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Ernesto Sabato

Ernesto Sabato(June 24, 1911 – April 30, 2011) was an Argentinenovelist,essayist,painter,andphysicist.According to theBBChe "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary world throughout Latin America".[2]Upon his deathEl Paísdubbed him the "last classic writer in Argentine literature".[3]

Ernesto Sábato
Sabato in 1970
Sabato in 1970
Born(1911-06-24)June 24, 1911
Rojas,Buenos Aires Province,Argentina
DiedApril 30, 2011(2011-04-30)(aged 99)
Santos Lugares,Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
OccupationNovelist and essayist, painter[1]
LanguageSpanish
EducationPhD inPhysics
Alma materUniversidad Nacional de La Pampa
Period1941–2004
GenreNovel, essay
Notable worksEl Túnel
Sobre héroes y tumbas
Abaddón el exterminador
Notable awardsLegion of Honour
Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger
Miguel de Cervantes Prize
Jerusalem Prize
SpouseMatilde Kusminsky Richter (1936–1998)
Children2, includingMario
Signature
"E. Sabato"

Sabato was distinguished by his baldpateand brush moustache and wore tinted spectacles and open-necked shirts.[4]He was born in Rojas, a small town inBuenos Aires Province.Sabato began his studies at theColegio Nacional de La Plata.He then studiedphysicsat theUniversidad Nacional de La Plata,where he earned a PhD. He then attended theSorbonnein Paris and worked at theCurie Institute.AfterWorld War II,he lost interest in science and started writing.

Sabato's oeuvre includes three novels:El Túnel(1948),Sobre héroes y tumbas(1961) andAbaddón el exterminador(1974). The first of these received critical acclaim upon its publication from, among others, fellow writersAlbert CamusandThomas Mann.[1]The second is regarded as his masterpiece, though he nearly burnt it like many of his other works.[2]Sabato's essays cover topics as diverse asmetaphysics,politics andtango.[2]His writings led him to receive many international prizes, including theMiguel de Cervantes Prize(Spain), theLegion of Honour(France), theJerusalem Prize(Israel), and thePrix du Meilleur Livre Étranger(France).[1]

At the request of PresidentRaúl Alfonsín,he presided over theCONADEPCommission that investigated the fate of those who sufferedforced disappearanceduring theDirty Warof the 1970s. The result of these findings was published in 1984, bearing the titleNunca Más(Never Again).

Biography

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Early years

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Ernesto Sabato was born inRojas,Buenos Aires Province,son of Francesco Sabato and Giovanna Maria Ferrari, Italian immigrants fromCalabria.His father was fromFuscaldo,and his mother was anArbëreshë(Albanianminority in Italy) fromSan Martino di Finita.[5]He was the tenth of a total of 11 children. Being born after his ninth brother's death, he carried on his name "Ernesto".[6]

In 1924 he finished primary school in Rojas and settled in the city ofLa Platafor his secondary education at the Colegio Nacional de La Plata. There he met professorPedro Henríquez Ureña,an early inspiration for his writing career.[7]In 1929 he started college, attending the School of Physics and Mathematics at theUniversidad Nacional de La Plata.

He was an active member in theReforma Universitariamovement,[8]founding "Insurrexit Group" in 1933 – of communist ideals – together with Héctor P. Agosti, Ángel Hurtado de Mendoza and Paulino González Alberdi, among others.[9]

In 1933 he was elected Secretario General of theFederación Juvenil Comunista(Communist Youth Federation).[10]While attending a lecture aboutMarxismhe met Matilde Kusminsky Richter, aged 17, who would leave her parents' house to live with Sabato.[11]

In 1934 he started to doubt Communism andJoseph Stalin's regime. TheCommunist Party of Argentina,which had noted this, sent him to theInternational Lenin Schoolfor two years. According to Sabato, "it was a place where either you recovered or ended up in agulagorpsychiatric hospital".[12]Before arriving at Moscow, he traveled toBrusselsas a delegate from the Communist Party of Argentina at the "Congress against Fascism and the War". Once there, fearing not coming back from Moscow, he left the congress to escape to Paris.[12]It was there where he wrote his first novel:La Fuente Muda,which remains unpublished.[10][12]Once back inBuenos Aires,in 1936, he married Matilde Kusminsky Richter.

His years as a scientist

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In 1938 he obtained his PhD inphysicsfrom the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Thanks toBernardo Houssay,he was granted a research fellowship inatomic radiationat theCurie Institutein Paris.[10]On May 25, 1938 Jorge Federico Sabato, his first son, was born. While in France he made contact with thesurrealist movement,studying the works ofOscar Domínguez,Benjamin Péret,Roberto Matta EchaurrenandEsteban Francésamong others. This would have a deep influence on his future writing.[13]

During that time of antagonisms, I buried myself withelectrometersandgraduated cylindersduring the morning and spent the nights in bars, with the delirious surrealists. At the Dome and in the Deux Magots, inebriated with thoseheraldsofchaosand excess, we used to spend many hours creatingexquisite cadavers.

