Ernesto Sabato
Encyclopedia
Ernesto Sabato was an Argentine
writer
, painter
and physicist
. According to the BBC he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary world throughout Latin America". Upon his death El País dubbed him the "last classic writer in Argentine literature".
Sabato was distinguished by his bald pate
and brush moustache and wore tinted spectacles and open-necked shirts. He was born in Rojas, a small town in Buenos Aires Province
. Sabato began his studies at the Colegio Nacional de La Plata
. He then studied physics
at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata
, where he earned a Ph.D. He then attended the Sorbonne
in Paris
and worked at the Curie Institute
. After World War II
, he lost faith in science and started writing.
Sabato's oeuvre includes three novels: El Túnel
(1948), Sobre héroes y tumbas (1961) and Abaddón el exterminador
(1974). The first of these received critical acclaim upon its publication from, among others, fellow writers Albert Camus
and Thomas Mann
. The second is regarded as his masterpiece, though he nearly burnt it like many of his other works. Sabato's essays cover topics as diverse as metaphysics
, politics and tango
. His writings led him to receive many international prizes, including the Legion of Honour (France), the Prix Médicis
(Italy) and the Miguel de Cervantes Prize
(Spain).
By request of President Raúl Alfonsín
, he presided over the CONADEP
commission that investigated the fate of the desaparecidos during the Dirty War
of the 1970s. The result of these findings was published in 1984 bearing the title Nunca Más (Never Again).
, Buenos Aires Province
, son of Francesco Sabato and Giovanna Maria Ferrari, Italian immigrants from a town in Calabria
of Arbereshe (Albanian) ancestry. His father was from Fuscaldo
and his mother from San Martino di Finita
. He was the tenth of a total of eleven children. Being born after his ninth brother's death, he carried on his name "Ernesto".
In 1924 he finished primary school in Rojas and settled in the city of La Plata
for his secondary education at the Colegio Nacional de La Plata. There he met professor Pedro Henríquez Ureña
, an early inspiration for his writing career. In 1929 he started college, attending the School of Physics and Mathematics at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata
.
He was an active member in the Reforma Universitaria
movement, founding "Insurrexit Group" in 1933 - of communist ideals - together with Héctor P. Agosti, Ángel Hurtado de Mendoza and Paulino González Alberdi, among others.
In 1933 he was elected Secretario General of the Federación Juvenil Comunista (Communist Youth Federation). While attending a lecture about Marxism
he met Matilde Kusminsky Richter, aged 17, who would leave her parents' house to live with Sabato.
In 1934 he started to doubt communism and Joseph Stalin
's regime. The Communist Party of Argentina
, which had noted this, sent him to the International Lenin School
for two years. According to Sabato "it was a place where either you recovered or ended up in a gulag
or psychiatric hospital
". Before arriving at Moscow
, he traveled to Brussels
as a delegate from the Communist Party of Argentina at the "Congress against Fascism and the War". Once there, fearing not coming back from Moscow, he left the congress to escape to Paris
. It was there where he wrote his first novel: La Fuente Muda, which remains unpublished. Once back in Buenos Aires
, in 1936, he married Matilde Kusminsky Richter.
in physics
from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Thanks to Bernardo Houssay
, he was granted a research fellowship in atomic radiation at the Curie Institute
in Paris. On May 25, 1938 Jorge Federico Sabato, his first son, was born. While in France he made contact with the surrealist movement
, studying the works of Oscar Domínguez
, Benjamin Péret
, Roberto Matta Echaurren and Esteban Francés among others. This would have a deep influence on his future writing.
In 1939 he transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
. Once in 1940 he came back to Argentina intent on leaving physics behind. However, serving an obligation to those responsible for his fellowship Sabato started teaching at the Universidad de La Plata for Engineering admission, and relativity
and quantum mechanics for post graduate degrees. In 1943, due to an "existential crisis", he left science for good to become a full-time writer and painter.
