{"id":1295,"date":"2020-01-22T10:00:49","date_gmt":"2020-01-22T10:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/?p=1295"},"modified":"2020-01-22T10:00:49","modified_gmt":"2020-01-22T10:00:49","slug":"loop-brenda-lozano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Loop, Brenda Lozano"},"content":{"rendered":"

Translated from Spanish (Mexico) by Annie McDermott (Charco Press, 2019)<\/h2>\n

This debut novel by Brenda Lozano<\/a> is a clever, innovative book, an erudite observation of the everyday, a genre-smashing static journey. It\u2019s fair to say that I admired it rather than enjoyed it exactly; mostly, I suspect, because of the point at which I read it. Loop <\/em>is a series of connected fragments, and I probably jumped into it at the wrong moment: I read it on my train journey to and from the Translating Women conference<\/a>, when my mind was pitching from one thing to the next, not staying anywhere for long, and returning to the same things repeatedly. This fitfulness was exacerbated by reading a book that was doing much the same thing, and so my reaction was affected by the circumstances of my reading. Nonetheless, objectively I can see all of the things that make Loop<\/em> brilliant, and those are the features I\u2019ll focus on here.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The unnamed narrator of Loop <\/em>is waiting. Her boyfriend Jon\u00e1s has travelled to Spain after his mother\u2019s death; the narrator awaits his return, journeying in her mind while sitting in her armchair waiting for Jon\u00e1s. As she waits she vocalises their usual routine, alternating between longing for his return and resenting his absence. She is also waiting in an airport for a delayed flight: this is the ambiguity of the literary form, as the narrator reminds us that it doesn\u2019t matter how long passes between her notebook entries, because it will be read as if no time has passed between them: \u201cPart of the magic of the ideal notebook is that hours, days and weeks can go by from one paragraph to the next, but because the paragraphs live side by side like neighbours, it\u2019s as if only a few minutes have passed. Amazing \u2013 something that takes years to write could be read by someone else in a couple of hours.\u201d Time is suspended, just as the narrator herself is suspended in her vigil, awaiting the return of Jon\u00e1s. In this sense, she says, \u201cmy notebook is my waiting room\u201d \u2013 the notebook becomes the loop, the contracted space where time expands.<\/p>\n

The (mildly but endearingly obsessive) narrator has had some kind of accident in the recent past, though we are not given details beyond her waking up on a hospital gurney with a Shakira song playing in the background (thus alerting her to the fact that she is not, after all, now inhabiting the afterlife). This patchy detail is consistent with the \u201cdiary\u201d narrative \u2013 in a diary, why would you painstakingly write out details of something you already know? Rather, this is an exploration of the narrator\u2019s inner world and thoughts. Many references recur repeatedly: the Shakira song is an intermittent soundtrack, as is David Bowie\u2019s \u201cWild is the Wind\u201d (this one features as a choice on the narrator\u2019s part, rather than as an intrusion), and a Shakespeare quote spotted on a fridge magnet becomes the narrator\u2019s refrain to describe herself: \u201cWelcome. A hundred thousand welcomes! I could weep, and I could laugh; I am light, and heavy. Welcome!\u201d This becomes an invitation to us to enter her world of weeping, laughter, lightness and weight, all encapsulated within the pages of her \u201cideal notebook\u201d. In this notebook she performs a kind of taxonomy of the everyday, chronicling experiences and observing objects, but she also identifies herself as a modern-day Penelope: \u201cI\u2019m Penelope. I weave, unravel, weave and unravel again. Will the day ever come when the waiting stops? Is there anyone who isn\u2019t waiting for something?\u201d \u201cI wish. I weave. I unravel.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is not just The Odyssey <\/em>that features as a literary reference \u2013 these are broad-ranging, from Fernando Pessoa to Marcel Proust via Oscar Wilde, and many more besides (there is a handy index of references at the back of the book). These can\u2019t have been easy to spot and incorporate into the translation, but Lozano is in safe hands with Annie McDermott: there was not a single word, reference or turn of phrase that jarred in my reading of Loop<\/em>. I had already admired McDermott\u2019s work as editor on Ariana Harwciz\u2019s Die, My Love <\/em>(translated by Sarah Moses and Carolina Orloff) and as co-translator with Orloff on Harwicz\u2019s Feebleminded<\/em>, and am very excited for her forthcoming translation of Selva Almada\u2019s next book with Charco Press later this year. Her choice of title for Loop <\/em>is intelligent and sensitive: it is more ambiguous than the original title, Cuaderno ideal<\/em> (\u201cideal notebook\u201d), which would mean very little in English. It\u2019s a play on words in Mexican Spanish: not only is this the ideal form, but also a reference to the near-obsolete brand of notebook that the narrator uses to write down her thoughts. Lozano\u2019s narrator describes her text as \u201can infinite queue\u201d, and this is reflected in the English title: a loop has no defined beginning and end, it goes over on itself, turns around on itself, repeats itself \u2013 the refrains that punctate the narrative are played as if on a loop; the fragments of narrative loop back and return to where they started; by reading the narrator\u2019s intimate thoughts we are in the loop, and her verbal acrobatics \u2013 energetically but unobtrusively rendered by McDermott \u2013 loop the loop.<\/p>\n

