Juan Carlos Onetti
Encyclopedia
Juan Carlos Onetti was an Uruguay
an novelist and author of short stories.
A high school drop-out, Onetti's first novel, El pozo, published in 1939, met with his close friends' immediate acclaim, as well as from some writers and journalists of his time. 500 copies of the book were printed, most of them left to rot at the only bookstore that sold it, Barreiro (the book was not reprinted until the 60's, with an introduction and preliminary study by Ángel Rama
). Aged 30, Onetti was already working as editing secretary of the famous weekly Uruguayan newspaper Marcha. He had lived for some years in Buenos Aires
, where he published short stories and wrote cinema critiques for the local media, and met and befriended the notorious novelist and journalist Roberto Arlt
, author of the novels El juguete rabioso, Los siete locos, Los lanzallamas.
He went on to become one of Latin America
's most distinguished writers, earning Uruguay's National Prize in literature in 1962. In 1974, he and some of his colleagues were imprisoned by the military dictatorship. Their crime: as members of the jury, they had chosen Nelson Marra's short story El guardaespaldas (i.e. "The bodyguard") as the winner of Marcha's annual literary contest. Due to a series of misunderstandings (and the need to fill some space in the following day's edition), El guardaespaldas was published in Marcha, although it had been widely agreed among them that they shouldn't and wouldn't do so, knowing this would be the perfect excuse for the military to intervene, considering the subject of the story (the interior monologue of a top-rank military officer who recounts his murders and atrocious behavior, much as it was happening with the functioning regime).
Onetti left his native country (and his much-loved city of Montevideo
) after being imprisoned for 6 months in Colonia Etchepare, a mental institution. A long list of world-famous writers -including Gabriel García Márquez
, Mario Vargas Llosa
and Mario Benedetti
- signed open letters addressed to the military government of Uruguay, which was unaware of the talented (and completely harmless) writer it had imprisoned and humiliated.
As soon as he was released, Onetti fled to Spain with his wife, violin player Dorotea Mühr. There he continued his career as a writer, being awarded the most prestigious literary prize in the Spanish-speaking world, the Premio Cervantes. He remained in Madrid until his death in 1994. He is interred in the Cementerio de la Almudena
in Madrid
.
adapted "Jacob y el Otro" for his 2009 film Bad day to go fishing
("Mal día para pescar"). The film premiered at 2009 Cannes Film Festival
, and was the Uruguayan candidate for Oscar Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
.
Spanish
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
an novelist and author of short stories.
A high school drop-out, Onetti's first novel, El pozo, published in 1939, met with his close friends' immediate acclaim, as well as from some writers and journalists of his time. 500 copies of the book were printed, most of them left to rot at the only bookstore that sold it, Barreiro (the book was not reprinted until the 60's, with an introduction and preliminary study by Ángel 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:...
). Aged 30, Onetti was already working as editing secretary of the famous weekly Uruguayan newspaper Marcha. He had lived for some years 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...
, where he published short stories and wrote cinema critiques for the local media, and met and befriended the notorious novelist and journalist Roberto Arlt
Roberto Arlt
Roberto Arlt was an Argentine writer.-Biography:He was born Roberto Godofredo Christophersen Arlt in Buenos Aires on April 2, 1900. His parents were both immigrants: his father Karl Arlt was a Prussian from Posen and his mother was Ekatherine Iobstraibitzer, a native of Trieste and Italian speaking...
, author of the novels El juguete rabioso, Los siete locos, Los lanzallamas.
He went on to become one of Latin America
Latin America
Latin 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...
's most distinguished writers, earning Uruguay's National Prize in literature in 1962. In 1974, he and some of his colleagues were imprisoned by the military dictatorship. Their crime: as members of the jury, they had chosen Nelson Marra's short story El guardaespaldas (i.e. "The bodyguard") as the winner of Marcha's annual literary contest. Due to a series of misunderstandings (and the need to fill some space in the following day's edition), El guardaespaldas was published in Marcha, although it had been widely agreed among them that they shouldn't and wouldn't do so, knowing this would be the perfect excuse for the military to intervene, considering the subject of the story (the interior monologue of a top-rank military officer who recounts his murders and atrocious behavior, much as it was happening with the functioning regime).
Onetti left his native country (and his much-loved city of Montevideo
Montevideo
Montevideo is the largest city, the capital, and the chief port of Uruguay. The settlement was established in 1726 by Bruno Mauricio de Zabala, as a strategic move amidst a Spanish-Portuguese dispute over the platine region, and as a counter to the Portuguese colony at Colonia del Sacramento...
) after being imprisoned for 6 months in Colonia Etchepare, a mental institution. A long list of world-famous writers -including Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
, Mario Vargas Llosa
Mario Vargas Llosa
Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
and Mario Benedetti
Mario Benedetti
Mario Benedetti was an Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet....
- signed open letters addressed to the military government of Uruguay, which was unaware of the talented (and completely harmless) writer it had imprisoned and humiliated.
As soon as he was released, Onetti fled to Spain with his wife, violin player Dorotea Mühr. There he continued his career as a writer, being awarded the most prestigious literary prize in the Spanish-speaking world, the Premio Cervantes. He remained in Madrid until his death in 1994. He is interred in the Cementerio de la Almudena
Cementerio de la Almudena
The Cementerio de Nuestra Señora de La Almudena is a cemetery in Madrid, Spain. It is the largest in Madrid and one of the largest in Western Europe...
in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
.
