Luisa Valenzuela

Having read and loved Luisa Valenzuela's Black Novel with Argentines some years ago, I was thrilled to come across this collection of short stories. I enjoyed every single piece but the title story particularly resonates with me and I wanted to give this story its own write-up as per below. Spoiler alert: my review covers the entire story, beginning to end.

THE CENSORS
Poor Juan: All he did was write an innocent letter, “the letter that now keeps his mind off his job during the day and won’t let him sleep at night.” In a police state the fifth horseman is fear, spinning unfortunate citizens down into pits of imagined excruciating future pains of torture chambers, cramped prison cells, interrogation rooms and work camps - paranoia as a diabolical spinning top wearing people down into obedience and total submission, to the point where they even begin to say 'thank you' to their persecutors.

No Stone Unturned: Juan realizes words themselves will not be the issue; rather, “he knows that they examine, sniff, feel, and read between the lines of each and every letter, and check its tiniest comma, and most accidental stain.” The ultimate totalitarian iron fist - condemning men and women not for what they say, but the way they say it; not for their action, but just thinking about acting (of course, the secret police and their ilk claim to know what their citizens are thinking); not only who they are, say an artist, musician, dancer or writer, but just the way they look or walk or sip their coffee.

State Justice: “He knows that all letters pass from hand to hand and go through all sorts of tests in the huge censorship offices and that in the end, very few continue on their way.” In so many words, guilty until proven innocent; or, even if innocent, not permitting the letter to be delivered since, who knows what will happen once the letter is received by the subversive (and all citizens by secret police standards are subversive on some level or in one way or another).

Community Torture: “Usually it takes months, even years, if there aren’t any snags all this time the freedom, maybe even the life, of both sender and receiver is in jeopardy.” Another evil trick totalitarian governments ruthlessly work to their own advantage: not punishing the perpetrator but the perpetrator’s friends and loved ones. A citizen might take chances to act against the state if only their own skin is at stake, but knowing the welfare of others would be in jeopardy really stops the would-be agitator like a very tall, very wide brick wall.

Team Player, One: “Well, you’ve got to beat them to the punch, do what everyone tries to do: sabotage the machinery, throw sand in its gears, get to the bottom of the problem so as to stop it.” Juan applies to become a censor and is hired on the spot. And for good reason: with all the letters citizens pen, more and more censors are always needed. The agency knows very well new employee are on the lookout for their own letter and will therefore work that much harder in snapping up the letters of others. As Nietzsche said, no one makes a harsher slave driver than a former slave.

Team Player, Two: Juan feels at peace working in a department where explosives can go off in your face at any moment. “It’s true that on the third day, a fellow worker had his right hand blown off by a letter, but the division chief claimed it was sheer negligence on the victim’s part. Juan and the other employees were allowed to go back to their work, though feeling less secure.” Ha! “Allowed to go back to work” as if working under such highly dangerous conditions is a privilege. And also so predictable: the injury was the victim’s own fault. The ironclad truth pronounced by any police state: the victim is always at fault; by definition, all state action is the right action, absolutely, at all times and in all places.

Team Player, Three: So after hours one of the men in that department tried to organize a strike. Juan didn’t join in; rather, Juan reports the guy and receives a promotion. Juan feels a sense of pride as he climbs a rung on the ladder of success. Ah, success! This speak volumes to Juan’s shift of self-identity: Juan the Censor. Just what the state wants, another shinny, efficient cog for its sinister state machinery.

Team Player, Four: More promotions and Juan’s work as a censor becomes all consuming; he’s shocked at the way letter writers attempt to pass on subversive anti-government messages in ways most subtle and conniving. On some occasions Juan takes to peering through a magnifying glass and at other times an electric microscope to examine the letters’ microprint. His dear old mother urges Juan to go out for some fun entertainment but Juan always declines, judging such fun activities, so called, as frivolous distractions from his job.

Ultimate Dehumanization: Luis Valenzuela, imaginative artist that she is, puts yet another devastating spin on her dark, cautionary tale, ending with the lines, “He was about to congratulate himself for having finally discovered his true mission, when his letter to Mariana reached his hands. Naturally, he censored it without regret. And just as naturally, he couldn’t stop them from executing him the following morning, another victim of his devotion to his work.”


