Antonio di Benedetto (2 November 1922 – 10 October 1986) was an Argentine novelist, short story writer and journalist.

Career

Di Benedetto began writing and publishing stories in his adolescence, inspired by the works of

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influent ...

and

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...

. '' Mundo Animal'', appearing in 1953, was his first story collection and won prestigious awards. A revised version came out in 1971, but the

Xenos Books The Borgo Press was a small publishing company founded by Robert Reginald in 1975 funded by the royalties gained from his first major reference work, ''Stella Nova: the contemporary science fiction authors'' (1970). That same year Reginald met Ma ...

translation uses the first edition to catch the youthful flavor. Antonio di Benedetto wrote five novels. '' Zama'' (1956) is considered by critics to be his magnum opus. '' El silenciero'' (1964, ''The Silentiary'') is noteworthy for expressing his intense abhorrence of noise, and was followed by ''Las suicidas'' (1969, ''The Suicides''). These three novels have come to be known as the "Trilogy of Expectation". Critics have compared his works to

Alain Robbe-Grillet Alain Robbe-Grillet (; 18 August 1922 – 18 February 2008) was a French writer and filmmaker. He was one of the figures most associated with the ''Nouveau Roman'' () trend of the 1960s, along with Nathalie Sarraute, Michel Butor and Claude Simo ...

Julio Cortázar Julio Florencio Cortázar (26 August 1914 – 12 February 1984; ) was an Argentine and naturalised French novelist, short story writer, poet, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenc ...

and

Ernesto Sábato Ernesto Sabato (; June 24, 1911 – April 30, 2011) was an Argentine novelist, essayist, 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 ...

. In 1976, during the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship, or a military regime, is a type of dictatorship in which Power (social and political), power is held by one or more military officers. Military dictatorships are led by either a single military dictator, known as a Polit ...

General Videla Jorge Rafael Videla ( ; ; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine Officer (armed forces), military officer and the ''de facto'' President of Argentina from 1976 to 1981, during the National Reorganization Process. His rule, which was du ...

, di Benedetto was imprisoned and tortured. Released a year later, he went into exile in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, then returned home in 1984. He travelled widely and won numerous awards, but never acquired a level of worldwide fame comparable to other Latin American writers, perhaps because his work was not translated to many languages.

Works

Novels

*''El pentágono'' (1955). Republished in 1974 as ''Anabella''. *'' Zama'' (1956). Translated with a foreword by

Esther Allen Esther Allen (born June 29, 1962) is a writer, professor, and translator of French-language and Spanish-language literature into English. She is on the faculties of Baruch College (Department of Modern Languages & Comparative Literature) and th ...

(

New York Review Books New York Review Books (NYRB) is the publishing division of ''The New York Review of Books''. Its imprints are New York Review Books Classics, New York Review Books Collections, The New York Review Children's Collection, New York Review Comics, ...

(NYRB), 2016) *'' El silenciero'' (1964). ''The Silentiary'', trans. Esther Allen, with an introduction by Juan José Saer (NYRB, 2022) *'' Las suicidas'' (1969). ''The Suicides'', trans. Esther Allen (NYRB, 2025) *''Sombras, nada más...'' (1984)

Short story collections

*'' Mundo animal'' (1953). ''Animal World'', trans.

H. E. Francis Herbert Edward Francis Jr. (January 11, 1924 – February 2, 2024) was an American scholar, academic and writer. Life and career Herbert Edward Francis was born in Bristol, Rhode Island, on January 11, 1924. He studied at the University of Wisco ...

, with an Afterword by

Jorge García-Gómez Jorge is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the given name George. While spelled alike, this name is pronounced very differently in each of the two languages: Spanish ; Portuguese . It is derived from the Greek name Γεώργιος (''Georgios' ...

Grand Terrace, CA Grand Terrace is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 12,040 at the 2010 census, up from 11,626 at the 2000 census. Grand Terrace is located between Highgrove and Colton, along the I-215 and Agua ...

. *''Grot'' (1957). Republished in 1969 as ''Cuentos claros'' *''Declinación y ángel'' (1958) *''El cariño de los tontos'' (1961) *''Absurdos'' (1978) *''Cuentos del exilio'' (1983) * ''Cuentos completos'' (2006)

Compilations in English

*''Nest in the Bones: Stories'', trans. Martina Broner (Archipelago, 2017)

Adaptations

''Zama'' was adapted to film in 2017 by Argentine director

Lucrecia Martel Lucrecia Martel (born December 14, 1966) is an Argentine film director, screenwriter, and producer whose feature films have frequented Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, and many other international film festivals. Film scholar Paul Julian Smith ...

and received critical acclaim. See also

Aballay (film) ''Aballay'' () is a 2010 Argentine-Spanish action drama film written and directed by Fernando Spiner. The film was selected as the Argentine entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 84th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shor ...

based on the di Benedetto short story of the same name.

Awards and honors

* 1973:

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

* 1984: Platinum

Konex Award Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities. History and purpose Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The p ...

* 1986: Gran Premio de Honor de la SADE

References

External links

Biography
(Spanish)

(Spanish) * 1922 births 1986 deaths Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine prisoners and detainees People from Mendoza, Argentina Torture victims of the Dirty War Argentine male journalists 20th-century Argentine writers 20th-century Argentine male writers 20th-century Argentine novelists Male novelists 20th-century Argentine journalists {{Argentina-writer-stub