The University of Iowa, in Iowa City, is the home of the
distinguished Writers' Workshop and the International Writers' Workshop, and it
has always been a paradise for literature lovers.
I was a graduate student in Comparative Literature, and had
a job as a program director at the local Hillel House. My goal was to make our
Hillel a literary center. Thus I created
a weekly series: "The Wednesday Night Café" where every week another writer
(they were mostly Jewish or Israeli) gave a reading and talked about
his/her work.
No doubt the most moving reader was Yehudah Amichai, the
great Israeli poet, but there were many other inspiring nights. For me a memorable reading was given by a
local Jewish American/Argentinian writer: Rocío Lasansky Weinstein.
As she read two of her short stories, we realized that Rocio
was a very good writer. However, that was not unusual, most of the readers were
excellent: after all they were either part of the Writers' Workshop or
residents of the International Writers' Workshop.
But the fact that in spite of her great talent, Rocio was
not accepted to the MFA program in creative writing, was most unusual. She
applied to the Writers' Workshop several times, but each time her application
was rejected.
Most of the students at the workshop were young, in their
early to mid twenties. They were aspiring writers who came to Iowa City from
all over the US to get an MFA in Creative Writing. Rocio was different, she
grew up in Iowa City, a daughter of a well known artist who taught at the
university -- Marurico Lasansky. She was
older, a married woman, and a mother of four children.
Rocio has been
writing for years, and was serious and honest in her work. At the reading she
told the audience that she started writing when she was nine year old, after
her father had given her a handsome notebook on a family trip to Europe.
I find it hard to
believe that the decision makers at the Writers' Workshop could not recognize
her exceptional gift. But probably they preferred to admit to the prestigious
program students who "were in their own image."
At readings by
members of the Writers' Workshop at Hillel I was often surprised how similar their stories were. The
students’ texts were beautiful--polished and well crafted, but often lacked in
real substance. Rocio in contrast, had a lot to say, after all in her forty
some years she had accumulated some experience and insights.
Rocio was quite surprised when I called to schedule her
reading at Hillel, no one had asked her to read before. And this was Iowa City
where even the tiniest bookstore had regular readings. And speaking of the art
of reading, at the time, in the late 80s, the readers from the Writers Workshop,
all had the same style of reading --the same melody. Even in that aspect Rocio was
different, she just read her stories in a straight forward way with no drama.
It happens all too often that “no prophet is accepted in his
hometown:” Mark 6:4. But at least in
Rocio's case she got recognition outside her own town. I was delighted to get,
several years after I left Iowa City, a
package in the mail, it was a book of short stories: No Peace at
Versailles and Other Stories by Nina
Barragan (1996) which is the pen name of
Rocio Lasansky Weinstein.
PS. A sample of Nina Barragan's writing:
http://arttimesjournal.com/art/Art_Essays/feb-14-nina-barragan/mauricio-...
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