World Humanities Expo Project

“La Muerte que me ronda” by Cristina Peri Rossi

Erica Freeman

SPN1125

Professor Karen Jones

• Cristina Peri Rossi was born the child of Italian immigrants in Montevideo, Uruguay (Boullosa). Through her mother, Rossi learned to appreciate art, literature and music from an early age. She studied biology and comparative literature and began writing books (Boullosa). She became an outspoken critic of the Uruguayan government and her literature was full of this criticism in addition to left wing ideals. As a result, she became one of the few women associated with Latin American literature in the 60’s and 70’s and was forced to move to Spain in political exile (Pertusa). Years later, she published her experiences during this time as poems in the book “State of Exile” (Trevisan). Rossi now resides in Barcelona and is a huge figure in Hispanic literature having contributed to many forms of literature including essays, novels, short stories and poems (Pertusa).

• The main themes in Rossi’s literature are what have affected her life. As a result of her political experiences, many of her works deal with politics and social injustices (Pertusa). In addition, because of the oppression of women and homosexuals in Uruguay and around the world she became a part of the Feminist movement and an advocator of gay rights. Her literature reflects these political and social ideals.

La muerte que me ronda

Te conozco, hija de putaEstás jugando conmigoasediándomerondándomeponiéndome a pruebaun día te llevas a quien más quieroy al siguiente a quien me quierea veces te diviertesy te llevas a dos el mismo día

así juegas conmigoa matarme de tristezaa destrozarme el corazón

Has decidido matarme lentamentede ausencia y de dolor

has decidido dejarme solacomo para que al finalcuando arribes

yo te dé la bienvenida.

Así te divierteste burlas de mí

de cualquier filosofíade cualquier pequeño orgullo

de las pretenciosasfatuidades del ego.

Así gozas túla gran perversa

pero aunque me duelasy me quites lo que más quiero

y me extorsiones como una vulgar estafadora

conmigo vas perdida:siempre supe que eras invencible

me duelespero no me engañas

como a los tontos que no saben donde tienen la clavícula

las que te llevas viven en mímás mías que nunca

lejos de tu alcancecomo vive mi hermana en este poema

escrito a tu pesar.

The Death That Surrounds Me

 I know you, son of a bitch

You are playing with me

Harassing me

Following me

Putting me to the test

One day you take away the person I love the most

And the next, the person who loves me

Sometimes you enjoy it

And you take both the same day

 

That’s the way you play with me

Killing me with sadness

Destroying my heart

 

You’ve decided to kill me slowly

By absence and with pain

 

You’ve decided to leave me alone

So that at the end

When you come back

I would welcome you

That’s what you enjoy doing

You make fun of me

Of any philosophy

Of any small amount of pride

Of pretentiousness vanity of ego

 

That’s how you have fun

Great evilness

But even though you hurt me

And you steal what I care about the most

 

You extort me like a vulgar cheater

 

With me you are going to lose

I always knew you were invincible

You hurt me

But you didn’t take advantage of me

Like the stupid people that don’t know where their collar bone is

What you took away lives in me

More mine now than ever

 

Far away from your reach

Like how my sister lives in this poem

Written in spite of you

Analysis

• In this poem Rossi addresses death. Her tone is both angry and defiant as she describes how death toys with her emotions. She says that death is killing her slowly by breaking her heart as it takes the ones that she loves. In the last stanza she reveals that death has taken her sister but “she lives in this poem, written in spite of you”. In this small way, she conquers death.

• The verbs that Rossi uses in the poem emphasize her agony and her anger. The profanity she uses in the first line immediately sets the tone for the rest of the poem. Although death takes and takes, Rossi’s tone portrays a person of great strength against an unbeatable foe.

• I’ve always been interested in the different ways literature addresses death. When I came across this poem the first thing that jumped out at me was the title “The Death That Surrounds Me”. The poem is so full of raw emotion that it left an impression on me which is why I chose it. I enjoyed the way that Rossi personified death as if it was a malevolent creature playing on the emotions of others.

Works Cited

Carmen, Boullosa. “Cristina Peri Rossi”. Bomb Magazine. Winter 2009. Web. 08 Oct. 2011.

Pertusa, Inma. Cristina Peri Rossi. 2010. Web. 08 Oct. 2011.

Trevisan, Graciela. “State of Exile: Interview with Cristina Peri Rossi.” El Tecolote. 15 May 2010. Web. 08 Oct. 2011.