Beatriz Sarlo
Encyclopedia
Beatriz Sarlo is an Argentine
literary and cultural critic. She was also founding editor of the cultural journal Punto de Vista
("Point of View").
Sarlo was born in 1942 and studied literature at the undergraduate and graduate levels at the University of Buenos Aires
. The writer, critic, and dramatist David Viñas
was an early mentor and influence. In 1978, she co-founded Punto de Vista which was one of the major dissident voices during the military regime which ended in 1983, and which still is one of Argentina's leading periodicals. Because of the authoritarian nature of the regime, Sarlo and her fellow contributors had to use pseudonyms, and subordinate political questions to aesthetic ones. Paradoxically, this entailed a rethinking of the political which moved Sarlo's thought away from an earlier tendency to Marxism and other forms of radicalism. She has continued to maintain a moderate-left political stance that refrains from promoting euphorias of free-market thought or populist solidarity.
Sarlo is a highly laurelled academic who also operates as a public intellectual. She has written both on traditional literary topics--her book on Jorge Luis Borges
, published in 1993, is one of the seminal works on the great Argentine fabulist--but she has also worked in more cultural areas, such as feminism, the emergence of the modern Argentine city, and Argentina's divided sense of its place in Latin America. These various interests are linked by an overall concern with the intellectual and how the idea of the intellectual functions in contemporary discursive contexts. Sarlo is not a parochial or regional thinker, but participates in global debates occasioned by critical theory, postmodernity, and the destabilization of set political ideologies after the fall of Communism. She has warned, though, against the naive transnationalism seen in an earlier female Argentine intellectual, Victoria Ocampo
. In some ways, Sarlo's project is analogous to the work of thinkers of the previous generation such as Angel Rama
in its ability to traverse disciplinary and discursive boundaries, though Rama specifically has not been a huge influence on Sarlo.
Sarlo has worked with other major contemporary Argentine thinkers such as Carlos Altamirano
and Ricardo Piglia
. She held the Chair of Contemporary Literature at the Faculty of Arts and Letters at the University of Buenos Aires. In 2001, she was denied a position as the equivalent of distinguished professor, in controversial circumstances. She has also taught at several US universities, held the Simón Bolívar chair at the University of Cambridge
, and been a visiting fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. She also writes regularly for Argentine newspapers such as La Nación
, Clarín
(for which she writes a weekly column), and Página 12.
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...
literary and cultural critic. She was also founding editor of the cultural journal Punto de Vista
Punto de Vista
Punto de Vista was an Argentine journal founded in 1978 during the height of the military regime headed by General Jorge Videla...
("Point of View").
Sarlo was born in 1942 and studied literature at the undergraduate and graduate levels at the University of Buenos Aires
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
. The writer, critic, and dramatist David Viñas
David Viñas
David Viñas was an Argentine dramatist, critic, and novelist.-Life and career:Viñas grew up in Buenos Aires, and enrolled in the University of Buenos Aires, becoming head of the student organization Federación Universitaria de Buenos Aires...
was an early mentor and influence. In 1978, she co-founded Punto de Vista which was one of the major dissident voices during the military regime which ended in 1983, and which still is one of Argentina's leading periodicals. Because of the authoritarian nature of the regime, Sarlo and her fellow contributors had to use pseudonyms, and subordinate political questions to aesthetic ones. Paradoxically, this entailed a rethinking of the political which moved Sarlo's thought away from an earlier tendency to Marxism and other forms of radicalism. She has continued to maintain a moderate-left political stance that refrains from promoting euphorias of free-market thought or populist solidarity.
Sarlo is a highly laurelled academic who also operates as a public intellectual. She has written both on traditional literary topics--her book on Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge 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...
