Spanish professor publishes new novel

Adventure, comedy, horror and human rights have one thing in common: they are all subjects in Myron Alberto Ávila’s recently published novel.

“Aventuras, avatares y averías de la muy avezada y avisada Da. Juana Isabel Palomeque Aycinena, alias la Jucha,” translated as “Adventures, Vicissitudes and Shenanigans of the Very Dexterous and Perspicacious Ms. Juana Isabel Palomeque,” is the title of Ávila’s novel.

A press release published by Georgia College summarizes Ávila’s novel in the following way: “Ávila’s novel parodies the largely masculine tradition of the Spanish picaresque narrative, in a story that oscillates between hilarity and horror, and also evolves into three short stories. The protagonist and narrator is a woman living in Guatemala during the late 1970s and early 80s — a period of internal conflict and well-documented human rights violations.

Stephanie Diaz, 2011 alumna who majored in Spanish, did the cover art for Ávila’s novel.

“Dr. Avila was my professor for some of my Spanish culture and literature classes. He told me about this novel he was writing and knew my love for photography and asked if I’d be interested in taking some pictures and seeing if the results would be a good fit for the cover,” Diaz said.

In a unique twist, the model for Diaz’s photographs was her sister. Ávila had an idea of how he wanted the cover of his novel to look.

“I had the perfect model who would fit the description- my sister, Verenice Diaz. Her complexion is very unique and she definitely has a native look to her, something Dr. Avila wanted to portray in the picture. He wanted a native Guatemalan princess. She was perfect for it,” stated Diaz.

For Ávila, assistant professor of Spanish in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, this novel has been five-year journey.

“It’s been a long project. I started writing around 2004. I wrote a short story, and then the rest of the book kind of sprouted spontaneously. This is my first novel, and it has been a labor of love” said Ávila.

Stephanie Diaz recognizes that this novel has been a labor of love for Ávila, and fully supports him.

“I can’t wait to read the novel, and I feel very grateful for being a part of this project. Having my picture published abroad is something I would have never imagined. I look forward to finally getting to read the novel and see the type of feedback Dr. Ávila gets for his work,” Diaz said.

There are a number of factors that influenced Ávila’s decision to write this novel. He specializes in Latin American narrative, and also has experience in gender studies, particularly those written by women. Additionally, Ávila has an interest in human rights violations against women in Guatemala. Ávila has dedicated a portion of his novel to women in Guatemala who have been victims of such human rights violations. “I am hoping this book raises awareness against this because the narrator is a woman who is rebelling,” Ávila said.

David de Posada, assistant professor of French and Spanish, as well as, coordinator of the Spanish program, believes that Ávila’s novel is a very important work of literature.

“This is a text is so important because it addresses issues of violence against women in Guatemala from a daring perspective –– that of a rebel female subject who exacts a patriarchal revenge but, at the same time, embraces and celebrates perfect relationships with men (as fathers, partners and friends),” Posada said.

Ávila’s doctoral dissertation was a work of literary criticism that was published in Honduras. However, “Aventuras, avatares y averías de la muy avezada y avisada Da. Juana Isabel Palomeque Aycinena, alias la Jucha,” was published in Guatemala, and is Ávila’s first novel published in Guatemala. “This novel could not have been published anywhere else because it is about a Guatemalan citizen in Guatemala,” Ávila said.

Currently, Ávila is working on a collection of short stories to be published in Guatemala, as well as a novel in English.

Posted by Brennan Meagher on Sep 22 2011. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.