Juan Rodolfo Wilcock (17 April 1919 – 16 March 1978) was an Argentine-Italian writer, poet, critic and translator. He was the son of Charles Leonard Wilcock and Ida Romegialli. He adopted a son,
Livio Bacchi Wilcock, who translated
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...
' work into Italian.
Early life
Wilcock was born in
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...
, the capital and chief metropolis of Argentina, to an English father and an Argentine mother.
He studied at the
University of Buenos Aires
The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...
, from which he was graduated as a civil engineer in 1943. That same year, he began work for a railroad company then expanding into western Argentina; the experience would be short-lived, as Wilcock resigned a year later.
Wilcock's first known literary work and accomplishment came in 1940 with the ''Libro de poemas y canciones'' ("Book of Poems and Songs"), which earned the Martín Fierro prize of the Argentine Society of Writers (SADE). The same work would also win the prestigious Municipal Award of Literature given by the City of Buenos Aires. Soon Wilcock would see himself surrounded by some of the most prominent writer-intellectuals of the time, like
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo ( ; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator regarded as a key figure in Spanish literature, Spanish-language and international literatur ...
,
Silvina Ocampo
Silvina Ocampo (28 July 1903 – 14 December 1993) was an Argentine short story writer, poet, and artist. Ocampo's friend and collaborator Jorge Luis Borges called Ocampo "one of the greatest poets in the Spanish language, whether on this side o ...
, and
Adolfo Bioy Casares
Adolfo Bioy Casares (; 15 September 1914 – 8 March 1999) was an Argentine fiction writer, journalist, diarist, and translator. He was a friend and frequent collaborator with his fellow countryman Jorge Luis Borges. He is the author of the Fa ...
, perhaps the most influential of the many acquaintances he befriended. Wilcock would later refer to these three as a constellation and the Trinity, who helped him rise from what he called a "grey existence".
In 1945, Wilcock undertook the self-publication of two collections of poetry, ''Ensayos de poesía lírica'' ("Essays in Lyric Poetry") and ''Persecución de las musas menores'' ("Persecution of the Lesser Muses"). The following year, he would again receive the prize of the SADE, this time for his ''Paseo Sentimental'' ("Sentimental Walk"); in that same year, Wilcock published his ''Los hermosos días'' ("The Beautiful Days").
Travels and tribulations
At the time, General
Juan Peron
''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philipp ...
's regime was suffocating intellectual life in Argentina; as
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
was over in Europe, many chose to relocate to the newly liberated capitals of the old world. In 1951 Wilcock left Argentina for the first time in a visit to Italy. He traveled in the company of Ocampo and Bioy Casares.
Life as an Italian writer
By 1953, Wilcock was residing in London, earning a living as a translator and a commentator for the
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
. After a short return to Buenos Aires the next year at the age of 34, he set sail for Italy, where he settled permanently three years later. From then on, most of his works, some of his most celebrated, would be written in Italian, a language he learned while living near Rome. During those years he wrote a letter to his friend Miguel Murmis in which he stated, "I see Argentina as an immense translation".
In 1975, Wilcock requested Italian citizenship; it was finally granted him a year after his death.
Juan Rodolfo Wilcock died in his country cottage in
Lubriano
Lubriano is a (municipality) of about 900 inhabitants in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region of Latium, located about northwest of Rome and about north of Viterbo.
Lubriano borders the following municipalities: Bagnoregio, Castiglione ...
,
Province of Viterbo
The province of Viterbo () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Viterbo.
Geography
Viterbo is the most northerly of the provinces of Lazio. It is bordered to the south by the Metropolitan Cit ...
, north of Rome, in March 1978. His remains were buried in the
Protestant Cemetery, Rome
The Non-Catholic Cemetery (), also referred to as the Protestant Cemetery () or the English Cemetery (), is a private cemetery in the Rioni of Rome, rione of Testaccio in Rome. It is near Porta San Paolo and adjacent to the Pyramid of Cestius, ...
, near the
Porta San Paolo
The Porta San Paolo (English: Saint Paul Gate) is one of the southern gates in the 3rd-century Aurelian Walls of Rome, Italy. The Via Ostiense Museum (') is housed within the gatehouse.
It is in the Ostiense quarter; just to the west is the Roma ...
, beside the
Pyramid of Cestius
The pyramid of Cestius (in Italian language, Italian, ''Piramide di Caio Cestio'' or ''Piramide Cestia'') is an ancient Roman pyramid in Rome, Italy, near the Porta San Paolo and the Protestant Cemetery, Rome, Protestant Cemetery. It was built i ...
.
List of works
In Spanish
* ''Libro de poemas y canciones'' (1940)
* ''Ensayos de poesía lírica'' (1945)
* ''Persecución de las musas menores'' (1945)
* ''Paseo sentimental'' (1946)
* ''Los hermosos días'' (1946, 1998)
* ''Sexto'' (1953, 1999)
* ''Los traidores'' (a theatrical piece in verse written in collaboration with Silvina Ocampo, 1956)
* ''Poemas'' (1980)
In Italian
* ''Il caos'' (1960)
* ''Fatti inquietanti'' (1961)
* ''Luoghi comuni'' (1961)
* ''Teatro in prosa e versi'' (1962)
* ''Poesie spagnole'' (1963)
* ''La parola morte'' (1968)
* ''Lo stereoscopio dei solitari'' (1972)
* ''La sinagoga degli iconoclasti'' (1972, translated into English by
Lawrence Venuti
Lawrence Venuti (born 1953) is an American translation theorist, translation historian, and a translator from Italian, French, and Catalan.
Career
Born in Philadelphia, Venuti graduated from Temple University. In 1980 he completed a Ph.D. ...
as ''The Temple of Iconoclasts'')
* ''Il tempio etrusco'' (1973)
* ''I due allegri indiani'' (1973)
* ''Parsifal'' (1974)
* ''Italienisches Liederbuch 34 poesie d'amore'' (1974)
* ''L'ingegnere'' (1975)
* ''Frau Teleprocu'' (In collaboration with Francesco Fantasia, 1976)
* ''Il libro dei mostri'' (1978)
Posthumous
* ''Poesie'' (1980)
* ''L'abominevole donna delle nevi e altre commedie'' (1982)
* ''Le nozze di Hitler e Maria Antonietta nell'inferno'' (in collaboration with Francesco Fantasia, 1985)
* ''Il reato di scrivere'' (2010)
* ''Italienisches Liederbuch''(Translated into German by Hans Raimund as ''Italienisches Liederbuch'', Löcker Verlag>/Wien 2023
References
External links
Official Site*
La Nacion article
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilcock, Juan Rodolfo
1919 births
1978 deaths
Writers from Buenos Aires
Argentine literary critics
Argentine short story writers
Argentine novelists
Argentine civil engineers
Argentine male poets
Argentine speculative fiction writers
Argentine emigrants to Italy
20th-century Argentine poets
20th-century Argentine male writers
Naturalised citizens of Italy
Translators of Jorge Luis Borges
English–Spanish translators
French–Spanish translators
German–Spanish translators
Italian–Spanish translators
Spanish–Italian translators
20th-century Argentine translators
Argentine writers in German
Italian writers in German
University of Buenos Aires alumni
Burials in the Protestant Cemetery, Rome
Argentine expatriates in the United Kingdom