To read the original Spanish by Susana Thénon _______ Renata Treitel is also the much-praised translator of Rosita Copioli. For a selection of new translations by Rosita Copioli. _______ For a selection of Renata’s poetry _______ To order Treitel’s much-praised translations of Copioli’s The Blazing Lights of the Sun To order Treitel’s translation of Susana Thénon’s distancias/distances (Sun & Moon Press, 1994) distancias/distances ________ Poetry by Renata is also online at Archipelago Vol.4, III ______ Email Renata Treitel

Susana Thénon Translated by Renata Treitel Introduction to OVA COMPLETA Susana Thénon’s last book, is an irreverent book full of puns and full of truths. One could say it is a book of transgressions at many levels: linguistic, historical, formal. The first transgression is to be found in the title where the word ova (Latin: eggs) actually stand for obra as in Obra Completa (The Complete Works). This situates Susana Thénon outside the literary establishment, her stand against elitism. Indeed, this book belongs to the satirical tradition that goes back to Aristophanes exposing the hypocrisies and foibles of a whole society as well as the political and economic dysfunction of the Argentine society traumatized by years of the lawless rule of military regimes. The registers of language in OVA COMPLETA are astounding, and they tax the ability of a translator to try to transpose them into English. The language of this book is a mixture of high diction derived from the classics in the Spanish language and low diction represented by the lunfardo, the street slang of Buenos Aires, plus a good sprinkling of Latin, Greek, Italian, French English and other languages. Many of the poems in OVA COMPLETA are ‘double-talk’ in that within one poem the same subject is given in contradictory and opposite styles to bring out new meanings and new interpretations of certain events. Susana Thénon draws her subject matter from history in order to debunk old historical truths, and she draws from the scientific world to cast light on recent developments in science and their implications for the individual. She uses the rhythms of the tango in conjunction with the atmosphere of terror caused by the breaking down of the rule of law in her country, deepening the effect of the “horror.” The world she portryas is socially inclusive, drawing characters from all walks of life and backgrounds. Above all, Susana Thénon is an intelligent, superbly gifted and educated writer, who died too young to reach the full array of her potential. Shortly before her death, she read OVA COMPLETA to a packed audience in Buenos Aires. The hall came down roaring. UNTITLED mephitic hark ye! if I say “mephitic” I have no alternative than to add “hark ye ” it’s the art of finesse it’s tastefulness, hark ye? I cannot say to you “stinking skunk hark ye” nor “bag of rot hark ye” and even less “sickening pot of stink hark ye?” just as it would be a mistake to exclaim “stuff the roses in the beaker!” it’s called awareness of language intransgression the ground that makes the Monument slide profile for life in the funerary stele maybe separate frontal lobotomy it doesn’t matter when some day it doesn’t matter how (how) I eat iron (how) I eat chewing-gum (how) I eat a screw nut one has to be there hark ye? there “mephitic” it’s so easy graybeard hark ye see? to take a risk with “prick” or “princeton”* a passport to marginalization do you want to be the butt of batty anthologists? to have a wart in your curriculum? Erato to strike you? what horse dung do you want? rules precepts laws rules precepts laws you want rules precepts laws you want you have and decorum pecunia safety hark ye? while they smell of shit you grow mephitic while they die dodo you perish venerable you evolve you perish mephitic venerable mephitic venerable you perish *The Spanish reads: arriesgarse con “choto” o “chacabuco.” The poet plays with the sound “ch” disregarding meaning. However, because choto is slang for ‘prick’ and [C]hacabuco is the name of a famous Argentine victory during the Argentine war of independence from Spain, this translator takes advantage of the fact that the initial ‘pr’ of ‘prick is also the beginning of ‘Princeton,’ an American victory during the Revolutionary Wars. To increase the parodic element, Susana Thénon uses lower case for proper names and capitalizes the word ‘monument..’ ( T.N.) UNTITLED if you slept in Ramos Mejía my sweet dear what an uproar we would hear how I would throw myself to your feet how I would wait for streetcars how to arrive at midnight I would board at noontime what an uproar we would hear with your grandmother nearly insane with your sister and her madness with your cousins captains running with us in harness what an uproar we would hear with your mother at the window with your mother days and nights with your mother making her bed for us black with May flies what an uproar we would hear without your holes in my holes without your shadows in mine without fingers to beat the drum of the agony if you slept in Ramos Mejía my sweet dear what an uproar we would hear what an uproar we would hear my sweet my sweet dear UNTITLED the strooss one of the great ailments that affect (wo)mankind it used to be called stress and before that strass or Strauss it’s like a waltz the shadowless woman set out of step there’s no drama she’s drunk drunk the sow the strooss UNTITLED you’ve thought of killing and feel lousy you’ve thought of killing and feel lousy who? you’ve thought you think of killing you keep mulling thinking re-thinking re-mulling over-thinking to get rid of a solid who what’s more emits carbon anhydride from his nares a solid who in your opinion is in the way bars breathing and pollutes a pocket nuclear reactor brevitatis causa relative bad friend creditor civil servant viscount second-rate novelist mother of mine tennis champion unknown green fragrant phantom good friend your own body the high-rise you’ve thought of killing syllables whistles the dead how nice to kill the dead for easter I’ll raise hell with cotillion service surprise under the vault! magic clown chewing gum globe digital hourglass fireworks for easter perhaps for twelfth night a few carry a rosary in their hands others a book and others a bunch of chard I a Colt out of a John Wayne movie you’ve thought of killing a solid more or less structured your mistake is in the reckoning you start from only one dead and thousands follow there’s no end to this round I warm the Colt it’s good for a stove I write or not I feel lousy or not I dream grudgingly ever since I was teething you’ve thought of killing I have thought of killing let us warm the Colt the Smith & Wesson the grenade in the sewer of Monte Grande are there more bullets than solids? more solids than bullets? come get some tea or don’t come I think of killing I do my homework for tomorrow I’m off and they are back UNTITLED PRESTIGE: station prior to the great terminal STYX LAGOON it’s possible to get off but you run the risk of becoming a schizoid frog forever: a being that jumpily survives the changes of rails in PRESTIGE there are sandwiches as well should hunger block your future eat as much as you feel like don’t look at the filling the grand alchemy is only in its beginnings PHONAL STOP (TANGO WITH CRITICAL VECTOR)* “the electric prod still hangs by the door no one in it hurts another nor makes its volts bob” THAT’S DECLAMATION! * This poem is a take off on the lyrics of a well-known Argentine tango as well as a macabre remark on the military repression in Argentina.