In 1945, his second son, Mario Sabato
was born.
by Adolfo Bioy Casares
, in the magazine Teseo from La Plata
. Also, in concert with Pedro Henríquez Ureña
, he published a collaboration in the renown Sur magazine.
In 1942, working for Sur magazine reviewing books, he was put in charge of the "Calendario" section and participated in "Desagravio a Borges" in Sur nº 94. He also published articles for La Nación
, and his translation of The Birth and Death of the Sun by George Gamow
was published. The next year he published the translation for The ABC of Relativity by Bertrand Russell
.
In 1945, his first book, Uno y el Universo, a series of essays criticizing the apparent moral neutrality of science and warning about dehumanization processes in technological societies, was published; with time he would turn towards a libertarian
and humanist
standing. That same year he was awarded a prize by the municipality of Buenos Aires
for his book and the honor wand of the Sociedad Argentina de Escritores.
In 1948, after being rejected by several Buenos Aires' editors, Sabato published in Sur his first novel, El túnel
, a psychological novel narrated in first-person. Framed in existentialism
, it was met with enthusiastic reviews by Albert Camus
, who had the book translated by Gallimard into French
. It has been further translated to more than 10 languages. Others to enjoy the book included Thomas Mann
.
France's literary industry named his book Abaddon el Exterminador (The Angel of Darkness) as 1976's best foreign book.
In 1998 his wife passed away.
In 1999 he acquired the Italian citizenship, in addition to his original Argentine one.
Sabato died in Santos Lugares
, on April 30, 2011, two months short of his 100th birthday. His death was as a result of bronchitis
according to his companion and collaborator Elvira Gonzalez Fraga. World reaction to his death said he had "surpassed the world of literature to gain a more iconic status". El Mundo
of Spain said he was "the last survivor of Argentine writers with a capital letter".
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...
. According to the BBC he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary world throughout Latin America". Upon his death El País dubbed him the "last classic writer in Argentine literature".
Sabato was distinguished by his bald pate
Pate
Pate may refer to:* Pate , a Samoan percussion instrument* Pâté, a type of meat paste, terrine or pie* Pate, pâte, or paste, a term for the interior body of cheese, described by its texture, density, and color* Pâte à choux, a type of light pastry dough used especially to make filled pastries such...
and brush moustache and wore tinted spectacles and open-necked shirts. He was born in Rojas, a small town in Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
. Sabato began his studies at the Colegio Nacional de La Plata
Rafael Hernández National College
The Colegio Nacional Rafael Hernández is one of the four public high schools that are part of the National University of La Plata, in the City of La Plata, Argentina. The Colegio Nacional aegis denotes a school belonging to the system of national secondary schools...
. He then studied physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
The National University of La Plata is one of the most important Argentine national universities and the biggest one situated in the city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province...
, where he earned a Ph.D. He then attended the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and worked at the Curie Institute
Curie Institute (Paris)
thumb|Centre of protontherapyInstitut Curie is one of the leading medical, biological and biophysical research centres in the world.It is a private non-profit foundation operating a research center on biophysics, cell biology and oncology and a hospital specialized in treatment of cancer...
. After World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he lost faith in science and started writing.
Sabato's oeuvre includes three novels: El Túnel
El Túnel
The Tunnel is a dark, psychological novel written by Argentine writer Ernesto Sabato about a deranged porteño painter, Juan Pablo Castel, and his obsession with a woman...
(1948), Sobre héroes y tumbas (1961) and Abaddón el exterminador
Abaddón el exterminador
Abaddón el exterminador is an Argentine novel, written by Ernesto Sabato. It was first published in 1974....
(1974). The first of these received critical acclaim upon its publication from, among others, fellow writers Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
and Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
. The second is regarded as his masterpiece, though he nearly burnt it like many of his other works. Sabato's essays cover topics as diverse as metaphysics
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world, although the term is not easily defined. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:...
, politics and tango
Tango (dance)
Tango dance originated in the area of the Rio de la Plata , and spread to the rest of the world soon after....
