Roberto Ransom Carty (born 1960) is a Mexican writer. Regarded as one of Mexico's most original authors, his published work includes novels, collections of short stories, poetry, an essay on Graham Greene and work on Mexico, as well as several award-winning children's books. He is a member of the

Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte The Sistema Nacional de Creadores de Arte (SNCA; ''National System of Art Creators'') is program developed by the former Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes, and founded per presidential decree on September 3, 1993. Its goal is the advancem ...

Early life and education

Roberto Ransom was born in Mexico City to a second-generation

Irish American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

family that emigrated to Mexico. For his undergraduate education, Ransom applied to the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico ( es, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, UNAM) is a public research university in Mexico. It is consistently ranked as one of the best universities in Latin America, where it's also the bigges ...

where he studied dramatic literature and theater at the School of Philosophy and Letters. His time there introduced him to the artistic world of Mexico during the

La Decada Perdida LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

of the 1980s. After nearly a decade of working as a journalist and writer, Ransom received a

Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

-Garcia Robles Scholarship and studied for a M.A. and a PhD degree in theology, ethics, and culture at the University of Virginia in the late 1990s. Afterwards, he returned to Mexico to write and teach at the

Autonomous University of Chihuahua , mottoeng = Strive to achieve, achieve to give , established = 8 December 1954 , type = Public university , rector = Heliodoro Araiza Reyes (Interino) , faculty = , staff = , ...

Writing style

At the School of Philosophy and Letters, and during his early career, Roberto Ransom formed close friendships with other young writers such as Ana García Bergua,

Tedi López Mills Tedi López Mills is a Mexican poet born in 1959 in Mexico City. She studied philosophy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico for the first three years of her Bachelor's and finished at Sorbonne University in Paris. She later comple ...

Ignacio Padilla Ignacio Padilla (November 7, 1968 – August 20, 2016) was a Mexican writer whose works were translated into several languages. Padilla helped found the Crack Movement, along with fellow writers Eloy Urroz, Jorge Volpi, and Pedro Angel Pa ...

, and

Jennifer Clement Jennifer Clement (born 1960) is an American-Mexican author. In 2015, she was elected as the first woman president of PEN International, an organization that was founded in 1921. Under her leadership, the groundbreaking PEN International Women's ...

''.''This generation of writers discovered beyond magic realism through work that was only implicitly related to Mexico or Latin America. Instead, it placed emphasis on experimentation and structure by using polyphonic and nonlinear narratives, as well as

unreliable narrators An unreliable narrator is a narrator whose credibility is compromised. They can be found in fiction and film, and range from children to mature characters. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in ''The Rhetoric of Fiction''. While unrel ...

, and usage of Mexican Spanish. Ransom's work is unique in that it can also be read as simultaneously relating to the foreign experience in Mexico, and to foreign realities experienced through a subtle but uniquely Mexican sensibility. Ransom's work is also influenced by English and

American Gothic ''American Gothic'' is a 1930 painting by Grant Wood in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. Wood was inspired to paint what is now known as the ''American Gothic'' House in Eldon, Iowa, along with "the kind of people efancied shoul ...

writing traditions. His writing has been described as "clear, pellucid writing for dark and tortuous stories" by American translator Edith Grossman, who went on to describe this tension as "a devastating contrast between substance and style". His writing has also been regarded as charming, subtle and refined, with emotionally deep characters and insights. Ransom's writing is known for focusing on building atmosphere and ideas,seldom relying on sharp twists or outsized action. Both his novel ''Tale of Two Lions'' ( Norton 2007), and the collection of short stories ''Missing Persons, Animals, and Artists'' (Swan Isle Press/ University of Chicago 2018), have been translated and published in English. ''Missing Persons, Animals, and Artists'' has enjoyed critical acclaim for its translation by Daniel Shapiro, who was awarded grants by PEN America, and the National Endowment for the Arts for its completion.

Selected published works

* Ransom Roberto. ''En esa otra tierra'', Alianza Editorial (Mexico City), 1991. * Ransom Roberto. ''Historia de dos leones'', Ediciones El Aduanero (Naucalpan, Mexico), 1994. * Ransom Roberto. ''Saludos a la Familia,'' Universidad Autónoma de México, (Toluca, Mexico) 1995. * Ransom Roberto. ''Chanterelle'', Instituto Mexiquense de Cultura, (Toluca, Mexico) 1997. * Ransom Roberto. ''Desaparecidos, animales y artistas'', Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (Mexico City, Mexico), 1999. * Ransom Roberto. ''La línea del agua'', Joaquín Mortiz (México City), 1999. * Ransom Roberto. ''Te guardaré la espalda'', Joaquín Mortiz (México City), 2002. * Ransom Roberto. ''Museo Marino,'' Instituto Chihuahuense de la Cultura (Chihuahua), 2004. * Ransom Roberto. ''Los días sin Bárbara,'' Instituto Chihuahuense de la Cultura (Chihuahua), 2006. * Ransom Roberto. ''João y el oso Antártica,'' Alfaguara Infantil (Mexico City), 2006. * Reid Jasper (translator) ''A Tale of Two Lions: A Novel'', Norton (New York, NY), 2007. * Ransom Roberto. ''Vidas Colapsadas'', Consejo Nacional para la Cultura y las Artes (Mexico City), 2012. * Ransom Roberto. ''Carlos y los Objetos Perdidos'', Alfaguara Infantil (Mexico City), 2012. * Ransom Roberto. ''La casa desertada: Graham Greene en México,'' Aldus Matadero (Mexico City),2017. * Shapiro, Daniel (translator) ''Missing Persons Animals and Artists'', Swan Isle Press (Chicago), 2018.

Personal life

Roberto Ransom is married and has three children. He currently lives in

Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places *Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mun ...

, Mexico, where he is a tenured professor at the

References

External links