— Ernesto Sabato.[6][13]

In 1939 he transferred to theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.Once in 1940 he came back to Argentina intent on leaving physics behind. However, serving an obligation to those responsible for his fellowship Sabato started teaching at theUniversidad de La Platafor Engineering admission, andrelativityandquantum mechanicsfor post graduate degrees. In 1943, due to an "existential crisis", he left science for good to become a full-time writer and painter.[12]

At the Curie Institute, one of the highest goals for a physicist, I found myself empty. Beaten up by disbelief, I kept going because of inertia, which my soul rejected.

— Ernesto Sabato[6]

In 1945, his second son,Mario Sabatowas born.

Writing career

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Ernesto Sabato with Peruvian writerMario Vargas Llosain 1981

In 1941, Sabato published his first literary work, an article aboutLa invención de MorelbyAdolfo Bioy Casares,in the magazineTeseofromLa Plata.Also, in concert withPedro Henríquez Ureña,he published a collaboration in the renownedSurmagazine.

In 1942, working forSurmagazine reviewing books, he was put in charge of the "Calendario" section and participated in "Desagravio aBorges"inSurnº 94. He also published articles inLa Naciónand a translation ofThe Birth and Death of the SunbyGeorge Gamow.The following year he published a translation ofThe ABC of RelativitybyBertrand Russell.

In 1945, his first book,Uno y el Universo,a series of essays criticizing the apparent moral neutrality of science and warning about dehumanization processes in technological societies, was published; with time he would turn towards alibertarianandhumaniststanding. That same year he was awarded a prize by the municipality ofBuenos Airesfor his book and the honor wand of the Sociedad Argentina de Escritores.

In 1948, after being rejected by several Buenos Aires editors, Sabato published inSurhis first novel,El túnel,apsychological novelnarrated in the first person. Framed inexistentialism,it was met with enthusiastic reviews byAlbert Camus,who hadGallimardpublish a French translation. It has been further translated to more than 10 languages.[14]Others who enjoyed the book includedThomas Mann.[1][4]

France's literary industry named Sabato's bookAbaddon, el Exterminador(The Angel of Darkness) the best foreign book of 1976.[1]

His eldest son Jorge died at the age of 56 on 10 February 1995 in a car accident.[15]In 1998, Sabato's wife died.[16]

In 1999 he acquired Italian citizenship in addition to his original Argentine nationality.[17]

Sabato died inSantos Lugareson April 30, 2011, two months short of his 100th birthday.[18][19]His death was the result ofbronchitis,according to his companion and collaborator Elvira González Fraga.[16]The Spanish newspaperEl Mundosaid he had been "the last surviving Argentine writer with a capital W".[3]

Works

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Novels

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Essays

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  • 1945:El concepto de temperatura en la termodinámica fenomenológica(The concept of temperature in phenomenological thermodynamics). Article in Revista de la Unión Matemática Argentina, Vol. X, N° 4https://cai.org.ar/documento-cientifico-de-ernesto-sabato-en-la-biblioteca-del-cai/
  • 1945:Uno y el Universo(One and the Universe)
  • 1951:Hombres y engranajes(Man and Mechanism)
  • 1953:Heterodoxia(Heterodoxy)
  • 1956:El caso Sabato. Torturas y libertad de prensa. Carta abierta al General Aramburu(The Sabato Case. Tortures and Liberty of Press. Open Letter to General Aramburu)
  • 1956:El otro rostro del peronismo(The Other Face of Peronism)
  • 1963:El escritor y sus fantasmas(Translated by Asa Zatz in 1990 asThe Writer in the Catastrophe of our Time.)
  • 1963:Tango, discusión y clave(Tango: Discussion and Key)
  • 1967:Significado de Pedro Henríquez Ureña(Significance of Pedro Henríquez Ureña)
  • 1968:Tres aproximaciones a la literatura de nuestro tiempo: Robbe-Grillet, Borges, Sartre(Three Approximations to the Literature of our Time:Robbe-Grillet,Borges,Sartre)
  • 1973:La cultura en la encrucijada nacional(Culture in the National Crossroads)
  • 1976:Diálogos con Jorge Luis Borges(Dialogues with Jorge Luis Borges) (Edited by Orlando Barone)
  • 1979:Apologías y rechazos(Apologies and Rebuttals)
  • 1979:Los libros y su misión en la liberación e integración de la América Latina(Books and their Mission in the Liberation and Integration of Latin America)
  • 1988:Entre la letra y la sangre. Conversaciones con Carlos Catania(Between Letter and Blood. Conversations with Carlos Catania)
  • 1998:Antes del fin(Before the End)
Antes del finis an autobiography in which he recounts his life and the influences on his political and ethical opinions. Sabato discusses the ill effects of globalization and the exalting of rationalism and materialism. There are also several tender passages about his school experiences in the 1920s (when there was moreidealism,Sabato says), about his deceased wife and son, Matilde and Jorge, and about the struggling workers he meets on the streets ofBuenos Aires.
  • 2000:La resistencia(The Resistance)
  • 2004:España en los diarios de mi vejez(Spain in the Diaries of my Old Age)