. His writings led him to receive many international prizes, including the Legion of Honour (France), the Prix Médicis
Prix Médicis
The Prix Médicis is a French literary award given each year in November. It was founded in 1958 by Gala Barbisan and Jean-Pierre Giraudoux. It is awarded to an author whose "fame does not yet match his talent."...
(Italy) and the Miguel de Cervantes Prize
Miguel de Cervantes Prize
The Miguel de Cervantes Prize , established in 1976, is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language. The prize is similar to the Booker Prize, with its candidates from Commonwealth countries, in that it rewards authors from any...
(Spain).
By request of President Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Alfonsín
Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín was an Argentine lawyer, politician and statesman, who served as the President of Argentina from December 10, 1983, to July 8, 1989. Alfonsín was the first democratically-elected president of Argentina following the military government known as the National Reorganization...
, he presided over the CONADEP
Comisión Nacional sobre la Desaparición de Personas
National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons was an Argentine organization created by President Raúl Alfonsín on 15 December 1983, shortly after his inauguration, to investigate the fate of the desaparecidos and other human rights violations performed during the military dictatorship...
commission that investigated the fate of the desaparecidos during the Dirty War
Dirty War
The Dirty War was a period of state-sponsored violence in Argentina from 1976 until 1983. Victims of the violence included several thousand left-wing activists, including trade unionists, students, journalists, Marxists, Peronist guerrillas and alleged sympathizers, either proved or suspected...
of the 1970s. The result of these findings was published in 1984 bearing the title Nunca Más (Never Again).
Early years
Ernesto Sabato was born on June 24, 1911, in RojasRojas, Buenos Aires
Rojas is a town located in the north-east of the Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the head town of the Rojas Partido....
, Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires Province
The Province of Buenos Aires is the largest and most populous province of Argentina. It takes the name from the city of Buenos Aires, which used to be the provincial capital until it was federalized in 1880...
, son of Francesco Sabato and Giovanna Maria Ferrari, Italian immigrants from a town in Calabria
Calabria
Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....
of Arbereshe (Albanian) ancestry. His father was from Fuscaldo
Fuscaldo
Fuscaldo is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy.- External links : on http://www.telecosenza.it...
and his mother from San Martino di Finita
San Martino di Finita
San Martino di Finita is a town and comune in the province of Cosenza in the Calabria region of southern Italy.It is an Arbëreshë center founded in the late 15th-early 16th centuries by Albanian refugees....
. He was the tenth of a total of eleven children. Being born after his ninth brother's death, he carried on his name "Ernesto".
In 1924 he finished primary school in Rojas and settled in the city of La Plata
La Plata
La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....
for his secondary education at the Colegio Nacional de La Plata. There he met professor Pedro Henríquez Ureña
Pedro Henríquez Ureña
Pedro Henríquez Ureña was a Dominican intellectual, essayist, philosopher, humanist, philologist and literary critic.-Early works:Pedro Henríquez Ureña was born in Santo Domingo, the third of four siblings...
, an early inspiration for his writing career. In 1929 he started college, attending the School of Physics and Mathematics at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Universidad Nacional de La Plata
The National University of La Plata is one of the most important Argentine national universities and the biggest one situated in the city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province...
.
He was an active member in the Reforma Universitaria
University Revolution
The University Revolution or Argentine university reform of 1918 was a general modernization of the universities, especially tending towards democratization, brought about by student activism. The events started in Córdoba and spread to the rest of Argentina, and then through much of Latin America...
movement, founding "Insurrexit Group" in 1933 - of communist ideals - together with Héctor P. Agosti, Ángel Hurtado de Mendoza and Paulino González Alberdi, among others.
In 1933 he was elected Secretario General of the Federación Juvenil Comunista (Communist Youth Federation). While attending a lecture about Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
he met Matilde Kusminsky Richter, aged 17, who would leave her parents' house to live with Sabato.
In 1934 he started to doubt communism and Joseph Stalin
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...
