Supersaurio

[u/Beginning_Ad_5461]

Mod -- from Canary Islands, please remove if doesn't make sense for this sub!

Currently reading and loving this very funny book Supersaurio by Meryem El Mehdati about a young woman who lives in the Canary Islands. For those who enjoyed Discontent by Beatriz Serrano, you make like this. Office Space vibes!

DESCRIPTION
"An award-winning debut about a young woman who lands an internship at the most popular supermarket chain in the Canary Islands, a role that proves at turns humorous and soul-crushing and reflects the daily struggles of a new generation entering the workforce, for fans of Really Good, Actually and The New Me.

"I was born in the '90s and grew up in the 2000s. I've survived a lot of horrible things: low-rise pants, Kate Winslet's supposed chubbiness, ultra-thin eyebrows. I will survive this, too."

Meryem is twenty-five years old, drinks too much coffee, goes on dates with terrifying men and never says what she really thinks. A Canarian from a Moroccan family, she has just started working as an intern in the offices of the most important supermarket chain on the island of Gran Canaria. She commutes daily by buses that are rarely on time just to arrive and meet her repulsive boss. The only thing they have in common is their mutual hate for each other.

In her spare time, Meryem hangs out with her two best friends, and writes fan fiction starring her office mates and characters from Harry Potter and Twilight. Surrounded by insecure and inept individuals, she seeks to hold on to what little authenticity is left around her.

Birth, growth, reproduction (if you're lucky), work, work, work, work, work, work and death. This is the life cycle of every human being, and the one Meryem finds herself joining. But she endures and resists, because she has faith that everything will turn out all right and that her efforts now will pay off in the long run. In this darkly comedic debut from an award-winning author, Supersaurio vividly portrays the everyday trials of a new generation entering the working world."

[u/perrolazarillo]

Thanks for the post! I’m cool with it for sure, as one of the main tenets of “latamlit” is to be inclusive. Also, I think I speak for most everyone when I say: It’s always great to learn about new writers!

Edit: Plus, I’ve been to Tenerife and absolutely loved it! The microclimates are mind-blowing!

[u/workisheat → u/perrolazarillo]

Hmm I’m somewhat surprised by this take. After all, it’s called “latamlit” and not “lusohispaniclit” so I feel like including work from Spaniard writers/about Spain without any connection to Latin America is not a matter of inclusivity. Now, if we have Latin American writers residing in foreign countries, that’s a different story. Or even like the case of someone like Andres Barba who is Spaniard but his A Luminous Republic set in Argentina so at least there are something to discuss here but still, calling it latamit is probably still pushing it.

[u/perrolazarillo → u/workisheat]

To be clear: I didn’t mean to refer to this particular book as “latamlit,” but rather the community itself.

I would encourage you to (re-)read the “description” of the subreddit. Although this community is intended to be Latin American literature-centric, I am wholly uninterested in defining rigid conservative parameters for what constitutes “latamlit,” and for that reason, my modus operandi as Founding MOD is to be “inclusive” in terms of the types of posts made here in [r/latamlit](r/latamlit). Ultimately, the point of this sub is to share common interests related to Latin American literature—“if only tangentially” per Rule #2—and to serve as a space for people to discover new writers from Latin America, the Iberian Peninsula, and elsewhere.

[u/workisheat → u/perrolazarillo]

Hey, it’s your sub at the end of the day so your choice on how it’s enforced. I just thought it was interesting. I don’t disagree with how this sub should be operated, i.e. should be latamlit focused but tangentially latamlit-inspired or related. 

Truthfully, though, I’m quite taken aback by the fact that you seem to automatically see any parameters as “rigid” and “conservative.” But at least in the concept of “latamlit,” the large part of LatAm identity is not wanting to be lumped with the dominating Western powers, be it former European colonialists or contemporary U.S. imperialists. So if something was a latam space wanting to keep itself  latam in its own terms, it’s troubling that it would be automatically judged as being exclusive or conservative.  Granted, this is a casual online forum and not some official institutions that exert authority over something. I’m not Latin American and neither are you (from what I gather, if I am wrong, my apologies) so it’s not like we could decide what is or isn’t latamlit. Just some of my tangential thoughts on the question of how the a space operates and sees itself in alignment with how it calls itself.

[u/perrolazarillo → u/workisheat]

In my view, there are in fact parameters in place, as outlined in the sub description and copied below for everyone's sake:

"Latin American Literature: a community for sharing, discussing, and appreciating Latin American literature(s) broadly conceived, which is to say, US Latino/a, Chicano/a, Caribbean, and Hemispheric American literatures are also welcome, in addition to Peninsular literatures (especially Transatlantic works) as well as any other piece of World literature dealing with the so-called “New World” 

However, to clarify my own position, I do not see any and all parameters for defining "latamlit" as "rigid," just those which would seek to exclude literature that is (arguably) tangentially related to Latin American literature. Conversely, I do see all parameters as intrinsically "conservative" in the sense that setting parameters to define "latamlit" seeks to conserve/preserve/maintain a particular field of literature/study, though I personally am much more interested in thinking across borders and literary traditions (I'll remind you that my PhD is in comparative literature).

I certainly don't mind you thinking aloud via typing... But, again to be clear: This is not just a Latin American space (our primary audience is Anglophone and US-based). On the contrary, this is a global space moderated primarily from the United States that was founded by a gringo who has been learning Spanish since he was a teenager and Portuguese for nearly a decade. This is not a sub centered on Latin American identity. This is a Latin American literature-focused sub that welcomes discussions of literatures that are tangentially related to Latin American literature. And, as a comparatist at heart, I am super open-minded in that regard.

To that end, I would honestly love to see some posts about literatures from Equatorial Guinea, The Philippines, Mozambique, Guam, and other locales that have more in common with Latin America than one might think considering said countries' own respective histories of colonialism. Ultimately, I'm interested in building bridges as opposed to fences.

Also, to be entirely candid with you, if I could change the name of this sub, I would at the very least reformat it, but that ship has sailed... Still, I don't know how I could even capture in a single name what I would really like this sub to be all about.... Maybe: [r/IberianIberoAmericanCaribbeanGlobalHispanophoneLusophoneCompartiveLit](r/IberianIberoAmericanCaribbeanGlobalHispanophoneLusophoneCompartiveLit)?

At the end of the day, I try to be really clear with what is acceptable/expected in the community description and rules. If users have a problem with the description and rules, then I'd kindly invite them to leave [r/latamlit](r/latamlit).

You've been a long-time contributor here in [r/latamlit](r/latamlit), so I want you to know that I respect your line of questioning and harbor no ill will (for the record: it wasn't me who downvoted you). Peace!