Risking a Somersault [Nicaraguan Writers] (Book Review)

"Risking a Somersault in the Air: Conversations with Nicaraguan Writers", by Margaret Randall, translated by Christina Mills, edited by Floyce Alexander, #0915306921, 215 pages, c1990, c1986. [ Info/Buy]

This book is exactly as subtitled, almost (the lead chapter with Ramirez is not an interview, but rather a rambling and moderately interesting story he gave Randall). Since the Curbstone Press (publisher) website, which has been truly mediocre for years, does not even bother to mention the names of all of the parties involved, I will do so: Sergio Ramirez, Vidaluz Menseses, Lizandro Chavez Alfaro, Carlos Guadamuz, Beltran Morales, Ernesto Cardenal, Michele Najlis, Omar Cabezas, Gioconda Belli, Daisy Zamora, Francisco de Asis Fernandez, Milagros Palma, Julio Valle-Castillo, Tomas Borge. While almost all of these writers have been interviewed countless times, the text of those interviews is not, today, that easy to come by; often, it requires photocopies from old magazines and periodicals, and most all of them exist only in Spanish, perhaps making this book especially useful to English-speaking people interested in Latin American literature.

This book provides a nice introduction to the people, all of whom were instrumental to the backdrop of the 1979 Revolution in Nicaragua, and the rebuilding, cultural and otherwise, which followed. If you have already read several books by most of these people, this book may or may not "fill in any blanks" for you. If you want introductory background material on the authors, or are interested in the people behind the movement, then this book will probably interest you. It is much more than biographical information (though there are no writing samples of any size in the book), though if you are already intimately familiar with Nicaraguan literature and writers, the interviews might seem more repetitive than insightful.

Margaret Randall (also a poet and photographer) was the editor of Mexico's El Corno Emplumado (1962-1969). She has documented (via oral history projects and photographically) poor women in several countries, including Vietnam, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Nicaragua. She is the author of numerous books, including "Sandino's Daughters", "When I Look in the Mirror I See You", "Women in Cuba", "Christians in the Nicaraguan Tradition", "Hunger's Table", "Breaking the Silences", "Inside the Nicaraguan Revolution", "Sandino's Daughters Revisited", "Women in Cuba, Twenty Years Later", , "Narrative of Power", and numerous other works; she has also translated works by Tomas Borge.

Randall has name recognition outside of publishing, given her legal case challenging the U.S. "McCarren-Walters Act". In 1985, the INS used this act, a truly vintage document intended to exclude people from the U.S. based on their adherence to subversive ideologies (i.e., Communism). In blocking her permanent resident status and giving her 30 days to leave the country, upon her return from living more than a decade in Cuba, the INS guaranteed her considerable press coverage, worldwide, which didn't hurt the sale of her books, many of which are clearly pro-Communist (The Center for Constitutional Rights took her case, and obviously won, given that she was a U.S. citizen all along - and hence could not be subject to deportation hearings). A short film was made on her life, based on video, interview materials, and other documents, entitled "The Unapologetic Life of Margaret Randall" (I have not seen it, and cannot comment on it). Randall often teaches (Womens Studies Dept.) at The University of New Mexico, and all her documents and historic materials are preserved in the Library there, in the Center for Southwest Research.