Elena Knows

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Claudia Piñeiro: The need to write was ontological in the sense that it came formatted in my DNA, the need to express myself with the written word. What I’ve had to do over the course of my life is find out how to do it as well as possible. At first, it was a more chaotic, less systematic search. Then, when I went to university, I was going to study sociology. Sociology isn’t literature, but it’s a more humanistic degree than economics, which is what I ended up studying because the military dictatorship in Argentina had closed all the humanities departments, including sociology, at that time. I had to finish up my degree in whatever I could, and I chose between the options available. So my literary formation didn’t come from school. But I always went to literary workshops with different teachers. At that time, and still today, creative writing workshops are very common. Not within the academic framework but outside of it, in houses or bars or cafés where a very well-known, important writer will give a creative writing workshop. I went to several, but the person I recognize as my mentor was Guillermo Saccomanno. I studied with him the longest. Then I completed a degree in screenwriting and writing for the theatre. I think that Elena Knows has something of dramatic writing in it. It could be a play. If I could sum it up: my formation has been just me seeking out things I could add on to learn to write better. Elena is a character that will stay with me, she is complicated and flawed but ultimately a good person, doing what she thinks is best. We follow her on a path of self-discovery and witness that despite her hardships, she has such a strong sense of self and a fierce desire for life.⁠

We ask experts to recommend the five best books in their subject and explain their selection in an interview.

When the criminal case against Yamaguchi was dropped, she took him to civil court for damages and won, in December 2019, although he has appealed against the decision. She has continued to fight, having filed libel lawsuits against three of her most prominent harassers. Yamaguchi’s career, meanwhile, appears unaffected. He insists their 2015 encounter was consensual and has filed unsuccessful countercharges against her. “It can happen to anyone who goes up against a powerful man,” she says. Abortion rights activists in particular, emphasize the importance of having the right to control our bodies. Amnesty International’s campaign My Body My Rights, supports rights to choices on sexuality and reproduction, access to abortion, access to sexual and reproductive health services and freedom from discrimination and violence.

How have you viewed a condition or a disease that you have been diagnosed with? How is it a part of you and a part of who you are and how is it separate from you? Translator Frances Riddle has translated many Spanish authors including Isabel Allende, Claudia Pineiro, Leila Guerriero, Maria Femanda Ampero and Sara Gallaro. She’s originally from Houston, Texas and lives in Buenos Aires. Born in 1943, Ultiskaya grew up in Moscow, the daughter of Jewish parents, and entered the workforce in the 1960s as a geneticist, before a run-in with the KGB closed the lab where she worked. This episode was later fictionalised in her novel Big Green Tent, one of many novels, plays and short stories that depict the lives of private individuals getting by within the Soviet machine. Through these works – notably Sonechka, Medea and Her Children, The Kukotsky Enigma, Daniel Stein, Interpreter and Jacob’s Ladder – she has amassed numerous literary awards, including Russia’s most prestigious book prizes, France’s Prix Medicis and a nomination for the Man Booker international prize. In 2020, Ulitskaya had the same odds (6/1) as Margaret Atwood and Maryse Condé to win the Nobel. We did talk about the meaning of the title however, and we mentioned the irony of the fact that while the phrase 'Elena knows' rhythms the narrative, Elena learns during the course of the story that she 'doesn't know' as much about everything as she thought she did. As a writer born in Argentina there are inescapable names, such as Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Juan José Saer, Alejandra Pizarnik, Ricardo Piglia, and although it is hard to point to their exact impact on my work other than as a sum of reading of our best literature, the signs of their influence are certainly there. If I had to say which one of our great authors has influenced the way I write more directly, I’d say Manuel Puig. The whole universe of Puig is one I feel very close to: the worlds he created, the secrets, the things left unsaid, his love for cinema, the political aspect to his literature, the place occupied by those who aren’t at the heart of power in society, unexplained appearances, the deterioration of the body, his humour, the emotional world of his characters, his concern for language and for breaking writing conventions.Asimismo, me parece maravilloso que en tan pocas páginas Claudia Piñeiro toque tantos temas tan controversiales y delicados, entre ellos la discapacidad, la eutanasia, el duelo, el fanatismo religioso, el suicidio, la relación madre-hija, el derecho a elegir ser madre o no, el trato a los ancianos, etc. En fin, temas tan universales como espinosos. As Chinese society evolved, however, so did Shen Yang’s destiny. Now 35, she’s married to an Italian designer and has been living in Shanghai for the past few years. Her childhood trauma of being an illegal “extra” is still there, but writing has been a process of reconciliation with her past. Vincent Ni although nothing much happens in elena knows and it is quite the depressing reading experience, the sheer control that piñeiro (with the help of the translator i’m sure) has over her prose is enough to keep you gripped. What steps do you take in your process to marry your work with the author’s, beyond literal translation? As Elena makes her way across town we catch glimpses of the past. We learn about her life with Rita. We see what a strain such an illness can become on not just the patient but the caregiver as well. Mother-daughter relationships are never a breeze and no less so under such circumstances. What does it mean to be a parent once you have lost your child? We learn more about this debt that Elena is going to collect. Along the way, I felt that this was a cautionary tale. Never, ever should we assume that we know what anyone else is going through. Unless perhaps we walk along in their shoes for a time - much as we did with Elena on this day. We must defend our personal freedoms – they are not to be given away carelessly or taken from us so thoughtlessly. I can’t say anything more other than I believe this was brilliantly written! Please read this book!

Very pleased to see this book not just longlisted but now shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022! I’m nocturnal by nature. I love being awake late at night and if adult life allowed I would probably stay up until dawn and sleep past noon every day. And on that day we will finally realise that we are all alone, forced to face ourselves, with no lies left to cling to.’ It is a harrowing, honest novel about the burden of coping with an incapacitating disease, which is felt by both the sufferer and the caregiver. It also explores aging, the influence of church on society and women’s freedom of choice. There are other themes discussed but they might be considered spoilers so I will stop here.It’s about asking who are the transparent ones in a country, and who makes them transparent,” he says. “Who are the transparent people in Syria right now, in Palestine, the US? Why do politicians not see specific groups of people?” The city is brimming with surreal and incredible stories, he adds. “You could go to a funeral and think you’re going to get an interesting story for your writing. You will leave with so many that your publisher will say, ‘Please! Not so much.’ Luanda writes far better than you can write.”

They could’ve told you a dozen times what it feels like to have Parkinson’s, in precise, graphic words, sparing no details, but you only knew the truth once the disease was inside your body. You can imagine the pain, the guilt, the shame, the humiliation. But you only know something once you’ve experienced it in your life, life is our greatest test.

this woman who rang her doorbell to call in a twenty-year-old debt that she hasn’t forgotten. Isabel hasn’t forgotten the debt either, but she remembers things differently.” chapter 2, section III. The thing is, we meet in a public place, and because there was a spare chair in the circle, somebody sat in it.