Exotic Birds: Rare Women

The protagonists of Exotic Birds: Five Stories with Rare Women can seem a bit "rare" or strange to those who expect them to behave according to society's accepted standards. They are rare, above all, because they live like foreigners even in their own countries and in the bosom of their own families; rare because reality, that alienating external world, derails them. Like a spiral woven around two axes-a trip and a truncated novel-The Reef captures the insecurities of a time of terror, that of the Argentine military dictatorship of 1976-1983. But times and spaces are ambiguous as are the identities of the protagonist, the narrator, and the secondary characters of this novel written in an original, daring style. As the protagonist struggles to write her first novel, she is constantly interrupted and frustrated by reality. And so what would be a romantic love story is juxtaposed with scenes of insecurity, horrifying nightmares, subconscious longings, postponed gratification, loss and death. Roffé explores the possibilities of finding an individual voice free of censorship and sexual repression in a frightened and frightening society.

Autorentext
Reina Roffé was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her first novel, Llamado al Puf, was published in 1973 and received Argentina's Pondal Ríos Prize for best book by a young author. Monte de Venus, her second novel, was banned soon after its appearance in 1976 by the last Argentine military dictatorship. La rompiente (The Reef) appeared in 1987 and El cielo dividido en 1996. Her collection of short stories, Aves exóticas: cinco cuentos con mujeres raras (Exotic Birds: Five Stories with Rare Women) was published in 2004. Roffé's most recent work is El otro amor de Federico. Lorca en Buenos Aires (2009). The author currently resides in Madrid where, in addition to writing fiction, she is active in the fields of journalism and teaching. Margaret Stanton is Professor of Spanish and Director of the Latin American Studies Program at Sweet Briar College. She received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Her translations are included in anthologies.