Reading the fiction of Argentina's Luisa Valenzuela is to take a walk on the dark side. A world-class author with such a penetrating understanding of human nature and culture.

I feel especially connected with the author’s finely rendered tale since I spent many years as a young man working in an insurance office. A world not exactly of government censors but, as the saying goes, close enough for government work. So close, I wrote my own cautionary tale I’d like to share:

OVERTIME
For many years Neal Merman commuted back and forth to his place of work like the others. It was to an insurance office, a room with blank walls, linoleum floor and forty desks under naked florescent lights. Coming in with regularity, Neal performed the job of an everyday clerk.

This mechanical routine shifted abruptly, however, when Neal became part of his desk. First, the desk absorbed only two fingers, but by the end of that afternoon, his entire left hand was sucked up by the metal. And the following morning Neal’s left leg from the knee down also became part of his desk. So it continued for a week until the only Neal to be seen was a right arm positioned beside a head and neck on the desk top.

When the other clerks arrived in the morning, all of them could see what was left of Neal, head down and pencil in hand, reviewing a file with utmost care. To aid his review, Neal would punch figures into his calculator fluently and with the dexterity of someone who knows he is total command of his skill. Such acumen brought a wry smile to Neal’s face.

One day, Big Bart, the department boss, came by to check on Neal’s files. “Your work, clerk, is better and better, although you are now more desk than flesh and bones.”

“What files do you want me to review today?” Neal asked, still scrutinizing some figures.

“Not too many files, clerk, but enough to keep you.” Big Bart withdrew and Neal followed him with his eyes until his boss could no longer be seen.

Later that same day Neal’s right arm faded into the metal. Then, like a periscope being lowered from the surface of the sea, his neck, jaw and nose sank down, leaving his eyes slightly above the gray slab. Neal looked forward and saw his pencil straight on – a long gleaming yellow cylinder with shiny eraser band at the end. Over the pencil, his telephone swelled like some giant mountain. Hearing the phone ring, Neal instinctively reached for the receiver, but this was only a mental gesture. Neal felt his forehead sinking and closed his eyes.… (plus d'informations)

Open Door – 32 short stories as sticks of literary dynamite from Argentinian author Luisa Valenzuela. These stories are simply too hot to handle for any generalization. To provide a sample of their explosiveness, I will focus on one of my very favorites. Spoiler Alert: my analysis covers the complete story, beginning to end.

PAPITO’S STORY
Estrangement: “A thin wall has always separated us. Now the time has come for the wall to unite us.” Julio lives in an apartment building next to a man he never really paid attention to, either in the elevator or along the hallway to their adjacent apartments. This neighbor of his was always so self-absorbed, shouldering the burdens of a harried office worker and jostled commuter, the round of daily living (if you call this living!) in the modern world: performing unending tasks at an office, plodding to and from the train, maintaining half-conscious awareness of the mass of urban humanity in other apartments. With such frightful alienation, Julio’s words: “Now the time has come for the wall to unite us” take on a charged meaning. Great foreshadowing, Luisa!

Urban Algebra: Sure, a few times his neighbor halfheartedly answered Julio’s questions and comments but, in truth, no real in-depth human connection, just stooped shoulders, ashen face and wrinkled suit. But perhaps this way of responding wasn’t such a bad thing, since Julio actually enjoys the freedom he was given to orchestrate their dialogue in a manner to his own liking. Very telling about how we construct our little world, the algebra of our compartmentalized society: you nod and grunt and I’ll fill in all the gaps.

Midnight Shock: Julio judges his neighbor responsible for the uproar that startled him out of a sound sleep one night. What the hell! Who’s doing all the banging on my door at this hour? Open-the-door-you-son-of-a-bitch! Ah, who’s shouting at me? I mean, what do the police want with me? We’ll smash down your door. There’s no escape, we’ve got you surrounded. Goodness, Julio, who’s doing all the shouting and banging? In a police state like the Argentina of this story, the midnight knock at your door to take you off for interrogation, torture or prison is very real for everyone, no exceptions. Julio’s first reaction makes perfect sense since our first thought is always "It’s all about me.”