's regime. The Communist Party of Argentina
Communist Party of Argentina
The Communist Party of Argentina is a communist party from Argentina. It was founded in 1918.At the 2005 legislative elections, the Party joined the Encuentro Amplio with other left-wing parties in Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires Province...
, which had noted this, sent him to the International Lenin School
International Lenin School
Situated in Moscow and shrouded in secrecy, the International Lenin School was founded in 1926 as an instrument for the "Bolshevisation" of the Communist International and its national sections, following the resolutions of the fifth Congress of the Comintern. Between 1926 and 1938 the school...
for two years. According to Sabato "it was a place where either you recovered or ended up in a gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
or psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospital
Psychiatric hospitals, also known as mental hospitals, are hospitals specializing in the treatment of serious mental disorders. Psychiatric hospitals vary widely in their size and grading. Some hospitals may specialise only in short-term or outpatient therapy for low-risk patients...
". Before arriving at Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, he traveled to Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
as a delegate from the Communist Party of Argentina at the "Congress against Fascism and the War". Once there, fearing not coming back from Moscow, he left the congress to escape to Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. It was there where he wrote his first novel: La Fuente Muda, which remains unpublished. Once back in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, in 1936, he married Matilde Kusminsky Richter.
His years as a scientist
In 1938 he obtained his Ph.D.Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Thanks to Bernardo Houssay
Bernardo Houssay
-External links:* * . WhoNamedIt.* . Nobel Foundation....
, he was granted a research fellowship in atomic radiation at the Curie Institute
Curie Institute (Paris)
thumb|Centre of protontherapyInstitut Curie is one of the leading medical, biological and biophysical research centres in the world.It is a private non-profit foundation operating a research center on biophysics, cell biology and oncology and a hospital specialized in treatment of cancer...
in Paris. On May 25, 1938 Jorge Federico Sabato, his first son, was born. While in France he made contact with the surrealist movement
Surrealism
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members....
, studying the works of Oscar Domínguez
Óscar Domínguez
Oscar M. Domínguez was a Spanish surrealist painter.Born in San Cristóbal de La Laguna on the island of Tenerife, Domínguez spent his youth with his grandmother in Tacoronte and devoted himself to painting at a young age after suffering a serious illness which affected his growth and caused a...
, Benjamin Péret
Benjamin Péret
Benjamin Péret was a French poet, Parisian Dadaist and a founder and central member of the French Surrealist movement with his avid use of Surrealist automatism.-Biography:...
, Roberto Matta Echaurren and Esteban Francés among others. This would have a deep influence on his future writing.
In 1939 he transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
. Once in 1940 he came back to Argentina intent on leaving physics behind. However, serving an obligation to those responsible for his fellowship Sabato started teaching at the Universidad de La Plata for Engineering admission, and relativity
Theory of relativity
The theory of relativity, or simply relativity, encompasses two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. However, the word relativity is sometimes used in reference to Galilean invariance....
and quantum mechanics for post graduate degrees. In 1943, due to an "existential crisis", he left science for good to become a full-time writer and painter.
In 1945, his second son, Mario Sabato
Mario Sábato
Mario Sábato is an Argentine film director and screenwriter. He is the son of the famed writer Ernesto Sábato.He worked mainly in the Cinema of Argentina best known for his children's comedy films.-External links:*...
was born.
Writing career
In 1941, Sabato published his first literary work, an article about La invención de MorelThe Invention of Morel
La invención de Morel — translated as The Invention of Morel or Morel's Invention — is a science fiction novel by Adolfo Bioy Casares. It was Bioy Casares' breakthrough effort, for which he won the 1941 First Municipal Prize for Literature of the City of Buenos Aires...
by Adolfo Bioy Casares
Adolfo Bioy Casares
Adolfo Bioy Casares was an Argentine fiction writer, journalist, and translator. He was a friend and collaborator with his fellow countryman Jorge Luis Borges, and wrote what many consider one of the best pieces of fantastic fiction, the novella The Invention of Morel.-Biography:Adolfo Bioy...
, in the magazine Teseo from La Plata
La Plata
La Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....
