Humberto Costantini
Encyclopedia
Humberto "Cacho" Costantini (April 8, 1924 – June 7, 1987) was an Argentine
writer and poet whose work is filled with the rich slang (porteño
) of Buenos Aires. Except for his years of exile in Mexico, his life was lived in and around Buenos Aires
.
Costantini was born and died in Buenos Aires, the only child of Italian Jewish immigrants who lived in the barrio of Villa Pueyrredon. From his marriage to Nela Nur Fernandez, he had three children: Violeta, Ana and Daniel. After he finished his university studies, he became a medical veterinarian
. He practiced his profession in the fields near the city of Loberia, a province of Buenos Aires, where he moved with his wife. There his two daughters were born.
In 1955 he returned to Buenos Aires, and his son was born shortly thereafter. He worked in various jobs: veterinarian, salesman, potter, medical researcher, etc. Because of a fierce discipline, working "nailed to the chair", he was able to write and rewrite everyday.
His first book of stories, De por aquí nomás, was published in 1958, and from that time on there developed a long bibliography which touched all literary genres: short story, poetry, theatre, novel. His unfinished work, Rapsodía de Raquel Liberman, relates in biblical tones the exploits of a Jewish prostitute enslaved by the sinister organization Zwi Migdal
, until she rebels against this fate and leaves that life behind her. And here a fundamental theme appears, as in many other of Costantini's works, a force that drives his life and work: "To do what is right in the eyes of Jehova, meaning to fulfill one's destiny," as he would say. That attitude–of doing what is right–led him in many moments of his life to confront the powerful, as his heroine, Raquel Liberman succeeded in doing.
Costantini was the victim of political persecutions and blacklist
s. That posture of confronting the powerful that "Cacho" exercised naturally, without fuss, as the only possible road by which to travel through life, created both hatred and profound loyalty among many toward him. With Costantini nothing was ever wishy-washy; one was either honest or one was deceitful. He made it known that he wouldn't forgive any kowtowing.
From his youth he was politically active: in his student days he confronted the Fascists of the Alianza Libertadora Nacionalista and was politically active in the Communist Party until serious divergencies of opinion with the bureaucratic and pro-Soviet leadership caused him to break away. His "doing what is right in the eyes..." moved him to admire profoundly Ernesto Che Guevara. In the 1970s he was politically active on the revolutionary left, together with other writers, such as Harold Conti and Roberto Santoro, who were imprisoned by the criminal dictatorship of Videla, and to this day are still disappeared. His novel De Dioses, hombrecitos y policías was written between scary moments and escapes, in clandestine houses at unthinkable hours. This novel was awarded the Casa de Las Américas Prize
by an international jury and published in Mexico (later it was translated as The Gods, The Little Guys and the Police, translated by Toby Talbot and published in New York to excellent reviews). About this novel and other work of Costantini, Julio Cortázar said, "I love what Humberto Costantini does, and am full of confidence in his work. He is, for me, a very important writer."
In 1976 Humberto Costantini was forced into exile and went to Mexico. There he continued his writing that was to win important prizes. He suffered in an exile that obliged him "to glance through the lists for his loved ones, as if the city had been hit with a typhoon". He conducted narrative workshops regularly, made programs for radio and for television and he fell in love. As he said on his return: "In short, I lived". Another of his passions was the tango. An admirer of Osvaldo Pugliese, Anibal Pichuco, Troilo and Eduardo Arolas, he was a singer and dancer, knowledgeable in the lyrics and the history of the tango. In get-togethers with friends, there was always some guitar to accompany his voice, resonant with passion, as he would sing the milonga Marieta or El adios de Gabino Ezeiza. He composed milongas and tango lyrics, some of which were published and recorded.
In 1983, after seven years, seven months and seven days of exile, he returned to Buenos Aires
. There he lived the democratic springtime. He walked through the city, conversed with the streets of his barrio and with old friends of his infancy, knocked around, flabbergasted through his Buenos Aires. His work is published in many languages in addition to English, among them: Czech
, English
, Finnish
, German
, Hebrew
, Polish
, Russian
and Swedish
. His second novel, appeared in English as The Long Night of Francisco Sanctis, translated by Norman Thomas di Giovanni.
He died on the morning of 7 June 1987 from an illness that he had contracted much earlier. The night before, taking advantage of the slight well-being between chemotherapy treatments, he worked—as he had each day—on his novel La Rhapsodía de Raquel Liberman of which he managed to complete two volumes. This work remains unpublished.
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 and poet whose work is filled with the rich slang (porteño
Porteño
Porteño in Spanish is used to refer to a person who is from or lives in a port city, but it can also be used as an adjective for anything related to those port cities....