, published in 1993, is one of the seminal works on the great Argentine fabulist--but she has also worked in more cultural areas, such as feminism, the emergence of the modern Argentine city, and Argentina's divided sense of its place in Latin America. These various interests are linked by an overall concern with the intellectual and how the idea of the intellectual functions in contemporary discursive contexts. Sarlo is not a parochial or regional thinker, but participates in global debates occasioned by critical theory, postmodernity, and the destabilization of set political ideologies after the fall of Communism. She has warned, though, against the naive transnationalism seen in an earlier female Argentine intellectual, Victoria Ocampo
Victoria Ocampo
Victoria Ocampo Aguirre was an Argentine writer and intellectual, described by Jorge Luis Borges as La mujer más argentina ....
. In some ways, Sarlo's project is analogous to the work of thinkers of the previous generation such as Angel Rama
Ángel Rama
Ángel Rama was a Uruguayan writer, academic, and literary critic, known for his work on modernismo and for his theorization of the concept of "transculturation."-Biography:...
in its ability to traverse disciplinary and discursive boundaries, though Rama specifically has not been a huge influence on Sarlo.
Sarlo has worked with other major contemporary Argentine thinkers such as Carlos Altamirano
Carlos Altamirano
Carlos Altamirano Orrego is a lawyer and one of the most influential politicians of Chilean socialism. He was the general secretary of the Chilean Socialist Party between 1971 and 1979. Before that, he was deputy from 1961 to 1965 and senator from 1965 to 1973...
and Ricardo Piglia
Ricardo Piglia
Ricardo Piglia is one of the foremost contemporary Argentine writers, known for his fiction, including several collections of short stories; the novels Artificial Respiration , The Absent City , Burnt Money ; and criticism including Criticism and Fiction , Brief Forms and...
. She held the Chair of Contemporary Literature at the Faculty of Arts and Letters at the University of Buenos Aires. In 2001, she was denied a position as the equivalent of distinguished professor, in controversial circumstances. She has also taught at several US universities, held the Simón Bolívar chair at the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, and been a visiting fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. She also writes regularly for Argentine newspapers such as 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:...
, Clarín
Clarín (newspaper)
Clarín is the largest newspaper in Argentina, published by the Grupo Clarín media group. It was founded by Roberto Noble on 28 August 1945. It is politically centrist but popularly understood to oppose the Kirchner government...
(for which she writes a weekly column), and Página 12.
Publications
- El imperio de los sentimientos. (1985)
- Una modernidad periférica: Buenos Aires 1920 y 1930. (1988)
- La imaginación técnica. (1992)
- Borges, un escritor en las orillas. (1993)
- Escenas de la vida posmoderna. Intelectuales, arte y videocultura en la Argentina. (1994)
- Ensayos argentinos. De Sarmiento a la vanguardia. (1997)
- La máquina cultural: maestras, traductores y vanguardias. (1998)
- El imperio de los sentimientos. Narraciones de circulación periódica en la Argentina, 1917-1927. ISBN 978-9509314078 (2000)
- Siete ensayos sobre Walter Benjamin. ISBN 978-9505573837 Fondo de Cultura Económica (2000)
- La batalla de las ideas. 1943-1973. (2001)
- Tiempo presente. (2001)
- La pasión y la excepción. (2003)
- Escenas de la vida posmoderna. Intelectuales, arte y videocultura en la Argentina. (2004)
- Tiempo pasado. Cultura de la memoria y giro subjetivo. (2005)
- Escritos sobre literatura argentina. (2007)
- La ciudad vista. Mercancías y cultura urbana. (2009)
English translations
- Borges: A Writer on the Edge (1993) ISBN 978-1844675883 (Verso 2007)
- Scenes from Postmodern Life (2001, tr. Jon Beasley-Murray)
- The Technical Imagination: Argentina's Modern Dreams (2007)
External links
- Biography at Stanford University's website
- Punto de Vista online
- Beatriz Sarlo at Clarín
- Interview with Beatriz Sarlo, Barcelona MetropolisBarcelona MetropolisBarcelona Metrópolis is a magazine of urban information and thought dedicated to monitoring the evolution of the city of Barcelona.Barcelona...
, Spring 2008.