Truth Comes To Light: Julio moves to his living room and realizes his own door is perfectly fine. The police are banging and shouting one door over, the door of his neighbor. Whew, what a relief! So that’s it - his stooped shouldered little neighbor with his wrinkled suit and bland routine is having his one moment of revolt, his one moment of glory. At this point, Julio dare not open his door – too much risk since, from the sounds of it, the cop doing the pounding and shouting must be foaming at the mouth. Poor, Julio, torn between his curiosity of witnessing the big showdown between the police and his neighbor and the safety and protection of his own skin. A police showdown? Does it ever get any more exciting than this?

The Big Ear: Julio swings into action, sort of. He offers his neighbor his support by gluing his ear against their common apartment wall. But then Julio has mixed feelings: his neighbor isn’t alone after all; there’s a woman also in his apartment, a woman in a hysterical voice asking about her own skin, saying he must give himself up. He replies: I’m not giving up. The hysterical woman, in turn, says the police will knock down the door and kill both of them. He scoffs: Screw them; we’ll kill ourselves first; come on, babe, kill yourself with me. She says, Papito, you’re crazy; don’t dare say I should kill myself with you. I was always good to you so you be good to me now. Oh, my goodness. Imagine this drama unfolding in an apartment near you – the most memorable neighborhood event, ever!

Bad News: Julio begins to cough as tear gas fills his apartment. Julio quickly runs to open the window and just as quickly returns to once again press his ear to the wall. What intensity! Julio hears the back and forth between Papito and the police. Papito says there’s a woman in here; to let her go or I’ll shoot. Bam! Papito fires his gun just to let them know he’s serious. The cops tell him to let the woman come out. The woman comes out without a word, no good-bye, no wish of good luck for her Papito. Who can blame her? She has more important things to think about – like saving her own skin.

Beyond Terror: At this point, we read: “There’s a deafening nothingness in there, chez Papito. Even I can hear it, though it’s hard to hear things that make no sound. I hear the nothingness and Papito’s breathing isn’t part of it, nor is his terror, nothing. Papito’s terror must be immeasurable, though its waves don’t reach me – how strange – as do those of the gas they are using to drown him.” As in the Luisa Valenzuela quote above – she was the kind of child always poking around wherever there was fear. No doubt about the author using this scene to explore what kind of creature fear really is.

Big Bad Wolf: The police order Papito to come out by the count of three or else they’re breaking the door down. Ear still pressed against the wall, Julio thinks the count of three is nothing, no more time than the trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Very true, Julio. It’s always the count of three, even going back to the story of The Three Little Pigs. Is the author connecting the police with the big bad wolf? I wouldn’t be surprised.

The Fear That Unites: Julio senses Papito’s terror as if his own. Papito must be running in circles, thinking a powerful telescopic lens is set on his head through the window. Meanwhile, Julio doesn’t turn on his lights – just in case. Papito threatens the police: don’t break the door down or I’ll kill myself. The next thing Julio registers is a shot from inside the apartment, a shot from Papito’s gun that almost obliterates his hearing the cops’ count of three. Reading this section, it’s as if the word “FEAR” blinks on the page between the lines.

Finis: Minutes pass; Julio opens his door, pokes his nose out and managers to sneak into the next apartment unnoticed. Papito is a little rag on the bare floor the police nudge with their boots. They toss him on a stretcher, cover him with a blanket and take him away. Oh, Papito; you are so near, yet so far away. Alone in the apartment, Julio speaks to the remaining blood as if the blood was alive, as if the blood was a red splash of Papito, as if the blood was Papito. Julio tell Papito to shout his name and that he can get him a good lawyer. As per usual, Julio got no answer. For me, this tale underscores how thick the wall of alienation and isolation can be for those living in the grip of a police state. If you are attracted to such tales, Luisa Valenzuela is your author.
… (plus d'informations)