Incurables
Relatos de dolencias y males
Oswaldo Estrada (Ed.)

The human body has been frequently considered a site of literary inscription. The images of a sick body, a disabled body, or a body in pain, convey several understandings about the vulnerability of human existence. In 2666 Roberto Bolaño speaks of “a pain that turns finally into emptiness,” reminding us about the deadly silence that devours our pain, consuming us. In Incurables, 20 Latin American authors write about pain, illness, and disability associated with the body and also with the wounds of exile, trauma, and melancholy.

Written in Spanish and edited by Oswaldo Estrada, the short stories of Incurables are divided into three parts. “Primeras dolencias” focuses upon the role that early corporeal experiences play in shaping the characters’ interpretations of their own bodies. It includes topics such as obesity, pain, the stigma attached to the different body, and the anguish caused by a “malfunctioning” body. “Males crónicos” encompasses works about chronic illnesses and conditions that stimulate self-reflection. Themes such as mental illness, sterilization, insomnia, and chronic pain intertwine with human rights, ethical issues, and trauma. Finally, “Incurables” explores the borders between the mind, the body, and the feelings that surround them. The plots incorporate topics that range from lovesickness and the obsession with a wounded body to a brain archive and its opposite: memory loss.

Artfully compiled, the stories in Incurables expose images of identity where the body—as a powerful literary artifact—not only voices the pain of human existence or the wounds of the immigrant, but also the importance of embracing diversity.

Oswaldo Estrada is a Peruvian fiction writer, essayist, and professor of Latin American literature at UNC Chapel Hill. He is the author of a book of short stories, Luces de emergencia (Valparaíso Ediciones, 2019), and of the children’s book El secreto de los trenes (UAM, 2018). He has also published several books of literary and cultural criticism, including Ser mujer y estar presente. Disidencias de género en la literatura mexicana contemporánea (UNAM, 2014), Senderos de violencia, Latinoamérica y sus narrativas armadas (Albatros, 2015), Troubled Memories: Iconic Mexican Women and the Traps of Representation (SUNY, 2018), and McCrack: McOndo, el Crack y los destinos de la literatura latinoamericana (Albatros, 2019). 

Incurables is publication by Ars Communis Editorial. Click here to purchase.
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Reviewed by
Etna Ávalos
​​8/24/2020

Etna Ávalos (PhD) is originally from Mexico City. She works as an Assistant Professor of Spanish and Latin American literature and culture at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Canada. Her research focuses on the intersection of gender and disability in Latin American literature as well as cultural and literary representations of race, otherness and coloniality. She is the author of several academic articles and critical book reviews published in journals such as Calíope, Revista de estudios de género y sexualidades, Hispanófila, Romance Notes and América sin Nombre.
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