S2EP2 - Motherhood As Muse: Jazmina Barrera’s Linea Nigra Pushes Against Patriarchal Narrative Forms
“Motherhood is an experience – just as love or sickness or death – that is infinite, and that touches all of us because all of us come from someone else's body, as Adrienne Rich used to say. So it is a topic that should pertain [to] all of us.”
~ Jazmina Barrera
This episode features Kaitlin speaking with author and essayist Jazmina Barrera. Born in Mexico City in 1988, Jazmina is the author of four books in Spanish, Cuerpo Extraño, Cuaderno de Faros, Linea Nigra and the children’s books, Los Nombres de los Animales and Punto de Cruz, a recipient of the Latin American Voices prize and a finalist in several awards.
She’s the editor and co-founder of Ediciones Antílope and lives in Mexico City, which is where she was during this conversation.
Jazmina and Kaitlin talk about:
Jazmina’s journey in writing her latest book, Linea Nigra, especially given the way in which it is so deeply interwoven with her personal experiences of pregnancy and birth.
The sense and effect of immediacy that comes across in the book, how she wrestled with it during the editorial process, and how it was received by publishers and readers in relation to what is generally considered ‘legitimate’ literature.
How her mother's art practice and grandmother's birth work informed the world in which she was living prior to having a child and how that transition has also supported her life as an artist.
The concept of time in our society today, how motherhood disrupts it, and how Jazmina conceptualizes it in her works.
Linking materiality with lived experiences.
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More about Jazmina Barrera:
Instagram: (@jaztronomia) https://www.instagram.com/jaztronomia/
Twitter: (@jaztronomia) https://twitter.com/Jaztronomia
Website: http://jazminabarrera.com/
Get your own copy of Linea Nigra: An Essay on Pregnancy and Earthquakes (English translation by Christina Macsweeney) - https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9781949641301
Related resources:
Cuaderno de Faros, Jazmina Barrera: https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9781949641349
Cuerpo Extraño, Jazmina Barrera: https://www.amazon.com/-/es/Jazmina-Barrera-Velazquez/dp/097702878X
About Ediciones Antílope: https://www.edicionesantilope.com/
About Adrienne Rich: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/adrienne-rich
About Christina MacSweeney: https://www.catranslation.org/person/christina-macsweeney/
Little Labors, Rivka Galchen: https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9780811222969
The Pillow Book, Sei Shōnagon:https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9780486834436
About Elena Garro: https://www.poblanerias.com/2021/09/english-biography-of-elena-garro/
The Baby on the Fire Escape, Julie Phillips: https://bookshop.org/a/86159/9781324064435
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