Snapshots: Marta Traba

Argentine author Marta Traba was better known as an art critic but her novel Mothers and Shadows had a huge impact on me. A very powerful novel about the ‘Dirty Wars’ that took place in the cone of South America — Argentina, Uruguay, and Chile.

Two women try to get on with their lives after the hell of the thousands upon thousands of disappearances that took place at that time, one of whom is still waiting to hear news about her son who ‘disappeared’ in Chile.

When reading it, it occurred to me, rather vividly, that if something that terrible could happen in countries like theirs, it wasn’t such a stretch to think it couldn’t also happen here in the United States. There is a lot of tension in this novel, especially when you try to put yourself in the shoes of these characters, when a simple knock on the door could generate an intense fear. It also speaks of how many simply ignored or looked the other way while all this was happening, which also makes this a compelling and disturbing read.

If you can get your hands on this one, do so. Read it. Absorb it. It will educate you as well as disturb you.

Mothers and Shadows is available here.