Santa Fe (Argentina), 1937 – París (Francia), 2005

By Flávio Aguiar

Despite living in France since 1968, the landscape of his birthplace, Santa Fe, Argentina, permeates his work. An essayist, narrator, and poet, he championed artistic freedom and opposed any aesthetic or ideological dogma. Practicing what he preached, The Witness (El entenado, 1983) parodies the Spanish conquest of Latin America through prose with a lyrical dimension akin to that of the Brazilian writer Autran Dourado.

His poetic work is compiled in a book titled The Art of Narrating (El arte de narrar, 1977), reflecting his intent to blend poetry with narrative.

With novels that resist easy interpretation, such as The Occasion (La ocasión, 1986), he positioned himself outside the main currents of Argentine literature, aligning with writers like Uruguayan Felisberto Hernández and Juan L. Ortiz, whom he admired for their “desire to create a personal work, a unique discourse.”

In 1991, he published the essay The River Without Shores (El río sin orillas), which garnered significant critical acclaim. Other works include The Royal Lemon Tree (El limonero real, 1974) and The Investigation (La pesquisa, 1994).