TOD 059 It Is a Tiger that Destroys Me: Latin American Literature as Weird Fiction Panel at NecronomiCon 2019

In this podcast The Outer Dark presents ‘This Is a Tiger That Destroys Me’ Panel at NecronomiCon 2019 moderated by Allen B. Ruch and featuring  Eric Schaller, Gabriel Mesa, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia, plus Reviews from The Weird with Gordon B. White including In Dreams We Rot by Betty Rocksteady (Trepidatio), Catfish Lullaby by A.C. Wise (Broken Eye Books), and The Houseguest and Other Stories by Amparo Dávila (New Directions). The panel was recorded live on Saturday August 24, 2019, and Reviews from The Weird was recorded Thursday October 22, 2019. 

Reviews from The Weird

Producer Anya Martin introduces the episode and Gordon B White reviews In Dreams We Rot by Betty Rocksteady (Trepidatio), Catfish Lullaby by A.C. Wise (Broken Eye Books), and The Houseguest and Other Stories by Amparo Dávila (New Directions).

Show Notes

(0:16:35) In this podcast The Outer Dark airs ‘This Is a Tiger That Destroys Me’ Panel at NecronomiCon 2019 moderated by Borges scholar Allen B. Ruch and featuring  Borges-collector Gabriel Mesa, and writers Eric Schaller and Silvia Moreno-Garcia.  Latin America has a long and rich history of strange literatures. The panelists explored this history and the similarities between literature from the traditions of Magical Realism and Latinx Surrealism and anglophonic Weird Fiction through an in-depth discussion of works by Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Silvina Ocampo, Adolfo Bioy-Casares, Gabriel García Márquez, Laura Esquivel, Virgilio Piñera, Juan Rodolfo Wilcock, Angélica Gorodischer, Clarice Lispector,  Amparo Dávila (who Silvia Moreno-Garcia calls ‘the Shirley Jackson of Mexico’), Mariana Enriquez, Samanta Schweblin, and more. Scroll down to Additional Links for works by and additional info on these authors and others mentioned in this episode. The panel was recorded live on Saturday August 24, 2019.

The Outer Dark Symposium on the Greater Weird is the only annual conference centered around contemporary Weird fiction. Our mission is to foster conversation and connect communities among the diverse slate of creators and audience members under the umbrella of speculative fiction—inclusive, safe and welcoming to women, LBGTQ+, and writers of color. The fourth annual symposium will be held March 26-27, 2020 at Silver Scream FX Lab. Find out more, including a link to purchase supporting and attending memberships at TheOuterDark.org.

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Additional Links

TOD 043 Petrified Trees, Enchanted Mirrors: The Gothic Universe of Female Mexican Horror Writers Panel from Worldcon 76

READ: ‘The Houseguest’ by Amparo Dávila (LitHub)

Mariana Enriquez: In ‘Things We Lost,’ Argentina’s Haunted History Gets A Supernatural Twist by Mariana Enriquez (interview, NPR)

‘Fantasy Classics: The Book of Fantasy edited by Jorge Luis Borges, Silvina Ocampo, and A Bioy-Casares’ (LA Times)

Jorges Luis Borges: Biographical Sketch (Shipwreck Library)

Victoria Ocampo (Sur literary magazine) (wiki)

READ: ‘The Feather Pillow’ by Horacio Quiroga

Photographer Manuel Álvarez Bravo (MoMA artist profile)

Manuel Álvarez Bravo: The Poetics of the Invisible (source quote: ‘Down here, Everything is symbol and mystery.’)

‘Twenty Questions with Angélica Gorodischer’ by Gabriel Mesa

READ: ‘Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius’ by Jorge Luis Borges (Labyrinths: Selected Stories & Other Writings, 1962)

READ: ‘There Are More Things’ by Jorges Luis Borges (The Book of Sand, 1975)

Ikea in the Fourth Dimension: Jorge Luis Borges’ “There Are More Things” by Ruthanna Emrys and Anne M. Pillsworth (Tor.com)

‘Borges, Burgin, and Infinity’ by Ryan Krull (The Millions)

Paul Theroux and Borges 

Dead Ringers (Dir: David Cronenberg, 1988) trailer

amphisbaena (mythological creature, Wiki)

READ: ‘The Aleph’ by Jorge Luis Borges

READ: ‘A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

READ: ‘Kafka and His Precursors” by Borges

READ: ‘Axolotl’ by Julio Cortazar

Axolotl (amphibian)

The Invention of Morel by Adolfo Bioy Casares (Wiki)

READ: ‘The Zahir’ by Borges

Fun In the Funhole: Exploring Kathe Koja’s The Cipher by Max Booth (LitReactor)

The Temple of Iconoclasts by Juan Rodolfo Wilcock 

READ: ‘The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World’ by Marquez

Four Stories: ‘The Drowned Giant’ by J.G. Ballard by Christopher Burke (Weird Fiction Review online)

‘The Crying Cat: Amparo Dávila’s translator discovers the truth behind her fiction’ by Matthew Gleeson (Paris Review)

Samanta Schweblin: There’s No Place Like Home, Including Home Itself (LitHib)

Nazi Literature in the Americas by Roberto Bolaño (New Directions)

The Obscene Bird of Night by Jose Donoso (David R. Godine, Publisher)

And Other Stories (press)

The Taiga Syndrome by Cristina Rivera Garza (And Other Stories)

Show Credits

Host/Executive Producer/Founder: Scott Nicolay

Host/Producer/Show Notes: Anya Martin

Co-Host, News From the Weird: Justin Steele

Reviews: Gordon B. White

Logo Design: Nick “The Hat” Gucker

Music: Michael Griffin