|
Silvina Ocampo Argentina
|
|
Silvina Ocampo was born in Buenos Aires in 1903 to an elite
Argentine family. With her husband Bioy Casares and their close friend Jorge Luis Borges, Ocampo collaborated on two anthologies while at the same
time publishing fiction and poetry on her own. A short story writer and a poet
of very rare talent, Silvina Ocampo
was awarded the National Prize for Poetry
in 1962, among several other literary awards. She died in Buenos Aires in 1993.
Ocampo’s lasting fame rests on her volumes of short stories, published between
1937 and 1988, such as Autobiografía de Irene (“Irene`s Autobiography”,
1948) and La furia
y otros cuentos (“The
Fury and other Stories”, 1959) as well as posthumously published works such as Las
repeticiones y otros cuentos (“The Repetitions and other Stories”, 2006) or
her novel La torre sin fin (“The Topless
Tower”, 2006).
In 2011 Sudamericana published Ocampo’s “posthumous autobiography”. The novel La promesa (“The Promise”) is an intelligent, finely observed
and bizarre portrait of a number of people and their relationships to one
another. When a woman falls overboard on a ship, she makes a promise to
herself: Should she survive, she will write a book about all the people who
have played a role in her life, be it large or small.
Ocampo’s readers will participate in an unforgettable banquet.
Luckily for many of us, Ocampo’s universe is
constantly expanding.
Página/12
Of all the words that could define her, the most accurate is, I think,
ingenious.
Jorge Luis Borges
I think Silvina Ocampo is a genius, one of the greatest. She lived a
little in the shadow of her sister Victoria on the one hand and of her husband
Bioy Casares and Borges on the other. She was an extravagant woman when writing
her stories, short and crystalline, she was perfect.
César Aira
Originl editions and rights sold:
La torre sin fin
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 2006, 124 p.
UK: Hesperus Press 2010
La promesa
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 2011, 144 p.
Italy: La Nuova Frontiera
Short prose (selection):
Las repeticiones y otros relatos
inéditos
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 2006, 296 p.
La furia y otros
cuentos
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 2006, 275 p.
Brazil: Octavo
Germany: Suhrkamp 1992
Invenciones del recuerdo
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 2006, 183 p.
Autobiografía de Irene
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 2008, 192 p.
Italy: Sellerio 2000
Ejércitos de la oscuridad
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 2008, 185 p.
Anthologies:
France: Gallimard 1974, 1999
Italy: Einaudi 1973
Editori
Riuniti 1989
La Nuova
Frontiera 2010
For children:
El caballo alado
Buenos Aires: Ediciones De La Flor 1996
Italy: Mondadori 2000
La naranja maravillosa
Buenos Aires: Sudamericana 2006, 118 p.
Italy: Mondadori 2001
Represented for Sudamericana