Dark Fiction, Sinister Reality: A Conversation with Brenda Becette

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This bilingual episode was translated in real time by Sally Perret and in press by Nicolรกs Felipe Rueda Rey.

Este episodio bilingรผe fue traducido en tiempo real por Sally Perret y en prensa por Nicolรกs Felipe Rueda Rey.

On a spring day in 2025, I had the pleasure of meeting Argentine writer Brenda Becette as part of her visit to University of Wisconsin-Madisonโ€™s campus. Although we share different first languages, we exchanged a warm greeting and were able to sit down to record Edge Effectsโ€™s first ever bilingual podcast episode. Professors Sarli Mercado and Sally Perret joined us from the 4W Initiativeโ€”a campus group dedicated to using education, mutual care, and community to face challenges that women experience. The 4W Women in Translation project inspired this episode, as it aims to use Spanish/English translation to benefit readers around the world.

We discussed Becetteโ€™s book, La parte profunda (Editorial Universidad de Guadalajara, 2018), and especially her inspiration for portraying darker themes in environmental and womenโ€™s stories. Listeners should enjoy her excerpt reading, which was a favorite part of the experience for me as host. It was wonderful to be part of this incredible conversation, with many thanks again to Perret for her interpretive expertise.

A black and white photo of a woman from the waist-up. She is looking at the camera without smiling, and her hands are behind her back. She wears a black shirt with short sleeves and a necklace with scissors on the end.
Brenda Becette is a writer and clothing designer from the University of Buenos Aires. Brenda Becette es escritora y diseรฑadora de indumentaria de la Universidad de Buenos Aires.

En un dรญa de primavera de 2025 tuve el placer de conversar con la escritora argentina Brenda Becette como parte de su visita al campus de la Universidad de Wisconsin-Madison. Aunque nuestros idiomas son distintos, intercambiamos un afectuoso saludo y grabamos el primer episodio bilingรผe del podcast Edge Effects. Las profesoras Sarli Mercado y Sally Perret se sumaron desde la Iniciativa 4W, un grupo del campus dedicado a enfrentar, mediante la educaciรณn, el cuidado mutuo y la comunidad, los desafรญos que atraviesan las mujeres. El proyecto 4W Women in Translation fue la inspiraciรณn de este episodio, ya que busca aprovechar la traducciรณn entre espaรฑol e inglรฉs para beneficiar a lectoras y lectores de todo el mundo

Conversamos sobre el libro de Becette, La parte profunda (Editorial Universidad de Guadalajara, 2018), y especialmente sobre la inspiraciรณn para abordar temas mรกs oscuros en las historias sobre el medioambiente y las mujeres. Quienes escuchen el episodio podrรกn disfrutar de su lectura de un fragmento. Para mรญ como anfitriรณna, una de las partes mรกs valiosas de la experiencia. Fue maravilloso ser parte de esta increible conversaciรณn. Un agradecimiento especial a Perret por su pericia interpretativa.

Stream or download our episode here.
Pueden escuchar o descargar el episodio aquรญ.

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Interview Highlights

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Esta entrevista ha sido editada para mayor brevedad y claridad.

Bri Meyer: In La parte profunda, your stories tend to highlight the uncanny, or more sinister, themes of human nature, making them very pronounced. How do you use fiction to connect to the human tendency for self-destruction and the human tendency for environmental destruction?

En La parte profunda, tus historias tienden a resaltar los temas inquietantes, o mรกs siniestros, de la naturaleza humana, haciรฉndolos muy evidentes. ยฟCรณmo utilizas la ficciรณn para conectar con la tendencia humana a la autodestrucciรณn y a la destrucciรณn del medio ambiente?

