{"product_id":"barrera-jazmina-the-queen-pb","title":"[10\/27\/26] Barrera, Jazmina: The Queen of Swords","description":"\u003cp\u003eTwo Lines Press, paperback\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTranslated by Christina Macsweeney\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublication Date: October 27, 2026\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublisher Marketing:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn what was at first meant to be a short essay about the influential Mexican writer Elena Garro (1916-1988), Jazmina Barrera's deep curiosity and exploration give us a singular portrait of a complex life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSifting through the writer's archives at Princeton, Barrera is repeatedly thwarted in her attempt to fully know her subject. Traditional means of research--the correspondence, photos, and books--serve only to complicate and cloud the woman and her work. \u003ci\u003eWho was Elena Garro, really?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eShe was a writer, a founder of \"magical realism,\" a dancer. A devotee to the tarot and the \u003ci\u003eI Ching\u003c\/i\u003e. A socialite and activist on behalf of indigenous Mexicans. She was a mother and a lover who repeatedly shook off (and cheated on) her manipulative husband, Nobel-laureate Octavio Paz. And above all, she wrote with simmering anger and glittering imagination.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Queen of Swords \u003c\/i\u003eis a portrait of a woman that also serves as an alternative history of Mexico City; a cry-out for justice; and an homage to the unknowable. It transcends mere biography, supplanting something tidy and authoritative for a sprawling experiment in understanding.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Open Books: A Poem Emporium","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45361797693463,"sku":"9781966192091","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0004\/6497\/7956\/files\/81YxjiJw_FL._SL1500.jpg?v=1786146171","url":"https:\/\/open-books-a-poem-emporium.myshopify.com\/products\/barrera-jazmina-the-queen-pb","provider":"Open Books: A Poem Emporium","version":"1.0","type":"link"}