Literary Invention and Critical Fashion: Missing the Boat in the Sea of Lentils

In pursuing the relation of Sea of Lentils (1979) to the Spanish American literary canon, I argue that while Benítez-Rojo\u27s novel did not fall into the category of the already canonized—and therefore was spared a parricidal gesture of the Post-Boom writers—neither did it belong amidst the previously marginalized texts. I suggest that Sea of Lentils concentrates its internal critique of language and representation around the process of remembering in a manner that is radically at odds not only with the traditional historical novel, but with the official voice of the ascendant testimonio as well. Moreover, the notion of memory as unpredictable turbulent flow and the breaking down of a globalizing grand récit into fractal petites histoires lead us toward chaos theory and Postmodernism. I conclude that while Sea of Lentils prefigured a variety of concerns that were to become dominant in the 1980s, it essentially failed to satisfy the more immediate expectations of invention on the part of technocratic critics, on one hand, and, on the other, of culturalists longing for a genuinely Latin American and authentic discourse

La obsolescencia no-programada: una circunnavegación alrededor del testimonio latinoamericano y sus avatares críticos

Este artículo ofrece un panorama de las diversas formas narrativas que suelen agruparse bajo el rubro de testimonio latinoamericano. Una vez esbozadas las principales corrientes en los debates críticos generados por el testimonio, este artículo concluye con la sugerencia de que las futuras investigaciones han de enfocarse en la reevaluación de los marcos metodológicos a la luz del contexto actual marcado por la globalización, digitalización y el vertiginoso cambio de las nociones de lo real y lo virtual. Palabras clave: testimonio latinoamericano, crítica del testimonio.This article offers an overview of the myriad narrative forms grouped under the label of Latin American testimonial discourse (testimonio). After outlining the main currents in the critical debates generated by testimonio, this article also offers some suggestions for further research by calling for an in-depth re-evaluation of existing methodological frameworks within the context of globalization, digitalization, and rapidly changing notions of the virtual and the real. Key words: Latin American testimonio, testimonio criticism

UO2 nanoparticles synthesis from leaching solutions on the hematite support

In the present studies the bacterial leaching process is used to extract uranium from the uranium mining wastes. The bioleaching process is environment friendly and gives the extraction yield of over 90%. The bioleaching solutions were obtained from the waste materials located at different places at Lover Silesia (Kowary, Grzmiąca, Kopaniec). Among various templates the hematite Fe2O3 nanoparticles are most useful. Interactions uranium ions with synthesized nanoparticles of hematite, magnesite, and iron were examined.

Literary Invention and Critical Fashion: Missing the Boat in the Sea of Lentils

In pursuing the relation of Sea of Lentils (1979) to the Spanish American literary canon, I argue that while Benítez-Rojo's novel did not fall into the category of the already canonized—and therefore was spared a parricidal gesture of the Post-Boom writers—neither did it belong amidst the previously marginalized texts. I suggest that Sea of Lentils concentrates its internal critique of language and representation around the process of remembering in a manner that is radically at odds not only with the "traditional" historical novel, but with the official voice of the ascendant testimonio as well. Moreover, the notion of memory as unpredictable "turbulent flow" and the breaking down of a globalizing grand récit into "fractal" petites histoires lead us toward chaos theory and Postmodernism. I conclude that while Sea of Lentils prefigured a variety of concerns that were to become dominant in the 1980s, it essentially failed to satisfy the more immediate expectations of invention on the part of "technocratic" critics, on one hand, and, on the other, of "culturalists" longing for a genuinely Latin American and "authentic" discourse

Invento, luego resisto: El Período Especial en Cuba a través del lente de género

En el presente artículo uso la teoría de Michel de Certeau sobre el “régimen de lo cotidiano” y la conceptualización de lo abyecto de Julia Kristeva para analizar la (po)ética de la inventiva y la resistencia en varias obras de escritoras y artistas cubanas inspiradas por las experiencias del Período Especial en Cuba.AbstractIn this article I draw on Michel de Certeau’s conceptualizations of the “practice of everyday life” and Julia Kristeva’s notion of the abject ion in order to analyze the poetics and ethics of invention and resistance by Cuban women writers and artists in response to the crisis of the so-called Special Period in Cuba

The effect of the source of microorganisms on adaptation of hydrolytic consortia dedicated to anaerobic digestion of maize silage

The main aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the source of microorganisms on the selection of hydrolytic consortia dedicated to anaerobic digestion of maize silage. The selection process was investigated based on the analysis of changes in the hydrolytic activity and the diversity of microbial communities derived from (i) a hydrolyzer of a commercial agricultural biogas plant, (ii) cattle slurry and (iii) raw sewage sludge, during a series of 10 passages. Following the selection process, the adapted consortia were thoroughly analyzed for their ability to utilize maize silage and augmentation of anaerobic digestion communities. The results of selection of the consortia showed that every subsequent passage of each consortium leads to their adaptation to degradation of maize silage, which was manifested by the increased hydrolytic activity of the adapted consortia. Biodiversity analysis (based on the 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing) confirmed the changes microbial community of each consortium, and showed that after the last (10th) passage all microbial communities were dominated by the representatives of Lactobacillaceae, Prevotellaceae, Veillonellaceae. The results of the functional analyses showed that the adapted consortia improved the efficiency of maize silage degradation, as indicated by the increase in the concentration of glucose and volatile fatty acids (VFAs), as well as the soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD). Moreover, bioaugmentation of anaerobic digestion communities by the adapted hydrolytic consortia increased biogas yield by 10-29%, depending on the origin of the community. The obtained results also indicate that substrate input (not community origin) was the driving force responsible for the changes in the community structure of hydrolytic consortia dedicated to anaerobic digestion