Others

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Tribute

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On 24 June 2019, on Sábato's 108th birthday, he was honored with aGoogle Doodle.[20]

See also

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References

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  1. ^abcdeZadunaisky, Daniel; Rey, Debora (April 30, 2011)."Argentine writer Ernesto Sabato, who led probe of dirty war crimes, dies at 99".Canadian Press.RetrievedApril 30,2011.[dead link‍]
  2. ^abc"Argentine writer Ernesto Sabato dies, age 99".BBC News.BBC.April 30, 2011.RetrievedApril 30,2011.
  3. ^ab"On the death of Ernesto Sabato: World reactions".Buenos Aires Herald.April 30, 2011.RetrievedApril 30,2011.
  4. ^ab"Argentine writer Ernesto Sabato dies at age 99".Reuters.April 30, 2011.RetrievedApril 30,2011.
  5. ^"Juana María Ferrari, de ascendencia italiana y albanesa. Francisco Sabato, de origen italiano"[1]ArchivedJune 28, 2012, at theWayback Machine
  6. ^abcAntes del fin,Ernesto Sabato; Capítulo I,ISBN978-84-322-0766-2
  7. ^Diario La Nación: Evocan a Pedro Henríquez Ureña, gran humanista dominicano
  8. ^"Festejos por el aniversario de la Reforma Universitaria".www.clarin.com.January 11, 1998.
  9. ^"El joven discípulo de Ponce".Archived fromthe originalon March 21, 2008.
  10. ^abcBiografía de Ernesto Sabato en Autores de Argentina.ArchivedFebruary 15, 2008, at theWayback Machine
  11. ^Homenaje de Matilde a Sabato.ArchivedMarch 17, 2008, at theWayback Machine
  12. ^abcdCronología de Ernesto Sabato.ArchivedFebruary 14, 2008, at theWayback Machine
  13. ^ab"Sabato y el Surrealismo por Daniel Vargas".Archived fromthe originalon February 17, 2008.
  14. ^Biografía de Ernesto Sabato en Solo Argentina(in Spanish)
  15. ^"Jorge Federico Sábato - Fúnebres La Voz".funebres.lavoz.com.ar.Archived fromthe originalon July 4, 2018.RetrievedSeptember 5,2020.
  16. ^abBarrionuevo, Alexei (May 1, 2011)."Ernesto Sábato, Novelist and Argentina's Conscience, Dies at 99".The New York Times.
  17. ^"Il Messaggero".Archived fromthe originalon September 30, 2011.RetrievedApril 30,2011.
  18. ^Murió Ernesto SábatoArchivedOctober 25, 2012, at theWayback MachineInfoBae, April 30, 2011(in Spanish)
  19. ^Murio Ernesto SábatoClarín,April 30, 2011(in Spanish)
  20. ^"Ernesto Sábato's 108th Birthday".Google.June 24, 2019.

Further reading

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  • Bacarisse, Salvador (1980).Abaddón el Exterminador: Sábato's Gnostic Eschatology,in Contemporary Latin American Fiction, Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh 1980 (pp. 88–109).
  • (in Spanish)Bacarisse, Salvador (1983).Poncho celeste, banda punzó: la dualidad histórica argentina. Una interpretación de Sobre héroes y tumbas de Ernesto Sábatoin Cuadernos Hispanoamericanos, Madrid Enero-Marzo 1983 Números 391 393.
  • Conde, David (1981).Archetypal Patterns in Ernesto Sabato'sSobre héroes y tumbas.
  • Foster, David William (1975).Currents in the Contemporary Argentine Novel: Arlt, Mallea, Sabato, and Cortázar.
  • Francis, Nathan Travis (1973).Ernesto Sabato as a Literary Critic.
  • Oberhelman, Harley D. (1970).Ernesto Sabato.
  • Petersen, John Fred (1963).Ernesto Sabato: Essayist and Novelist.
  • Predmore, James R. (1977).A Critical Study of the Novels of Ernesto Sabato.
  • Price Munn, Nancy Elaine (1975).Ernesto Sabato: Theory and Practice of the Novel, 1945–1973.
  • (in Spanish)Wainerman Gonilsky, Luis (1978 [1971]).Sábato y el misterio de los ciegos.
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