Writing awards
- Uruguay National Literature Prize (1962)
- William Faulkner Foundation Ibero-American Award (1963)
- Italian-Latin American Institute Prize (1972)
- Premio Cervantes (1980)
Selected works
- El pozo (1939) - The Pit
- Tierra de nadie (1941) - No Man's Land
- Para esta noche (1943) - Tonight
- La vida breve (1950) - A Brief Life
- Un sueño realizado y otros cuentos (1951)
- Los adioses (1954)
- Para una tumba sin nombre (1959) - A Grave with No Name
- La cara de la desgracia (1960)
- El astillero (1961) - The Shipyard
- Juntacadáveres (1964) - Body Snatcher
- Tres novelas (1967)
- Cuentos completos (1967)
- Los rostros del amor (1968)
- Novelas y cuentos cortos completos (1968)
- Obras completas (1970)
- La muerte y la niña (1973)
- Cuentos completos (1974)
- Tiempo de abrazar (1974)
- Réquiem por Faulkner (1975)
- Tan triste como ella y otros cuentos (1976)
- Dejemos hablar al viento (1979) - Let the Wind Speak
- Cuentos secretos (1986)
- Presencia y otros cuentos (1986)
- Cuando entonces (1987)
- Goodbyes and Other Stories (1990)
- Cuando ya no importe (1993) - Past Caring
Film adaptations
Uruguayan director Alvaro BrechnerAlvaro Brechner
Alvaro Brechner is a film director, writer and film producer.His debut feature film, Bad day to go fishing has been exhibited in several prestigious festivals such as Critics Week of Cannes Film Festival.-Biography:He attended the Catholic University of Uruguay where he obtained a degree in Media...
adapted "Jacob y el Otro" for his 2009 film Bad day to go fishing
Bad Day to Go Fishing
Bad day to go fishing is a Spanish-Uruguayan film directed by Alvaro Brechner and released in 2009. The film stars Gary Piquer, Jouko Ahola, Antonella Costa and Cesar Troncoso...
("Mal día para pescar"). The film premiered at 2009 Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
, and was the Uruguayan candidate for Oscar Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film
The Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is one of the Academy Awards of Merit, popularly known as the Oscars, handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...
.
Further reading
English- Juan Carlos Onetti, Manuel Puig and Luisa Valenzuela : marginality and gender / Linda Craig., 2005
- Onetti and others : comparative essays on a major figure in Latin American literature / Gustavo San Román., 1999
- Over her dead body : the construction of male subjectivity in Onetti / Judy Maloof., 1995
- An analysis of the short stories of Juan Carlos Onetti : fictions of desire / Mark Millington., 1993
- The landscapes of alienation : ideological subversion in Kafka, Céline, and Onetti / Jack Murray., 1991
- Reading Onetti : language, narrative, and the subject / Mark Millington., 1985
- Juan Carlos Onetti / Djelal Kadir., 1977
- Three authors of alienation : Bombal, Onetti, Carpentier / Michael Ian Adams., 1975
- The formal expression of meaning in Juan Carlos Onetti's narrative art / Yvonne Perier Jones., 1971
Spanish
- Bienvenido, Juan : textos críticos y testimoniales sobre Juan Carlos Onetti / Carina Blixen., 2007
- Onetti, la fundación imaginada : la parodia del author en la saga de Santa María / Roberto Ferro., 2003
- El sueño y la locura en la narrativa de Juan Carlos Onetti / Moira Bailey J., 1998
- La Obra de Juan Carlos Onetti : coloquio internacional / Université de Poitiers., 1990
- Identidad rioplatense, 1930 : la escritura coloquial : Borges, Arlt, Hernández, Onetti / Noemí Ulla., 1990
- Juan Carlos Onetti, papeles críticos : medio siglo de escritura / Jaime Concha., 1989
- J.C. Onetti : el espectáculo imaginario, II / José Pedro Díaz., 1989
- Juan Carlos Onetti / Hugo J Verani., 1987
- El primer Onetti y sus contextos / María C Milián-Silveira., 1986
- Juan C. Onetti / Emir Rodríguez Monegal., 1985
- Onetti, calculado infortunio / Fernando Curiel., 1984
- La dialectica de la identidad en la obra de Juan Carlos Onetti / Juan Manuel Molina., 1982
- Onetti, el ritual de la impostura / Hugo J Verani., 1981
- Juan Carlos Onetti, o, la salvación por la escritura / Omar Prego., 1981
- Onetti, obra y calculado infortunio / Fernando Curiel., 1980
External links
- http://www.onetti.net
- LookSmart's FindArticles - Projection as a narrative technique in Juan Carlos Onetti's 'Goodbyes'" - Studies in Short Fiction, Summer, 1994, by Mary-Lee Sullivan
- A Reign Not of This World: On Juan Carlos Onetti by Jonathan Blitzer
- Centenario Onetti: Nora Catelli, Andrés Ehrenhaus y Edgardo Dobri en Canal-L de Barcelona