Tgtulo:En zapatiias

Autora:Mónica Jurjevcic
Cover illustration: Pablo Bernasconi
SM, Buenos Aires, SM, 2021, 96 pages
Wide Angle Collection.
This work received the Gran Angular Award 2020

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR

Mónica Jurjevcic is a teacher of Spanish, Literature, and Latin (ISP J. V. González), specialized in
Children and Youth Literature (CEPA) and a diploma in Education and New Technologies ((lacso). It
served as head of Digital Content at an educational publisher, conducted workshops to
teachers on Digital Education and collaborated in the production of school texts in several
editorials. Currently, he teaches at the secondary level in schools in the City of
Buenos Aires and coordinates writing workshops.

SYNTHESIS OF THE ARGUMENT

Martn sobrevive al incendio que se produce el 30 de diciembre de 2004 en el boliche República

Cromañón during the performance of a musical group. After a desperate turn to
the house abruptly and confusingly restarts its reintegration into reality: it accepts the painful
death of Mariana, the girl he loves and with whom he dialogues imaginatively until she
begins to become a memory. While going through his last year in high school, it takes on dimension the
Professor Helena, and the role her colleagues play helps to bring visibility to her tragedy.
while gradually, he accepts his fragility and slowly faces the unfolding of events
that will be part of their life.

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THE CONTEXT OF THE NOVEL

About my destroyed shelters

about my crushed headlights
about the walls of my problem
I write your name.

About the absence without desires

about naked loneliness
about the death marches
I write your name.

(Paul Éluard. Fragment from the poem Freedom, in Poetry and Truth from 1942).

In Zapatllases, a novel that fictionalizes a real, painful, complex tragedy.

traumatic belonging to recent history. In the neighborhood of once, from the City of Buenos
In 2004, 194 people lost their lives in Buenos Aires, the majority of them young, during a concert.
rock band Callejeros. But this tragic event is not just a fortuitous or accidental fact that
it is not limited to the world of music and fun but rather constitutes the intersection between
culture, politics, the economy, corruption at a special moment in our history when
the younger ones find in rock and in certain musical groups like Callejeros, Los
Redonditos de Ricota, La Renga, Los Piojos, La Mancha de Rolando and many others, a space
own to protect themselves from the collapse of the foundations that until recently organized society: the
work, school, family, and the future jeopardized by the crisis of 2001.

A long struggle of the families of the victims leads to the investigation of the events that caused
the disaster. A long process will attempt to establish the responsibilities of politicians, officials
public, the owner of the venue and the musicians who performed that day, but justice is slow and
many years passed before the sentences were finalized. In the meantime, Cromañón became
convert into a sanctuary filled with personal effects of the vgctmas, photos, and other elements that
let's give materiality to what has been dissolved forever.

©Roberto Fiadone, taken from Wikipedia:

htps://[Link]/wiki/Tragedia_de_Cromañón#/media/Archivo:República_Cromañón_justcia.jpg

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THE NOVEL

In Zapatllases, a realistic coming-of-age novel in which Martin, the protagonist of the story, is
a survivor of that fateful night of December 30, who like a castaway adrift
manages to leave the burning place. Barefoot, he searches for the air he needs to succeed; desperate
it moves away leaving not only Mariana, but also the balance and security with which she faced her life
every morning, for the thread that lovingly kept him connected to her had burned out
logic that organized its dgas.

The fire, the air, the water, the smoke are the elements that organize the first part of the novel and
they serve as a link between what really happened and the memories of the experiences that Martin is going to have

putting in place as he reconstructs the events of that night. The images

disordered they come and go in a confusing way as it is wrapped in a nebula in which
nothing is wrong, only his name: He is Martn.

Structured in 36 short chapters grouped into two parts, the novel unfolds the
events between the night of the fire and December 30 of the following year, a hard year,
the largugsimo in which Martin finishes his fifth year and heads to Brazil to spend the holidays
with his father who lives there, but "Before traveling, that day, in the afternoon, I went to the event for the year of the
massacre. And I saw your face on the banners and in all the posters that the parents made [...] There's no
What we can't bear to carry.” Martin goes through grief, continues life “and me
river, I hear myself laugh, I laugh because I will always have one hundred ninety-four more stars
in the final scene where he looks at the sky from a Carioca beach.

The choice of different narrators allows the reader to penetrate into the story from different perspectives.
angles

First person narrator protagonist, Martn: his inner monologue is graphic.

differentiated from the rest of the voices. With a pendular movement of time, the reader knows,
through different retrospections that range from the present of the action to different
moments of the past:
- Cromañón, before the concert, during it, in the fire, afterwards in the smoke, the
screams, the horns...
- The journey back home...
- The neighborhood, with family, with friends, with Mariana (her return to the neighborhood, the music, the
murga; comparable example; intense, unforgettable love; prepares us to go to the
recital...)
Omniscient third-person narrator: narrates what the different characters experience and feel.
characters.
First person plural narrator, we: the collective voice of the companions who at the
the way of choristers complete Martin's profile, his afflictions and the dimension of it
occurred.

