Breathe
By Mónica Hernández
Today I felt like writing a nice story, one of those Sunday morning ones. But there is no way. With horror I have witnessed during the last few days an earthquake of unreason and public judgment... for a book. For some books. For some letters that someone wrote and that have earned a death sentence to a Latin American writer. A Catholic version of a fatwa, disguised as right-wingism, conservatism. And we thought that the Inquisition had ended centuries ago, but its tongues of fire continue to burn people.
Dolores Reyes is a modern juggler: writer, philologist in classical letters, university professor, feminist, social activist and mother of seven children. Born in Argentina a few years ago, she dared to narrate the horror of misery and despair in her first novel, Cometierra. The novel speaks of a normality, of a world daily life that scares no one, except when it touches you, your family, your daughter, your sister, your mother, your girlfriend or your neighbor. Maybe your cousin. Yes, the novel talks about femicides. Nothing new. So much so, that it seems normal to us, just a few days after the commemoration of the World Day for Non-Violence against Women, to keep talking about violence against women. I am not referring here to the violence masterfully narrated in the novel.
I am referring to the violence that is exercised against her, the writer.
And the fact is that conservative sectors have not only asked that the book be removed from schools, that it be burned, that its traces be erased. Someone has called for his head, as if it were a black and white cowboy movie from the Old West. And we are in the Gregorian calendar year 2024. The public stoning has been shocking. The allegation is that this is a "pornographic" book. For starters... it has no graphics. It does have one scene of a consensual sexual relationship between a couple who are attracted to each other and have the urge. It is not even the most important scene in the novel. It is a reflection of a human reality: when we feel threatened by death, human beings mate to transcend. Because of the "just in case", because of the "don't be afraid". Because the proximity of death asks us for life and what more life than a union between two bodies that make two souls. Because not all sexual relations are rapes, although many are. Those who attack it do not complain about this.
My knowledge of religions is very limited. I have studied several, from the point of view of intellectual curiosity, but not from the practice. I did it from the ignorance of childhood and perhaps I will do it again from the fear of old age. But so far, I have only found that religions, ALL of them, without exception, invite to love. To love your neighbor as yourself. Just like that. And yet, the only thing that surrounds me is hate. In all its forms, in all its manifestations. We human beings live looking for, finding or inventing differences and not coincidences. We holster ourselves for hatred.
Not everything is hopelessness. Something can be done to help her, to give her visibility. A group of Argentine women writers, from those recognized worldwide to others less popular, took the initiative to read Cometierra 's book together. Irene Vallejo dedicated her column to defend the letters, life and expression of Dolores Reyes. Sometimes it does not seem that there is nothing to do. This is my little grain of sand to support a writer who the only thing she did was to write about a close and daily reality. If you haven't read Cometierra, don't miss it. It has sold more than 55,000 copies. And this was before the bad publicity. I'm sure there should be many, many, many more.
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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