The words "La parte profunda" and "BRENDA BECETTE" are the focal point. Around it, we see leaves, flowers, a bee, a crab, a chair, and a building - all in purple and lime green, which is the color of the background.
La parte profunda (Editorial Universidad de Guadalajara, 2018)

Brenda Becette: En realidad, esa extraรฑeza ya estaba en el aire en la รฉpoca en que escribรญ estos libros, y era algo de lo que hablรกbamos tambiรฉn con otros escritores. Y si uno va a estar en el mundo del arte, es clave mantenerse al tanto de lo que pasa y tener la sensibilidad para captar los acontecimientos. No es que intentรกramos ser ministros ni magos, pero veรญamos que las cosas estaban a punto de estallar. Se volviรณ tan evidente y fue mรกs allรก de todo lo que podรญamos imaginar a medida que seguรญa avanzando. Por eso, incluso los cuentos de este libro, que me parecรญan distรณpicos, en realidad no estรกn tan lejos de lo que ocurre en mi paรญs y en otros, acรก y en Europa.

Es muy loco. En particular, El cuento de la criada yo pensaba que era fantasรญa, y ahora veo grupos que intentan impulsar esos modos de vida. Sobre todo para las mujeres, da la sensaciรณn de que estamos retrocediendo a ideas que buscan reinstalar estructuras sociales del siglo XIX sobre cรณmo se supone que debemos ser, tanto en mi paรญs como en todas partes.

Como dirรญa Kafka, un libro tiene que ser el hacha que rompa el mar helado que tenemos dentro, algo que quiebre esta paz extraรฑa.

En verdad, lo que necesitamos es frenar. En mi paรญs se dice que tenemos que dejar de querer producir industria y que se quiere volver a ser el granero del mundo, el proveedor de carne y granos de los paรญses que antes considerรกbamos colonia. Como si รฉse fuera nuestro รบnico papel. Es una locura, y todo parece estarse volviendo realidad: cosas que antes eran pura ficciรณn.

In reality, this kind of strangeness was already in the air, and it was something that other writers were talking about. And if you’re going to be in the art world, it’s really important to keep up with what’s going on and to feel current events. It’s not like we’re trying to be ministers or Magi, but we saw that things were about to explode. It became so evident and went beyond anything that we could imagine. So even these stories that seem dystopic, they’re not so far from what’s happening in my country and in others here and in Europe.

As Kafka would say, art is the axe that breaks the frozen sea within us, something that shatters this strange peace.

It is crazy. I thought The Handmaid’s Tale in particular was fantasy, and now I see groups trying to promote those ways of life. It feels like we’re going back to nineteenth century ideas of how women are supposed to be, in my country and everywhere.

Really, what we need to do is stop. In my country, people say we have to stop trying to produce industry and that we want to return to being the world’s breadbasket, the supplier of meat and grain to the countries we once considered colonies, that this is our only role. It’s crazy. Everything happening now used to be fiction.

BM: Many of your stories are narrated by women. Was this a conscious choice? Why did you choose to do this?

Muchas de tus historias son narradas por mujeres. ยฟFue una decisiรณn consciente? ยฟPor quรฉ lo hiciste?

The center of the image has the words "LLAMARADA". There is a horizontal line through the word. Above the line, there is a woman in a woodsy setting sitting on the ground and holding a candle. The woman appears to be naked. She has four eyes on the top half of her head and long spikes extending from her head in all directions. In the bottom half of the image, there is a woman kneeling to a river with her tongue extended (as if to lick up the water). Her body is pink and has short spikes extending in all directions. The top of the image reads "BRENDA BECETTE" and the bottom, in a small font, "emecรฉ).
Llamarada (Emecรฉ, 2024)

BB: Bueno, no es una elecciรณn consciente escribir desde el lugar de una mujer, sino mรกs bien una especie de pulsiรณn por escribir desde los lugares atacados, desde quienes tienen que luchar o defenderse: las mujeres, los niรฑos y el medio ambiente. Es una forma de respuesta o โ€”si me voy mรกs lejosโ€” de venganza. Alguien tiene que defenderlos. Es, en definitiva, una respuesta a la violencia ejercida desde el poder.

