Frank Smith's 'Guantanamo' Blurs Fiction and Interrogation Transcripts

Frank Smith's 'Guantanamo', published by Éditions du Seuil in the Fiction & Cie collection, transforms declassified US government interrogation transcripts from Guantanamo Bay into a fictional work. The transcripts, released in 2006 under media pressure, serve as raw material for Smith's stylistic experiment. Through monologues, Q&A formats, and narratives of detainees' journeys between Uzbekistan and Afghanistan, the text unsettles more than a straightforward document. The strategic use of the pronoun 'on' (one/we) disorients the reader, exposing the absurdity of Guantanamo. Smith, known as a poet and radio documentarian, avoids explicit denunciation, aiming instead to articulate the unspeakable with objective force. The work evokes Raymond Depardon's documentary quality and William Burroughs's experimentation, proposing a new form of engaged literature for the 21st century.