Cristina Peri Rossi (born 12 November 1941) is a

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

, and author of

short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

. Considered a leading light of the post-1960s period of prominence of the Latin-American novel, she has written more than 37 works. She has been a pioneer and one of the female authors associated to the

Latin American Boom The Latin American Boom () was a literary movement of the 1960s and 1970s when the work of a group of relatively young Latin American novelists became widely circulated in Europe and throughout the world. The Boom is most closely associated with ...

. Peri Rossi has lived in Barcelona since 1972, after a civic-military dictatorship was established in Uruguay and censored her works. She has translated into Spanish authors such as Clarice Lispector and

Monique Wittig Monique Wittig (; 13 July 1935 – 3 January 2003) was a French author, philosopher, and feminist theorist who wrote about abolition of the sex-class system and coined the phrase "heterosexual contract." Her groundbreaking work is titled '' The ...

. She has worked for several newspapers and media agencies such as '' Diario 16'', ''El Periódico'' and ''

Agencia EFE Agencia EFE, S.A. () is a Spanish international news agency, the major Spanish-language multimedia news agency and the world's fourth largest wire service after the Associated Press, Reuters, and Agence France-Presse. EFE was created in 1939 ...

''. Peri Rossi won the

Miguel de Cervantes Prize The Miguel de Cervantes Prize () is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' calls it "most prestigious and remunerative award given for Spanish-languag ...

in 2021, the most prestigious literary award in the Spanish-speaking world.

Life

She was born in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

, 12 November 1941, but was exiled in 1972 after a civic-military dictatorship was established. She moved to Spain, where she became a citizen in 1975. she lives in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, where she continues to write fiction and work as a journalist. She studied at the University of the Republic.

Journalism

Cristina Peri Rossi is active as a journalist and political commentator in Barcelona. She is a radio journalist for the public Catalan station Catalunya Radio. She was fired from this position in October 2007 and accused the station of 'linguistic persecution', claiming she was fired for speaking Spanish instead of Catalan. She was later re-instated to her post after an outcry. She is well known for her defense of civil liberties and freedom of expression. She has long supported gay marriage and welcomed Spain's decision to recognize it. In an '' El Mundo'' article in March 2006, she spoke out against the rise of religious extremism in Europe, and specifically the violence that followed the 'Danish Cartoons Affair'. In the article she expresses her support to the 'Together Facing the New Totalitarianism' Manifesto, which was published in the left-leaning French weekly

Charlie Hebdo ''Charlie Hebdo'' (; ) is a French satirical weekly magazine, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics, and jokes. The publication has been described as anti-racist, sceptical, secular, libertarian, and within the tradition of left-wing radicalism ...

in March 2006.

Literary criticism

She was part of the Latin American Boom, a movement associated with authors such as

Gabriel García Márquez Gabriel José García Márquez (; 6 March 1927 – 17 April 2014) was a Colombian writer and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo () or Gabito () throughout Latin America. Considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th centur ...

Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (28 March 1936 – 13 April 2025) was a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and politician. Vargas Llosa was one of the most significant Latin American novelists and essayists a ...

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

Carlos Fuentes Carlos Fuentes Macías (; ; November 11, 1928 – May 15, 2012) was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are ''The Death of Artemio Cruz'' (1962), '' Aura'' (1962), '' Terra Nostra'' (1975), '' The Old Gringo'' (1985) and '' Christop ...

. ''La nave de los locos'' (The Ship of Fools) (1984) is generally regarded by critics as Peri Rossi's most important work. It is an

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...

novel which takes the form of a

pastiche A pastiche () is a work of visual art, literature, theatre, music, or architecture that imitates the style or character of the work of one or more other artists. Unlike parody, pastiche pays homage to the work it imitates, rather than mocking ...

travel writing The genre of travel literature or travelogue encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. History Early examples of travel literature include the '' Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (generally considered a ...

. The protagonist, Equis, is a misfit who travels to a number of deliberately vague locations. By inviting the reader to see modern society through the eyes of Equis, Peri Rossi is using the technique of

defamiliarisation Defamiliarization or ''ostranenie'' ( rus, остранение, p=ɐstrɐˈnʲenʲɪjə) is the artistic technique of presenting to audiences common things in an unfamiliar or strange way so they could gain new perspectives and see the world diffe ...

to produce a biting

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposin ...

of today's world. This includes a strong dose of

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

: Equis eventually renounces his own sexuality, declaring that there is "harmony in impotence," which can be read as a denouncement of patriarchial and phallogocentric society. More generally, the work shows toleration and arguably even idealisation of sexualities that have been traditionally considered dissident, including gerontophilia and controversially, in the character Morris' love for a ten-year-old boy,

pedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of pube ...

. The novel exposes the dangers of arbitrary dictatorial government in its inclusion an emotional depiction of a

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

in a country which remains unspecified, but which could be based on any of the various

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

n dictatorships of the latter half of the twentieth century. The title of the book is taken from the Ship of Fools legend, which is reworked by Peri Rossi in the novel itself. The novel shows sympathy for those condemned to the ship of fools and there is a clear parallel between this

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

episode and the modern-day aforementioned

passage. The themes established in ''La nave de los locos'' are ones which Rossi revisits in other works. Her latest novels include ''Solitario de amor'' (Solitaire of Love) (1989), ''La última noche de Dostoievski'' (Dostoyevsky's Last Night) (1992) and ''El amor es una droga dura'' (Love is a hard drug) (1999). All of these novels are formally less experimental than Nave. They deal with male protagonists who, like Equis, gradually explore their sexualities, discovering that they have to renounce traditional gender roles both in sexual behaviour and in the real world to find fulfilment. However, there is little political commentary in these novels. Peri Rossi has also produced an impressive amount of poetry, again covering many of the ideas outlined above. The lesbian eroticism of ''Evohé'' (1971) caused a scandal when first released. In 2004, Peri Rossi published ''Por fin solos'', a collection of short stories where love is a result of eroticism and frustration. The lovers, whatever their condition or sex, seek a reason in the beloved so that they may feel saved, as is the case in "Náufragos". Peri Rossi also uses (determinedly) symbols that link with the deterioration of heterosexual relationships, such as the bottle of lye, the scarf, and flowers, among others. Peri Rossi's book ''Estrategias del Deseo'', which was also published in 2004, was found so moving and inspiring by Latina lesbian writer Tatiana de la tierra that de la tierra decided to translate the book to English (''Strategies of Desire'').