) of Buenos Aires. Except for his years of exile in Mexico, his life was lived in and around 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...
.
Costantini was born and died in Buenos Aires, the only child of Italian Jewish immigrants who lived in the barrio of Villa Pueyrredon. From his marriage to Nela Nur Fernandez, he had three children: Violeta, Ana and Daniel. After he finished his university studies, he became a medical veterinarian
Veterinarian
A veterinary physician, colloquially called a vet, shortened from veterinarian or veterinary surgeon , is a professional who treats disease, disorder and injury in animals....
. He practiced his profession in the fields near the city of Loberia, a province of Buenos Aires, where he moved with his wife. There his two daughters were born.
In 1955 he returned to Buenos Aires, and his son was born shortly thereafter. He worked in various jobs: veterinarian, salesman, potter, medical researcher, etc. Because of a fierce discipline, working "nailed to the chair", he was able to write and rewrite everyday.
Zwi Migdal
Zwi Migdal was an organization of Jewish white slave traders based in mostly Argentina, which engaged in trafficking of women from the shtetls of Eastern Europe.-Origin of the name:...
, until she rebels against this fate and leaves that life behind her. And here a fundamental theme appears, as in many other of Costantini's works, a force that drives his life and work: "To do what is right in the eyes of Jehova, meaning to fulfill one's destiny," as he would say. That attitude–of doing what is right–led him in many moments of his life to confront the powerful, as his heroine, Raquel Liberman succeeded in doing.
Costantini was the victim of political persecutions and blacklist
Blacklist
A blacklist is a list or register of entities who, for one reason or another, are being denied a particular privilege, service, mobility, access or recognition. As a verb, to blacklist can mean to deny someone work in a particular field, or to ostracize a person from a certain social circle...
s. That posture of confronting the powerful that "Cacho" exercised naturally, without fuss, as the only possible road by which to travel through life, created both hatred and profound loyalty among many toward him. With Costantini nothing was ever wishy-washy; one was either honest or one was deceitful. He made it known that he wouldn't forgive any kowtowing.
From his youth he was politically active: in his student days he confronted the Fascists of the Alianza Libertadora Nacionalista and was politically active in the Communist Party until serious divergencies of opinion with the bureaucratic and pro-Soviet leadership caused him to break away. His "doing what is right in the eyes..." moved him to admire profoundly Ernesto Che Guevara. In the 1970s he was politically active on the revolutionary left, together with other writers, such as Harold Conti and Roberto Santoro, who were imprisoned by the criminal dictatorship of Videla, and to this day are still disappeared. His novel De Dioses, hombrecitos y policías was written between scary moments and escapes, in clandestine houses at unthinkable hours. This novel was awarded the Casa de Las Américas Prize
Casa de las Américas Prize
The Casa de las Américas Prize is a Cuban cultural award given by the Casa de las Américas, an organization founded in April 1959. It is one of Latin America’s oldest and most prestigious literary awards....
by an international jury and published in Mexico (later it was translated as The Gods, The Little Guys and the Police, translated by Toby Talbot and published in New York to excellent reviews). About this novel and other work of Costantini, Julio Cortázar said, "I love what Humberto Costantini does, and am full of confidence in his work. He is, for me, a very important writer."
In 1976 Humberto Costantini was forced into exile and went to Mexico. There he continued his writing that was to win important prizes. He suffered in an exile that obliged him "to glance through the lists for his loved ones, as if the city had been hit with a typhoon". He conducted narrative workshops regularly, made programs for radio and for television and he fell in love. As he said on his return: "In short, I lived". Another of his passions was the tango. An admirer of Osvaldo Pugliese, Anibal Pichuco, Troilo and Eduardo Arolas, he was a singer and dancer, knowledgeable in the lyrics and the history of the tango. In get-togethers with friends, there was always some guitar to accompany his voice, resonant with passion, as he would sing the milonga Marieta or El adios de Gabino Ezeiza. He composed milongas and tango lyrics, some of which were published and recorded.
In 1983, after seven years, seven months and seven days of exile, he returned to 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...
. There he lived the democratic springtime. He walked through the city, conversed with the streets of his barrio and with old friends of his infancy, knocked around, flabbergasted through his Buenos Aires. His work is published in many languages in addition to English, among them: Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, Polish
Polish language
Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...
, Russian
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
and Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
. His second novel, appeared in English as The Long Night of Francisco Sanctis, translated by Norman Thomas di Giovanni.
He died on the morning of 7 June 1987 from an illness that he had contracted much earlier. The night before, taking advantage of the slight well-being between chemotherapy treatments, he worked—as he had each day—on his novel La Rhapsodía de Raquel Liberman of which he managed to complete two volumes. This work remains unpublished.