. Also, in concert with Pedro Henríquez Ureña
Pedro Henríquez Ureña
Pedro Henríquez Ureña was a Dominican intellectual, essayist, philosopher, humanist, philologist and literary critic.-Early works:Pedro Henríquez Ureña was born in Santo Domingo, the third of four siblings...
, he published a collaboration in the renown Sur magazine.
In 1942, working for Sur magazine reviewing books, he was put in charge of the "Calendario" section and participated in "Desagravio a Borges" in Sur nº 94. He also published articles for La Nación
La Nación
La Nación is an Argentine daily newspaper. The country's leading conservative paper, the centrist Clarín is its main competitor. It is the only newspaper in Argentina still published in broadsheet format.-Overview:...
, and his translation of The Birth and Death of the Sun by George Gamow
George Gamow
George Gamow , born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov , was a Russian-born theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He discovered alpha decay via quantum tunneling and worked on radioactive decay of the atomic nucleus, star formation, stellar nucleosynthesis, Big Bang nucleosynthesis, cosmic microwave...
was published. The next year he published the translation for The ABC of Relativity by Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Russell
Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
.
In 1945, his first book, Uno y el Universo, a series of essays criticizing the apparent moral neutrality of science and warning about dehumanization processes in technological societies, was published; with time he would turn towards a libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
and humanist
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
standing. That same year he was awarded a prize by the municipality of Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
for his book and the honor wand of the Sociedad Argentina de Escritores.
In 1948, after being rejected by several Buenos Aires' editors, Sabato published in Sur his first novel, El túnel
El Túnel
The Tunnel is a dark, psychological novel written by Argentine writer Ernesto Sabato about a deranged porteño painter, Juan Pablo Castel, and his obsession with a woman...
, a psychological novel narrated in first-person. Framed in existentialism
Existentialism
Existentialism is a term applied to a school of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who, despite profound doctrinal differences, shared the belief that philosophical thinking begins with the human subject—not merely the thinking subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual...
, it was met with enthusiastic reviews by Albert Camus
Albert Camus
Albert Camus was a French author, journalist, and key philosopher of the 20th century. In 1949, Camus founded the Group for International Liaisons within the Revolutionary Union Movement, which was opposed to some tendencies of the Surrealist movement of André Breton.Camus was awarded the 1957...
, who had the book translated by Gallimard into French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. It has been further translated to more than 10 languages. Others to enjoy the book included Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann
Thomas Mann was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and 1929 Nobel Prize laureate, known for his series of highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas, noted for their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual...
.
France's literary industry named his book Abaddon el Exterminador (The Angel of Darkness) as 1976's best foreign book.
In 1998 his wife passed away.
In 1999 he acquired the Italian citizenship, in addition to his original Argentine one.
Sabato died in Santos Lugares
Santos Lugares
Santos Lugares is a district in the southeast of the partido of Tres de Febrero. It is in the Gran Buenos Aires metropolitan area in the Buenos Aires Province, near the northeast of the Buenos Aires city. According to the , Santos Lugares has 17,023 inhabitants.-External links:...
, on April 30, 2011, two months short of his 100th birthday. His death was as a result of bronchitis
Bronchitis
Acute bronchitis is an inflammation of the large bronchi in the lungs that is usually caused by viruses or bacteria and may last several days or weeks. Characteristic symptoms include cough, sputum production, and shortness of breath and wheezing related to the obstruction of the inflamed airways...
according to his companion and collaborator Elvira Gonzalez Fraga. World reaction to his death said he had "surpassed the world of literature to gain a more iconic status". El Mundo
El Mundo (Spain)
El Mundo is the second largest printed and the largest digital daily newspaper in Spain and one of the newspapers of record in that country, with a daily circulation topping 300,000 readers for the printed edition and 24 million unique web visitors per month for the...
of Spain said he was "the last survivor of Argentine writers with a capital letter".
Novels
- 19481948 in literatureThe year 1948 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* The Pulitzer Prize for the Novel is renamed the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction....
