Tender Is the Flesh
Tender is the Flesh is an award-winning[1] dystopian novel by Argentine author Agustina Bazterrica. The novel was originally written in Spanish, and translated by Sarah Moses. Tender is the Flesh portrays a society in which a virus has contaminated all human meat. To supply this lack of animal flesh, cannibalism becomes legal. The novel follows the story of Marcos, a human meat supplier. Marcos is conflicted by this new society, and is tortured by his own personal losses. He is gifted his own personal head, and begins treating her as human.
Plot Summary
Main Characters
Marcos is the main character of the novel. An employee of one of the most reputable meat processing plants, he is in charge of daily operations and the supply and distribution of human meat.
Jasmine is a human bred for consumption that Marcos was gifted. She is the mother of Marcos’ second son.[2]
Don Armando is the main character’s father. He suffers from dementia and lives in a nursing home.
Cecilia is Marcos’ estranged wife who does not make an appearance in person till the end of the novel, as she and the main character communicate mostly over the phone.
Marisa is Marcos’ sister. Obsessed with status and climbing social ladders, Marisa uses her dead father’s wake to show off her human meat accessories.[3]
Leo was the son of Marcos and Cecilia who passed before the events that take place in the novel.
Themes
Euphemism
Bazterrica utilizes euphemism throughout Tender is the Flesh. Frequently, these euphemisms dehumanize the people that are born, bred, and used for food. “Special meat” is the substitute used to hide the identity of the food now consumed by most everyone.[2] Female’s breasts are referred to as “udders,” and the people that are to be slaughtered are called head. [4]
Veganism
While the author denotes in an interview that veganism is not meant to be a theme or message of the novel,[5] it is present nonetheless.
Critical Reception
Tender is the Flesh is a winner of Argentina’s Premio Clarin de Novela prize and is praised by several novel critics. The New York Times Daniel Kraus says Tender is the Flesh is “powerful” in displaying the monstrosities and desires of the hierarchical structure of capitalism. Kraus also identifies the realization that replacing pigs with humans completely alters the reader’s view on industrialized farming. Justine Jordan of The Guardian claims that the creepy landscape of the novel is similar to Argentine author Samantha Schweblin’s Fever Dream.[1] Jordan additionally asserts the novel as “horror”, “vampiric”, “provocative”, and “sorrowful”[1]. Headstuff David Tierney highlights the use of dark humor to compliment the novel’s darkness and horror. Tierney also identifies the main weakness of the novel as Bazterrica “holds its (the reader’s) hand too tightly” and the main strength being when “she lets it go”. Megan Todd’s article in the Journal of Cultural Analysis and Change displays Bazterrica’s novel as a “metaphorical commentary on how neoliberal capitalism’s powerful few exploit/consume the less powerful many.”
References
- ^ a b c "Tender Is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica review – a prizewinning Argentinian dystopia". the Guardian. 2020-02-21. Retrieved 2021-03-25.
- ^ a b Kraus, Daniel (2020-08-04). "What if the Meat We Ate Was Human?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-03-30.
- ^ Ascanio, María (22 March 2020). "Bodies becoming pain: unusual strategies of dissent in some transnational latin-american women writers" (PDF). Brumal: Revista de investigación sobre lo Fantástico.
- ^ "What's Wrong with Eating People? Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica". HeadStuff. 2020-04-29. Retrieved 2021-03-30.
- ^ "'He's eating a baby!': A Q&A with Agustina Bazterrica | Pushkin Press". pushkinpress.com. Retrieved 2021-03-30.