In the novel, intertextual relationships are established with different literary works such as
The Odyssey and The Iliad of Homer, which Martin obsessively remembers while fleeing, searching
the way back to his neighborhood and home. Wandering in a sea of anguish, the protagonist anchors his
personal drama in the memory of that book.

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At the same time, the Homeric work has been a link with a character since the beginning of history that
thickness snake in the second part: Helena, the Language and Literature teacher, suggestive name
In the context of the creation of the Greek poet. It will be she who will put the protagonist in contact.
with the 'Elegy' by Miguel Hernández for the death of Ramón Sijé, whose verses will trigger
in him an emotional crisis and sica.

Helena wants to leave them a legacy, a passion, a refuge: literature. To do this, she proposes
strategies through which their students put into practice their interpretation of, for example,
"Ómnibus" and "Casa Tomada" by Julio Cortázar or they start writing haikus.

The narration is focused directly or indirectly on the survivor and their drama, which is
the drama of many. A skillful weaving of the actions and the stories of the different narrators
it gradually facilitates the inclusion of the characters that are part of the family or school sphere
of the protagonist and sheds light on the shadows created by the pain that signifies the absence of
Mariana, who although it may seem contradictory, is the character with the greatest presence in the novel.
It is also the magnet that leads Martn to gradually achieve resilience: slow, but
Inexorably, his body and his psyche will adapt to the inexorable blow that turned them to ashes.
illusions to keep moving forward.

Read in zapatllases a tribute to those who are no longer here, a thank you to those who elevated their
voice to clarify the facts that, due to their impact, marked a generation. A
interesting investigation by the author allows us to get closer to the rock of the time (mainly to
through the epigraphs that begin each section), to the most committed groups, to the
young people who had not yet found a place for social or civic commitment, after a
decade where utopias gradually faded away both in our country and in the rest
of the world.

READING AND WRITING ACTIVITIES

Before reading

1. Read the cover, the back cover, observe the image and talk.
What do the images suggest to you?
What information do you have about the Cromañón tragedy?

2. Groups, read the following articles and then comment on them relating them to the
images, title and the back cover of the novel you are going to read.

htp://[Link]/[Link]?nota_id=231995
htp://[Link]/08/08/18/secciones/sucesos/[Link]?nota_id=232067
htp://[Link]/08/08/18/secciones/sucesos/[Link]?nota_id=232068

3. In small groups, choose a topic, conduct research, and then share it.
new information they obtained:
a. The tragedy of Cromañón in the mass media.

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 Look online for newspaper covers from that time and the following years: how did they reflect the
What happened on December 30, 2004?

(Cover of Rolling Stone magazine, Year 7. No. 83 entirely dedicated to Cromañón).

htps://[Link]/espectaculos/cromanon-un-ano-nid768547/#
htps://[Link]/diario/sociedad/[Link])

b. The school and collective memory.

Read the decree and the law that deal with the Cromañón issue. Why is it important that we...
Do you remember that date at the educational level?

htps://[Link]/documents/[Link]
htp://[Link]/es/leglegislation/norms/laws/[Link]

Watch and discuss together the video Cromañón: that it does not happen again, aired by the channel.
I meet after ten years of the tragedy.

htp://[Link]/progbranches/series/8265/5448
htps://[Link]/video/?id=125749

What value do the testimonies presented in the program acquire?

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 4. Read Chapter 1 of the novel 'In Slippers'. Relate the fictional text to the context.
It is true that they recalled to stop the previous cavities.

During reading

5. Read the novel and while you read...

Numeren los capgtulos y amplgen elttulo de cada capgtulo de manera que reflejen un hecho o
key situation of the argument.
Write marginal notes to stop key expressions or words that facilitate the
interpretation of the work.
[Encierren entre [ ] expresiones, oraciones o párrafos particularmente relevantes porque]
they reflect the protagonist's experiences before, during, and after the fire.
Enclose in ( ) the clues that allow understanding and interpreting behaviors or
behavior of the characters.
Underline the fragments that establish a relationship with the historical, social, cultural context.
the citizenship of the time in which the action takes place (real extratext).

6. Prepare a reading sheet for each of the two parts of the novel:
Take note of the most important situations in each part, arranged chronologically.
A parar de ellas elaboren un breve argumento de cada parte de la novela.
Transcribe the most relevant direct quotes or references to the topic Cromañón.

7. How do you imagine the following characters? Discuss in groups of three members and
then elaborate a portrait of each of them with the data that arises from the text (physical traits,
edad, personalidad, familia, lugares de pertenencia o frecuentación,gustos, acavidades,
conflicts, customs...)

MARTIN MARIANA HELENA

Then read for the others the portraits they made.

Discuss the adults that appear in the novel. What role do they play in the story? In
What areas appear? What relationships exist between the families of Martn and Mariana?
How does Helena relate to her colleagues? What ideological differences exist between them?

8. Explain the following textual quotes considering the context in which they are found.
inserts and the general argument of the novel.