It’s not necessarily a conscious choice to write from the place of a woman, but it more comes from an impulse to write from a place of those that are attacked constantly: women, children, and, of course, the environment. It’s my way to answer, to respond with a little bit of revenge or vengeance. Because someone has to defend it; someone has to defend nature, our resources, and all the people that don’t have access to power.

BM: We recently published a Faculty Favorites article on the theme of environmental activism in art and fiction. Connecting to that theme with this podcast, I’m curious how you think your readers will perceive the darker human and environmental issues that you explore in your short stories. What kind of action or reflection would you’d like to spark with your writing?

Recientemente publicamos un artรญculo en Faculty Favorites sobre el activismo ambiental en el arte y la ficciรณn. En relaciรณn con este podcast, me interesa saber cรณmo crees que tus lectores percibirรกn los problemas humanos y ambientales mรกs oscuros que exploras en tus cuentos. ยฟQuรฉ tipo de acciรณn o reflexiรณn te gustarรญa suscitar con tu escritura?

BB: Todo escritor quiere es que sus historias, relatos o ensayos realmente tengan impacto en la reflexiรณn sobre estos temas, despertar un poco de esta especie de letargo impulsado por varios sectores, incluso por los grandes medios de comunicaciรณn y las redes sociales. El poder ha ido cambiando de lugar y, especialmente, nos dirige desde esos espacios donde todo el mundo estรก conectado.

Todo parece estarse volviendo realidad: cosas que antes eran pura ficciรณn.

Creo que siempre ha sido la idea y el valor que tiene el arte: tratar de despertarnos un poco. Como dirรญa Kafka, un libro tiene que ser el hacha que rompa el mar helado que tenemos dentro, algo que quiebre esta paz extraรฑa. No escribo con ese proyecto en mente, pero obviamente estรก. Es algo que incluso a mรญ misma me sorprende cuando lo veo.

Everything happening now used to be fiction.

Every writer wants their stories to make people think and reflect about the things that they’re talking about, and maybe even wake people up. These things we’re seeing are motivated by various sectors and their social media, so power is changing hands.

Art has this role; it can wake us up. As Kafka would say, art is the axe that breaks the frozen sea within us, something that shatters this strange peace. I don’t think I actually mean to write this way. But then I read myself, and I’m really surprised that I see it too.

Featured image: Art from the cover of Llamarada (Emecรฉ, 2024), Brenda Becette’s latest book.

Brenda Becette is a writer and clothing designer from the University of Buenos Aires. Her collection of short stories, La parte profunda (Editorial UDG, 2018), is the winner of the Josรฉ Emilio Pacheco City and Nature Award at the Guadalajara International Book Fair in 2017. Two of her stories have been translated into English for the anthology Montaรฑas, and three or four rรญos (Editorial UDG, 2022). Her latest book is Llamarada (Emecรฉ, 2024). Contact.

Bri Meyer is an anthropology Ph.D. and former Managing Editor of Edge Effects. She is now a research communications specialist for the UWโ€“Madison College of Engineering, where she translates cutting-edge advancements for public or policy audiences. Catch her in nature, at a bakery, or at the gym. Contact.

Sally Perret is an Associate Professor of Spanish at Salisbury University. She has published in academic journals like theโ€ฏHispanic Research Journal,โ€ฏtheโ€ฏJournal of Spanish Cultural Studies, andโ€ฏรnsula.โ€ฏ Sally is also co-translator with Josรฉ Baรฑuelos-Montes of two anthologies:โ€ฏVoces de la Resistencia/Voices of Resistance: A Bilingual Anthology of AfroColombian Women Poetsโ€ฏ(Editorial Ultramarina, 2021) andโ€ฏPoetryfighters (Editorial Ultramarina, 2022).โ€ฏShe has been a participant of 4W-WIT since 2021. Contact.

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