Writer Israel Centeno’s ‘search to ascribe a tangible meaning to the oblique feeling that goes above and beyond simple nostalgia’ has led him to a close reading of Fernando Pessoa’s works and the stories of Venezuelan writer Enza García Arreaza.
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Continuing with his discussion on exile, writer Israel Centeno offers an examination of the word “hiraeth” – “that unattainable yearning felt for a person, figure, or even nation that probably never existed” – and a reading of Black Sand, a novel by Venezuelan author Juan Carlos Méndez Guedéz.
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“When you face up to those in power you always do it from the periphery, whether you are in a neighborhood in Maracaibo, a housing estate in Valencia, a university in Caracas, or in any other part of the world.” Venezuelan writer Israel Centeno on exile and the ongoing struggle with having left.
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“My exile began long ago, before I left Venezuela.” Author Israel Centeno – former City of Asylum Pittsburgh exiled writer-in-residence – on how the extreme political polarization and violence that swept through the country in recent years has torn apart relationships and his beloved Caracas.
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In this week’s column, Israel Centeno takes a look at the political myth-making behind “Chavismo”, which he describes as “a religious movement,” fifteen years in the making, used by the government to veil the country’s deepening economic and social crisis.
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The week’s top news on freedom of expression, journalists in danger, artists in exile, and banned literature. Featured this week: Banned Books Week, PEN International passes resolution on Tibet, Chile investigates Pablo Neruda’s death, and jailed Pussy Riot member on hunger strike.
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Fiction and reality blur on a crumbling internet. “S was lost in his fury. He realized that his old friends, with whom he had shared revolutionary ambitions and hopes in these online communities, had passed into exile, outside the realm of Java, Twitter, and Facebook.”
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