El saber de la escritura/La escritura del saber (PAMLA)
San Francisco
Organization: PAMLA
Event: PAMLA
Abstract:
One of Venezuela’s most prolific authors of the late 20th century, Victoria de Stefano has been (mis)characterized as writing for writers—a reflection of her stylistic sophistication and intellectual depth. This panel takes a prismatic, comparative approach to Victoria de Stefano’s novels, essays, and diaries, exploring, among other themes, how her work powerfully deconstructs the divide between philosophy and literature; as well as writing as an after image of memory—themes, which, among others, sustain her singular and lesser- known voice in Hispanic literatures.
Description:
Enrique Vila-Matas might well ask, why don’t we know more about a writer like Victoria de Stefano. Her work aligns more closely with the tradition of the novel of ideas, echoing Peter Handke, Thomas Mann, Andrei Bely, and Robert Musil, and drawing on the linguistic exuberance of Lezama Lima. W.G. Sebald’s prosa offers striking points of convergence, as stated by de Stefano herself. In the Latin American context, she shares more with Juan José Saer and Sergio Chejfec than with figures of the Boom or Post-Boom.
Although well known among Spanish-language authors, de Stefano’s work has not received the broader recognition it deserves. This is due in part to the challenges her literature poses for readers, and in part to the weakening of Venezuela’s publishing industry over the past two decades. With this panel, we aim to begin giving her work the rigorous critical attention it merits within the context of an international conference.
This panel takes a prismatic, comparative approach to De Stefano’s novels, essays, and diaries, exploring, among other things, how her work powerfully deconstructs the divide between philosophy and literature; as well as writing as an after image of memory themes, which, among others, sustain her singular voice.
Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
Victoria de Stefano’s work in dialogue with the prose-novels of W.G. Sebald; de Stefano’s place within the tradition of the novel of ideas in both European and Latin American contexts; her contributions to and position within Venezuelan literature; engagements with Continental philosophy—from Nietzsche to Derrida—and Lacanian critical theory; the influence and trace of Lezama Lima in de Stefano’s prose; literature as a mode of producing knowledge, reflection, and philosophical inquiry; the treatment of temporality in her work, particularly in Historias de la marcha a pie and Lluvia; The readerly/writerly novel and its implications in her narrative form; the novel of exile as a framework for understanding her literary project; the gendered voice in de Stefano's work; writing as memory in her literature; the presence of Walter Benjamin in de Stefano’s literary works.
Presentations may be delivered in English or Spanish.
https://pamla.ballastacademic.com/User/Dashboard
Pedro Lange-Churion
