a certificate with crosses/ no voice without meat” (p. 44).

Personal drama that, basically, symbolizes a universal course: that of the ages of humanity (hence the title) and in particular the idea of ​​the “golden age” (hence the color of its cover) as a contradiction: on the one hand, a time of splendor and well-being; on the other, that of the voracious wealth that preys on us, in line with Marxist theory. And between one and another a brightness that has not stopped blinding us.

Author: Adriana Lozano

Illustrated

Pages: 88

Publisher: Deformed Editions

It is nothing new to associate the motel with a space of transit, of furtive encounters, of dark and hidden events. The cinema, especially, has been in charge of portraying them with a filter of decadence and mystery. That is why Adriana Lozano’s illustrations, all set in motel interiors, also convey that halo between nostalgic and disturbing that seems to be embodied in the characters that occupy the rooms.

The work is also interesting because it generates a particular contrast to the eye: the truculence of the situations –men and women who seem to be spied on in their moments of greatest intimacy– and the half-naïf and childish line that ends up altering our gaze. As if the voyeuristic eye that captured them was that of a child willing to capture these scenes with crayons and colored pencils.

This is how a couple parades in a jacuzzi, women comfortable with their nudity, loners waiting for who knows what, sleepers without urgency, consumers of television programs, and a melting pot of figurines with which one manages to develop an unexpected empathy and connection. Perhaps because any of them could be one of us.

Author: Romina Silman

Childish

Pages: 38

Publisher: Planeta Junior

For a few years, Romina Silman has developed a very interesting project to promote reading called Leer es Bonito (@leer.es.bonito on Instagram). And this, her first published book of hers, follows that line of vindication of the love for books.

It is a short children’s story –with illustrations by Javier Ramos Cucho– that narrates the vicissitudes of a little girl who could not read. “The letters had meaningless shapes for me. And, despite the fact that she tried, she didn’t read anything about words, ”says the protagonist. However, despite this practical difficulty, the girl manages to capture stories and tales in her head, as a way to reverse the teasing of her classmates and her own fears of her.

“I want to read!” It is an endearing work about the power of imagination and the infinite doors that the pages open for us. Ideal not only for first-time readers, but for adults who want to remember their early adventures with books.