Ulises. Yes. It's Ulises. But him, no. He is Martin. And those paper balloons also scare me.
They shouted his name so many times while When I was younger, I used to dream thinking that
they grabbed him by the clothes and pushed him... a lit balloon was going to fall on our
(Page 9) house and it was going to catch fire [...] My dreams of
Christmas Eve ended with firefighters

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 siempre. (Páginas 14/15)

9. Choose a writing cavity and carry it out individually or in small groups.

- Un cuento que relate la historia de amor entre Maria y Martn de manera cronológica.
Omniscient third person narrator.
- A fantastic tale in which Mariana recounts the events that led her to death.
- A realistic story based on the data of Helena's personal and work life that appears
in the novel.
- A letter from Martín to his mother ten years after the tragedy, from the place where
imagine that Martin is there at that moment.
Share the reading of the productions.

10. Listen to the following song by Joan Manuel Serrat.

htps://[Link]/watch?v=3g9K_X1eE9A

Then read the poetry of Miguel Hernández in

htps://[Link]/texto/elegia/

In which chapter of the novel do some fragments of that poem appear?

What is the context in which they are cited?
What effects do they produce in Martn?
What personal situation do they associate with?
Comment on Helena's reaction. How would you have acted if you had been in her place?
place of that character?
Comment among everyone on how the relationship between these two characters evolves.

11. Reread chapter 23, Helena, pages 76 to 79.

They discuss the haikus that Martn writes.
Explain the reference to Ulysses.
At what other moments in the novel is Ulysses mentioned? What is the context in which it is?
Does it refer to Ulysses (Odysseus) or to any of the tragedies of Homer?

12. Read "Blue Haikus" by César Bisso

htp://[Link]/2011/08/[Link]

Choose the ones you like the most and read them to the others.
Groups, come together to be poets and write your own haikus that include some words.
key of the novel, for example:

FUEGO - AGUA - AIRE - VIENTO - AMOR - MUERTE - BÚSQUEDA

SMOKE SHOES - ABSENCE - FLARE - MEMORY

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 Then read the poems to the others.
Copy each haiku onto a card, tie it with a thread and hang them in visible places,
imitating the slippers that remind us of those who could not escape the fire of Cromañón.

13. Read the following text.

Some poems have a peculiarity that sets them apart from others: the words are
placed on the page in such a way that they form a drawing. But they do not configure an image.
anyone, but it is related to the meanings that arise from the text. In them, the
The graphic arrangement of the text relates to the themes addressed in the poem. It is about a
after the poem called 'calligram.' Calligrams have existed since the 4th century BC, but they appear
more frequently starting from the 20th century. In them, the text's senate is constructed in the
interaction between words and images. They are poems to be seen, not just to be heard or read.

In which chapter of the novel does a calligram appear? What is its meaning? In what
What situation does this text describe?
Groups, write calligrams based on the image on the cover of the novel or variations of it.
same.
Create each calligram on a blank sheet.
Then make a presentation with the produced caligrams.

After reading

14. Explain the title of the novel. In what other way could it have been titled? Write the
Possible titles and justify the choices.

15. Groups, comment on what you found most interesting in the novel 'In Shoes.'
Justify the choice.
The story that is told.
b. The relationship established between the experiences of Martn and his close ones and that of the event
historical reference to which the novel refers.
c. The discourse created to tell the story, that is, the way it is written: the
various narrators, the inclusion of other literary texts, letters, etc.
d. The topics it addresses.

16. Who narrates the story? Mark with an x the narrators that appear in
this novel and which chapters present that voice.
- First-person narrator protagonist.
- First-person plural narrator.
- Omniscient third-person narrator.
- Second-person narrator.
- Third person narrator tessago.
- Third person narrator not omniscient.

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 What effect does this choice by the author have on the reader to write the story?

17. Analyze what time period the history covers. Underline in the text the references to
that passage of time.

18. Read the following options and mark T (true) or F (false).

The facts are narrated in a manner:
- Chronological.
- There are jumps back in time (flashbacks, analepsis or retrospections).
- Forward jumps (anticipations or flashforwards, prolepsis) occur.

19. In the novel, fiction relates to the real extratext. With what aspects of the
The Cromañón tragedy is made a special relationship. (Mark x and explain.)
- The fire.
- The situation of the survivors.
- The pain and the organized action of the families of the fatal victims.
- The action of justice.
- The search for the missing in the fire.
- The sentences for those responsible.
- The repercussions in the media.
- Other topics.

20. Look for the definition of the word 'resilience.'

Then comment on the psychological evolution of the central character. Do you think that this Martin succeeded?
develop resilience?

Transversal themes
Realist novel.
Coming-of-age novel.
The fight for truth and justice.
Love, death, resilience.
Relationships between fictional text and real historical context.
Music, concerts as spaces of belonging and aggregation.
Rock and musical bands of the first decade of the 21st century.
Safety in closed venues for shows. State controls and corruption.
The levels of responsibility.

Guga teacher prepared by Rosario Zerbi de Troisi, specialist in the didactics of language and literature.