Complete list of published works

Short stories

* ''Viviendo'' (1963). "Living" * ''Los museos abandonados'' (1968). "Abandoned Museums" * ''Indicios pánicos'' (1970). ''Panic Signs,'' trans. Mercedes Rowinsky-Geurts and Angelo A. Borrás (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2002). , * ''La tarde del dinosaurio'' (1976). ''Afternoon of the Dinosaur,'' trans. Robert S. Rudder and Gloria Chacón de Arjona (Svenson Publishers, 2014). , * ''La rebelión de los niños'' (1980). "Kids' Rebellion" * ''El museo de los esfuerzos inútiles'' (1983). ''The Museum of Useless Efforts'', trans. Tobias Hecht (University of Nebraska Press, 2001) * ''Una pasión prohibida'' (1986). ''A Forbidden Passion,'' trans. Mary Jane Treacy (Cleis Press, 1993). , * ''Cosmoagonías'' (1988). "Cosmoagonies" * ''La ciudad de Luzbel y otros relatos'' (1992). "Luzbel's City and Other Stories" * ''Desastres íntimos'' (1997). ''Intimate Disasters'', trans. Robert S. Rudder and Ignacio López-Calvo (Latin American Literary Review Press, 2014). , * ''Por fin solos'' (2004). "Alone At Last"

Novels

* ''El libro de mis primos'' (1969). "My Cousin's Book" * ''La nave de los locos'' (1984). ''The Ship of Fools'', trans. Psiche Hughes (Readers International, 1999). , * ''Solitario de amor'' (1988). ''Solitaire of Love,'' trans. Robert S. Rudder and Gloria Arjona (Duke University Press, 2000). , * ''La última noche de Dostoievski'' (1992). ''Dostoevsky's Last Night'' (Picador, 1996). , * ''El amor es una droga dura'' (1999). "Love is a Hard Drug"

Poetry

* ''Evohé'' (1971). ''Erotic Poems'' (bilingual text), trans. Diana P. Decker (Azul Editions, 1994). , * ''Descripción de un naufragio'' (1974). "Description of a Shipwreck" * ''Diáspora'' (1976). "Diaspora" * ''Lingüística general'' (1979). "General Linguistics" * ''Europa después de la lluvia'' (1987). "Post-Rain Europe" * ''Babel bárbara'' (1991) * ''Otra vez Eros'' (1994). "Eros, Again" * ''Aquella noche'' (1996). "That Night" * ''Inmovilidad de los barcos'' (1997). "Ships's Stiffness" * ''Poemas de amor y desamor'' (1998). "Poems of Love and Lovelessness" * ''Las musas inquietantes'' (1999). "The Disturbing Muses" * ''Estado de exilio'' (2003). ''State of Exile'' (bilingual text), trans. Marilyn Buck (City Lights Books, 2008) * ''Estrategias del deseo'' (2004). "Strategies of Desire" * ''Habitación de hotel'' (2007). "Hotel Room"

Essays

* ''Fantasías eróticas'' (1990). "Erotic Fantasies" * ''Acerca de la escritura'' (1991). "On Writing"

In anthologies

* Majorie Agosin, (ed) ''These are Not Sweet Girls: Poetry by Latin American Women,'' White Pine Press, New York, 1998. (English translations of poetry by Cristina Peri Rossi, Gabriela Mistral, and Giannina Braschi). * ''The Best of Review: Celebrating the Americas Society's 40th Anniversary,'' editors Tess O'Dwyer and Doris Sommer, Routledge, Francis & Taylor, London, 2005. (English translation excerpts of Latin American literary classics by Cristina Peri Rossi and her contemporaries Luisa Valenzuela, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Derek Walcott, and Giannina Braschi).

References

External links

Official Web site in Spanish

Cristinaperirossi.org (Unofficial Web site in English)

Profile at escritoras.com (Google translation)

Full text of her short story "Rumors" at WordsWithoutBorders.org
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peri Rossi, Cristina 1941 births Living people Uruguayan expatriates in Spain Uruguayan women novelists Premio Cervantes winners 20th-century Uruguayan poets Uruguayan women short story writers Uruguayan translators Uruguayan people of Italian descent Uruguayan women poets Uruguayan activists Uruguayan women activists Uruguayan satirists Lesbian poets Lesbian novelists Uruguayan lesbian writers Uruguayan LGBTQ poets 21st-century Uruguayan poets Uruguayan LGBTQ novelists Spanish lesbian writers Spanish LGBTQ poets Spanish LGBTQ novelists Spanish women novelists Spanish women activists Spanish satirists Spanish women satirists 20th-century Uruguayan novelists 20th-century translators 20th-century Uruguayan short story writers 20th-century Uruguayan women writers 21st-century Uruguayan women writers 21st-century Uruguayan writers Portuguese–Spanish translators Recipients of the Delmira Agustini Medal 20th-century Uruguayan LGBTQ people 21st-century Uruguayan LGBTQ people 20th-century Spanish LGBTQ people 21st-century Spanish LGBTQ people