There were some observations that made me laugh out loud, such as this from the very first page: \u201cAs a girl I thought that the electric pencil sharpener was what separated me from adult life.\u201d But Loop <\/em>is also shot through with pain (the narrator knows intimately \u201cthose depths where only pain can take you\u201d), and some profound observations seem almost carelessly tossed in (except in Lozano, as I came to realise, nothing is careless). As well as the repeated refrain \u201cChange. Unknowing yourself is more important than knowing yourself,\u201d she makes delicate proclamations such as \u201cwe make the world to the measure of our hands\u201d and \u201cthe way we relate to everything, especially when it comes to love, changes after we hit rock bottom,\u201d as well as a list resembling a modern-day secular Beatitudes, in which she observes that \u201cthose who talk too much reject themselves; those who listen carefully accept themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I went back to my notes to write this review, I felt far more drawn into Loop <\/em>than when I actually read it, which makes me think that I should revisit it to experience it at a less stressful moment. But for now I\u2019ll leave you with this meditative remark, which epitomises our mordantly observant narrator and her writing project: \u201cI think telling stories is a way of putting a scar into words.\u201d<\/p>\n

Review copy of <\/em>Loop provided by Charco Press<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Translated from Spanish (Mexico) by Annie McDermott (Charco Press, 2019) This debut novel by Brenda Lozano is a clever, innovative book, an erudite observation of the everyday, a genre-smashing static journey. It\u2019s fair to say that I admired it rather than enjoyed it exactly; mostly, I suspect, because of the point at which I read […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2429,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[95,165,195,615],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nReview: Loop, Brenda Lozano - Translating Women<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: Loop, Brenda Lozano - Translating Women\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Translated from Spanish (Mexico) by Annie McDermott (Charco Press, 2019) This debut novel by Brenda Lozano is a clever, innovative book, an erudite observation of the everyday, a genre-smashing static journey. It\u2019s fair to say that I admired it rather than enjoyed it exactly; mostly, I suspect, because of the point at which I read […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Translating Women\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-22T10:00:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/files\/2020\/01\/loop-3200w.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Helen Vassallo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Helen Vassallo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/\",\"name\":\"Review: Loop, Brenda Lozano - Translating Women\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/601\/2020\/01\/loop-3200w.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-22T10:00:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-22T10:00:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/#\/schema\/person\/f6b5a23680f8533c3894aef4e6018f68\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/601\/2020\/01\/loop-3200w.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/601\/2020\/01\/loop-3200w.png\",\"width\":2500,\"height\":3772},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Review: Loop, Brenda Lozano\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/\",\"name\":\"Translating Women\",\"description\":\"INTERNATIONAL | INTERSECTIONAL | ACTIVIST | FEMINIST\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/#\/schema\/person\/f6b5a23680f8533c3894aef4e6018f68\",\"name\":\"Helen Vassallo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c32871912708eb310775deb9561113ed?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c32871912708eb310775deb9561113ed?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Helen Vassallo\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/author\/hmv201\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: Loop, Brenda Lozano - Translating Women","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Review: Loop, Brenda Lozano - Translating Women","og_description":"Translated from Spanish (Mexico) by Annie McDermott (Charco Press, 2019) This debut novel by Brenda Lozano is a clever, innovative book, an erudite observation of the everyday, a genre-smashing static journey. It\u2019s fair to say that I admired it rather than enjoyed it exactly; mostly, I suspect, because of the point at which I read […]","og_url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/","og_site_name":"Translating Women","article_published_time":"2020-01-22T10:00:49+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/files\/2020\/01\/loop-3200w.png"}],"author":"Helen Vassallo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Helen Vassallo","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/","name":"Review: Loop, Brenda Lozano - Translating Women","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/601\/2020\/01\/loop-3200w.png","datePublished":"2020-01-22T10:00:49+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-22T10:00:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/#\/schema\/person\/f6b5a23680f8533c3894aef4e6018f68"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/601\/2020\/01\/loop-3200w.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/601\/2020\/01\/loop-3200w.png","width":2500,"height":3772},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/2020\/01\/22\/loop-brenda-lozano\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Review: Loop, Brenda Lozano"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/","name":"Translating Women","description":"INTERNATIONAL | INTERSECTIONAL | ACTIVIST | FEMINIST","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/#\/schema\/person\/f6b5a23680f8533c3894aef4e6018f68","name":"Helen Vassallo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c32871912708eb310775deb9561113ed?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c32871912708eb310775deb9561113ed?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Helen Vassallo"},"url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/author\/hmv201\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1295\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/translatingwomen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}