: El túnelEl TúnelThe Tunnel is a dark, psychological novel written by Argentine writer Ernesto Sabato about a deranged porteño painter, Juan Pablo Castel, and his obsession with a woman...
(Translated by Harriet de Onis in 1950 as The Outsider and again by Margaret Sayers Peden in 1988 as The Tunnel.) - 19611961 in literatureThe year 1961 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*First English production of Bertolt Brecht's The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui*Michael Halliday publishes his seminal paper on the systemic functional grammar model....
: Sobre héroes y tumbas (Translated by Helen R. Lane in 1981 as On Heroes and Tombs.) - 19741974 in literatureThe year 1974 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*The Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics is founded by Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman.-New books:*Richard Adams - Shardik*Kingsley Amis - Ending Up...
: Abaddón el exterminadorAbaddón el exterminadorAbaddón el exterminador is an Argentine novel, written by Ernesto Sabato. It was first published in 1974....
(Translated by Andrew HurleyAndrew Hurley (academic)Andrew Hurley is primarily known as an English translator of Spanish literature, having translated a variety of authors, most notably the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges....
in 1991 as The Angel of Darkness.)
Essays
- 19451945 in literatureThe year 1945 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*November 1 - The magazine Ebony is published for the first time.*Noel Coward's short play, Still Life, is adapted to become the film, Brief Encounter....
: Uno y el Universo (One and the Universe) - 19511951 in literatureThe year 1951 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*E. E. Cummings and Rachel Carson are awarded Guggenheim Fellowships.*Flannery O'Connor is diagnosed with lupus....
: Hombres y engranajes (Men and Mechanisms) - 19531953 in literatureThe year 1953 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* January 22 - The Crucible, a drama by Arthur Miller, opens on Broadway....
: Heterodoxia (Heterodoxy) - 19561956 in literatureThe year 1956 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Writing under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar, author Romain Gary becomes the only person ever to win the Prix Goncourt twice.*Iris Murdoch marries John Bayley....
: El caso Sabato. Torturas y libertad de prensa. Carta abierta al General Aramburu (The Sabato Case. Tortures and Liberty of Press. Open Letter to General Aramburu) - 19561956 in literatureThe year 1956 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Writing under the pseudonym of Emile Ajar, author Romain Gary becomes the only person ever to win the Prix Goncourt twice.*Iris Murdoch marries John Bayley....
: El otro rostro del peronismo (The Other Face of Peronism) - 19631963 in literatureThe year 1963 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*First United States printing of John Cleland's 1749 novel, Fanny Hill . The book is banned for obscenity, triggering a court case by its publisher.*Leslie Charteris publishes his final collection of stories...
: El escritor y sus fantasmas (Translated by Asa Zatz in 1990 as The Writer in the Catastrophe of our Time.) - 19631963 in literatureThe year 1963 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*First United States printing of John Cleland's 1749 novel, Fanny Hill . The book is banned for obscenity, triggering a court case by its publisher.*Leslie Charteris publishes his final collection of stories...
: Tango, discusión y clave (Tango: Discussion and Key) - 19671967 in literatureThe year 1967 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Influential science fiction anthology Dangerous Visions published.*Cecil Day-Lewis is selected as the new Poet Laureate of the UK.-New books:...
: Significado de Pedro Henríquez Ureña (Significance of Pedro Henríquez Ureña) - 19681968 in literatureThe year 1968 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Dean R. Koontz's first novel, Star Quest is published....
: Tres aproximaciones a la literatura de nuestro tiempo: Robbe-Grillet, Borges, Sartre (Three Approximations to the Literature of our Time: Robbe-GrilletAlain Robbe-GrilletAlain Robbe-Grillet , was a French writer and filmmaker. He was, along with Nathalie Sarraute, Michel Butor and Claude Simon, one of the figures most associated with the Nouveau Roman trend. Alain Robbe-Grillet was elected a member of the Académie française on March 25, 2004, succeeding Maurice...
