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La señora de los
sueños
de Sara Sef (también conocida como Sara Sefchovich o Sara Sotchovich)
Sara Sef nos presenta en esta
novela una situación común. Una mujer casada, con dos hijos adolescentes y un esposo.
Ama de casa dedicada a proveer comodidad y complacencia a los suyos. De impecable
pulcritud y actitud pasiva. El esposo es un personaje machista, malcriado y acomodaticio.
Proveedor por excelencia y ogro por vocación.
Éste impone, exige y critica. La nena sueña con ser una ama de casa perfecta y madre
devota. El hijo es considerado a conciencia pero revoltoso y desorganizado en su actitud.
Años de esta vida rutinaria son los que describe esta mujer. La "reina del
hogar" como ella se describe. Hasta que un buen día a través del mundo de la
lectura, descubre vidas ajenas y las adopta. Tragedias en el desierto, pasiones rusas,
crudeza neoyorquina, son ejemplos de las vidas a soñarse. La señora logra vivir.
Sara Sef logra transportarnos a todas y cada una de esas vidas ajenas con unos detalles
y una precisión de hechos impecables. Las transiciones del presente de la señora, su
lectura y sus sueños son magnificas. Casi imperceptibles. Podríamos resumir que la
novela está compuesta de muchas historias de mujeres, en diferentes espacios y tiempos.
Conectadas entre sí por la descripción de la realidad cotidiana de la protagonista,
expresada a su psiquiatra por ella y su familia.
*Altamente recomendada.
Lamming’s Novel :
In The Castle
of My Skin
George Lamming
was excited to know that I was using his first novel In The Castle of
My Skin - published in 1953 – in my classroom. The expression on face was
sheer delight and pride. He asked so many questions related to how my students today
responded to a novel written 46 years ago. I responded that his novel is considered a
classic among the many Caribbean novels read throughout the Islands and in the British
Isles. I am proud that I have met him and had the chance to offer to him the many reasons
of assigning such an excellent book that truly defines the soul of an Islander from
Barbados.
What does this fine novel offer to its readers? It opens
the minds of those who share the world of colonialism, poverty, class, color, nature and
most of all a world the emotions and senses felt only in the tropical Caribbean surrounded
by the Sea and the Ocean. Everything perceived and felt is through the voice of its
principal character G. Obviously, for some readers, the novel is termed as
"semi-autobiographical."
Throughout this wonderful book, each character which also includes the
Village , set in Barbados, relates experiences that involve all the events of the people,
the children, the elders, the church, the gossip, the animals, the sea, the crabs, the
sand and the pebbles. But what makes all of this to occur are the changes from the world
of the sugarcane fields to a world of industrialization where a whole village is planned
to be wiped out by some of their own. This world of colonialism brings a world of sense of
loss, yet, at the same time evokes in G. questions about what will happen to the
Village and to him. The feeling of total destruction of a culture and its people prevails.
G. also tries to find a way out of this chaos by looking beyond the Sea and by
understanding his mother’s wise words that education can help him find solutions only
if he comes back after he leaves for Trinidad.
In The Castle of My Skin by G. Lamming also uses the
power of a poetic language to portray the Blackness vs. the Whiteness of the colonizers
and the rich history of the villagers. From the very beginning Lamming writes with
passion, energy and force depicting every movement that include an attempt to protest the
changes that Slim is plotting against the Village. A plot that includes the
displacement of two characters who represent the past: Ma and Pa. A plot that encourages
the Villagers to continue referring to England as the "Mother" country.
Lamming’s words cut through the minds with the harsh reality of destroying the real
history of its people who believe that change will bring progress, jobs, and education for
all.
Old Man: Yet, ‘tis change all the same, Ma. I mean
the fastener an’zip you talk ‘bout. ‘Tis change an’in the self-same
manner I say to myself without tryin’ to vex yuh spirit, in the self-same manner I
say ‘tis change with Mr. Slim.
Yes, this novel is also a cry of awareness that the Caribbean must
never deny its identity…and that Africa should not be a "source of
embarrassment." As Lamming states: "Africa existed in Barbados and throughout
the Caribbean, and refuses to be buried by the institutions which sought to render it
impotent and void of any spiritual force.’" Truly this is a novel for everyone
to read and enjoy its beauty and truths of the Caribbean world.
George Lamming now lives in Barbados and works to keep this tropical
Island as pure as possible. He emphazies that changes can occur but to not allow them to
destroy the land, the history nor the natural environment. Kudos for him as a prolific
Caribbean writer and kudos for all of his novels and short stories. |
