Ruth. Cet article n’est pas disponible.Ruth

How does one experience things from the viewpoint of the other sex? It is this question that has led to Vildot’s creation of Ruth, the genre-defining story of a sex change told by the protagonist through a series of letters to an anonymous friend. Far from the condemnatory gaze or noise of those who understand life as nothing but outward appearances, Ruth demonstrates the sentimental and intellectual intimacy of a man transitioning into a woman, and describes a profund, touching process in which frustrations, ideas of liberty and changes of identity are interwoven.

Without descending into easy morbosity or exhibitions of sensationalist tendencies, Ruth represents Guillem Viladot’s indignation at both masculine and feminine sensibilities, while championing diversity of thought, love, liberty, and, most importantly, desire.

Poet, novelist, essayist and artist, Guillem Viladot is one of Catalonia’s most prolific and varied writers. A proponent of visual poetry, he founded Lo Pardal in his native Agramunt in the 1990s.

P. Louise Johnson (Matlock, 1970) has been at the University of Sheffield since 1996. Teaching Catalan literature, Louise has written widely on Viladot. This is her second translation for Fum d'Estampa.