Born: 4 September 1954, Mexico
Died: NA
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following is republished from the Library of Congress. This piece falls under under public domain, as copyright does not apply to “any work of the U.S. Government” where “a work prepared by an officer or employee of the U.S. Government as part of that person’s official duties” (See, 17 U.S.C. §§ 101, 105).
Carmen Boullosa was born in Mexico City in 1954. She is the author of seventeen novels, including Son vacas, somos puercos (They’re Cows, We’re Pigs) (1991), La otra mano de Lepanto (Lepanto’s Other Hand) (2005), La novela perfecta (The Perfect Novel) (2006), and Tejas (Texas: The Great Theft), (2013). She is also the author of close to fifteen poetry collections, four plays, two collections of short stories, and a screenplay. Boullosa received the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize in 1989, the Café Gijón Award in 2008 and was also the recipient of a fellowship from the Guggenheim Foundation. She has been a visiting professor at San Diego State University, Georgetown University, the Sorbonne in Paris, New York University, and Columbia University. Currently she lives in Brooklyn where she is a professor in the City College, CUNY in their department of Foreign Languages and where she cohosts the CUNY-T.V. show, Nueva York.
Due to her fragmented, metafiction, and self-reflecting narrative style, Carmen Boullosa is associated with the Postmodern literary movement. She has also experimented with the vanguardist movement, writing new confrontational themes and forms. Her works noticeably involve narrators and subjects that are typically marginalized in literature: women, pirates, slaves, prostitutes, and others. Boullosa’s imaginative and unique narratives drastically break through the uniformity of previously established canonical works.
Boullosa, like Seligson has been vocal in resisting being lumped together with her fellow contemporary Mexican women authors. Nonetheless, her novels have contributed to contemporary feminist themes. Due to her unique style, Boullosa has become a leading contemporary author.
Carmen Boullosa nació en la Ciudad de México en 1954. Es la autora de diecisiete novelas, incluyendo Son vacas, somos puercos (1991), La otra mano de Lepanto (2005), La novela perfecta (2006), y Tejas (2013). Adicionalmente a su trabajo novelístico, Boullosa ha escrito alrededor de quince colecciones de poesía, cuatro obras de teatro, dos colecciones de cuentos y un guión de cine. Entre sus galardones se incluyen el Premio Xavier Villaurrutia (1989), el Premio Café Gijón (2008), y tambien recibió una beca de la Guggenheim Foundation. Boullosa ha servido como profesora en la Universidad Estatal de San Diego, Universidad de Georgetown, la Sorbonne en Paris, Universidad de Nueva York y Universidad de Columbia. Actualmente vive en Brooklyn, NY donde enseña en el Departamento de Lenguas Extranjeras de City College, CUNY y trabaja como copresentadora del programa CUNY-T.V., Nueva York.
La salvaja
I
El fuego,
otra vez fuego
el fuego junto a la lumbre,
en el piso,
subiendo por los sillones,
cruzando las ventanas,
y tras él el fuego,
solamente el fuego.
El fuego otra vez.
¿No lo ven?
¡ No lo ven! Es el fuego.
Les parezco una mujer sentada.