, BorgesJorge Luis BorgesJorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
, SartreJean-Paul SartreJean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre was a French existentialist philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic. He was one of the leading figures in 20th century French philosophy, particularly Marxism, and was one of the key figures in literary...
) - 19731973 in literatureThe year 1973 in literature involved several significant events and the writing of many notable books.-Events:*September 25 - The funeral of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda becomes a focus for protests against the new government of Augusto Pinochet...
: La cultura en la encrucijada nacional (Culture in the National Crossroads) - 19761976 in literatureThe year 1976 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Saul Bellow won both the Nobel Prize for Literature and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.-New books:*Kingsley Amis – The Alteration...
: Diálogos con Jorge Luis Borges (Dialogues with Jorge Luis Borges) (Edited by Orlando Barone.) - 19791979 in literatureThe year 1979 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*V.C...
: Apologías y rechazos (Apologies and Rebuttals) - 19791979 in literatureThe year 1979 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Douglas Adams - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*V.C...
: Los libros y su misión en la liberación e integración de la América Latina (Books and their Mission in the Liberation and Integration of Latin AmericaLatin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
) - 19881988 in literatureThe year 1988 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-New books:*Margaret Atwood - Cat's Eye*J.G. Ballard - Memories of the Space Age*Iain M...
: Entre la letra y la sangre. Conversaciones con Carlos Catania (Between Letter and Blood. Conversations with Carlos Catania) - 19981998 in literatureThe year 1998 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 5 - Tennessee Williams' 1938 play, Not About Nightingales, receives its stage première....
: Antes del finAntes del finAntes del fin is an autobiography of Ernesto Sabato released in 1998 in which he recounts his life and the influences on his political and ethical opinions. Sábato discusses the ill effects of globalization and the exalting of rationalism and materialism...
(Before the End) - 20002000 in literatureThe year 2000 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* February 13 - Final original Peanuts comic strip is published...
: La resistencia (The Resistance) - 20042004 in literatureThe year 2004 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:* Canada Reads selects Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing to be read across the nation....
: España en los diarios de mi vejez (Spain in the Diaries of my Old Age)
Others
- 19641964 in literatureThe year 1964 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Jean-Paul Sartre becomes head of the Organization to Defend Iranian Political Prisoners....
: Itinerario (Itinerary) - 19661966 in literatureThe year 1966 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*February 14 - Dissident writers Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky are sentenced to hard labour for "anti-Soviet activity"....
: Romance de la muerte de Juan Lavalle. Cantar de Gesta (Romance of Juan LavalleJuan LavalleJuan Galo de Lavalle was an Argentine military and political figure.-Biography:Lavalle was born in Buenos Aires to María Mercedes González Bordallo and Manuel José de La Vallée y Cortés, general accountant of rents and tobacco for the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.In 1799, the family moved to...
's Death. Cantar de gestaCantar de gestaA cantar de gesta is the Spanish equivalent of the Old French medieval chanson de geste or "songs of heroic deeds".The most important cantares de gesta of Castile were:...
) - 1984: Nunca más. Informe de la Comisión Nacional sobre la desaparición de personas (Never Again. Report from the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons)
Further reading
- Conde, David (1981). Archetypal Patterns in Ernesto Sabato's Sobre héroes y tumbas'.
- Foster, David William (1975). Currents in the Contemporary Argentine Novel: Arlt, Mallea, Sabato, and Cortázar.
- Francis, Nathan Travis (1973). Ernesto Sabato as a Literary Critic.
- Oberhelman, Harley D. (1970). Ernesto Sabato.
- Petersen, John Fred (1963). Ernesto Sabato: Essayist and Novelist.
- Predmore, James R. (1977). A Critical Study of the Novels of Ernesto Sabato.
- Price Munn, Nancy Elaine (1975). Ernesto Sabato: Theory and Practice of the Novel, 1945-1973. Wainerman Gonilsky, Luis (1978 [1971]). Sábato y el misterio de los ciegos.
External links
- with Ernesto Sábato: a sense of wonder, The UNESCO Courier, August 1990