Juan Filloy (1 August 1894 – 15 July 2000) was an Argentine writer. At various times, he was also a swimmer and a boxing referee. He was a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

, speaking seven languages. Most of his life was spent in Rio Cuarto where he served as a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judi ...

Life and career

Filloy was born in Córdoba. He received many honors and awards during his lifetime, including a nomination for the Nobel Prize. He wrote 55 novels, all of which were given titles with seven letters: ''Op Oloop'', ''Caterva'', ''¡Estafen!'', ''Aquende'', ''La Purga'', ''Metopas'', ''Periplo'', ''Balumba'', ''Sexamor'', ''Tal Cual'' and ''Zodíaco'' are among the best known. He also composed over 6,000

palindrome A palindrome (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpæl.ɪn.droʊm/) is a word, palindromic number, number, phrase, or other sequence of symbols that reads the same backwards as forwards, such as ''madam'' or ''racecar'', the date "Twosday, 02/02/2020" and th ...

s and coined words which have passed into general usage. He was friends with (and influenced)

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

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 ...

. He was also an acquaintance of

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...

. He died of natural causes while sleeping, shortly before his 106th birthday. He often said that he wanted to live in three centuries. His burial place is in the "Cementerio San Jerónimo" in Córdoba, Argentina.

Works in English

* ''Op Oloop''; translated by Lisa Dillman.

Dalkey Archive Press Dalkey Archive Press is an American publisher of fiction, poetry, foreign translations and literary criticism specializing in the publication or republication of lesser-known, often avant-garde works. The company has offices in Funks Grove, Il ...

, 2009. * ''Caterva''; translated by Brendan Riley.

, 2015.

Works in Dutch

* ''Op Oloop''; translated by Arie van der Wal. Afterword by Mempo Giardinelli. Coppens & Frenks, 1994. * ''Caterva''; translated by Arie van der Wal. Coppens & Frenks, 1998

Filmography

* ''Ecce Homo''. Contrakultura, 2005. Directed by

Eduardo Montes-Bradley Eduardo Montes-Bradley (born July 1960) is an Argentine-American documentary filmmaker and photographer whose work focuses on biographical, cultural, and historical subjects. He is best known for directing ''Evita'' (2008), ''Rita Dove: An Ameri ...

. Film based on the last known interview with Juan Filloy by Ana Da Costa.

External links

*
Short story of an interview with Filloy

Small biography and book comments
1894 births 2000 deaths National University of Córdoba alumni Argentine male writers Argentine men centenarians Argentine people of Spanish descent Argentine people of French descent {{Argentina-writer-stub