Ciencias morales. (Moral Science)

Reviewed by Leda Schiavo, Buenos Aires, Argentina -- Críticas, 2/5/2008

Kohan, Martín.
Spain: Anagrama, dist by LD Books. 2007. 218p. ISBN: 978-84-339-7162-3. pap. $37.90. FICTION

Kohan’s seventh novel, which received the Herralde Prize in 2007, deals with repression in Argentina under the military dictatorship in the 1980s. Set in the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires (which in 1823 was briefly called School of Moral Sciences), the oldest and most prestigious secondary school in the city, the story chronicles how the school authorities try desperately to control every aspect of their students’ lives. They keep teenagers under constant surveillance and punish them even for small faults. (As a student at the Colegio in those years, Kohan experienced what he’s describing firsthand.) It is 1982, and the Malvinas (Falklands) War brings about the end of both the military junta and the school’s petty dictators. However, the Colegio’s authorities, still obsessed by the students’ perfect appearance and pure thoughts, behave in a repugnant way that mirrors the corruption and mediocrity of the military regime. Unfortunately, the narration is slow and at times exasperating, with a tendency to follow French Objectivism techniques, but the equivocal feelings of the female protagonist, a 20-year-old school guard, are successfully described in all their nuances. The historical background is not always explicit: the ideal reader should have some information about this period of Argentine history in order to grasp all the implicit meanings and subtle allegories. Despite its drawbacks, this book is indispensable for anyone interested in Argentine literature.