Antonio di Benedetto (2 November 1922 – 10 October 1986) was an Argentine novelist, short story writer and journalist.

Career

Di Benedetto began writing and publishing stories in his adolescence, inspired by the works of

Fyodor Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...

and

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature for "his almost magical power ...

. '' Mundo Animal'', appearing in 1952, was his first story collection and won prestigious awards. A revised version came out in 1971, but the Xenos Books translation uses the first edition to catch the youthful flavor. Antonio di Benedetto wrote five novels, '' Zama'' (1956), considered by critics to be his magnum opus. '' El silenciero'' (1964, "The Silentiary") is noteworthy for expressing his intense abhorrence of noise. Critics have compared his works to

Alain Robbe-Grillet Alain Robbe-Grillet (; 18 August 1922 – 18 February 2008) was a French writer and filmmaker. He was one of the figures most associated with the '' Nouveau Roman'' (new novel) trend of the 1960s, along with Nathalie Sarraute, Michel Butor and C ...

Julio Cortázar Julio Florencio Cortázar (26 August 1914 – 12 February 1984; ) was an Argentine, nationalized French novelist, short story writer, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenced an ent ...

and

Ernesto Sábato Ernesto Sabato (June 24, 1911 – April 30, 2011) was an Argentine novelist, essayist, painter and physicist. According to the BBC he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary wo ...

. In 1976, during the

military dictatorship A military dictatorship is a dictatorship in which the military exerts complete or substantial control over political authority, and the dictator is often a high-ranked military officer. The reverse situation is to have civilian control of the m ...

General Videla Jorge Rafael Videla (; ; 2 August 1925 – 17 May 2013) was an Argentine Officer (armed forces), military officer and dictator, List of chiefs of the general staff of the Argentine Army, Commander in Chief of the Army, member of the National Reo ...

, di Benedetto was imprisoned and tortured. Released a year later, he went into exile in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, then returned home in 1984. He travelled widely and won numerous awards, but never acquired the worldwide fame of other Latin American writers, perhaps because his work was not translated to many languages.

Works

*'' Mundo animal'' (''Animal World''). 1952. Translated by H. E. Francis, with an Afterword by Jorge García-Gómez.

Grand Terrace Grand Terrace is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 12,040 at the 2010 census, up from 11,626 at the 2000 census. Grand Terrace is located between Highgrove and Colton, along the I-215 and Agua Mans ...

, CA: Xenos Books. *'' Zama'' 1956. Translated with a foreword by

Esther Allen Esther Allen (born June 29, 1962) is a writer, professor, and translator of French-language and Spanish-language literature into English. She is on the faculties of Baruch College (Department of Modern Languages & Comparative Literature) and the ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

New York Review Books New York Review Books (NYRB) is the publishing division of ''The New York Review of Books''. Its imprints are New York Review Books Classics, New York Review Books Collections, The New York Review Children's Collection, New York Review Comics, N ...

(NYRB), 016 *'' El silenciero'' 1964. *'' Las suicidas'' 1969.

Adaptations

''Zama'' was adapted to film in 2017 by Argentine director

Lucrecia Martel Lucrecia Martel (born December 14, 1966) is an Argentine film director, screenwriter and producer whose feature films have frequented Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Toronto, and many other international film festivals. Film scholar Paul Julian Smith w ...

and received critical acclaim.

References

External links

Biography
(Spanish)

(Spanish) * 1922 births 1986 deaths Argentine journalists Argentine prisoners and detainees People from Mendoza, Argentina Torture victims of the Dirty War Male journalists 20th-century Argentine writers 20th-century Argentine male writers 20th-century novelists Male novelists 20th-century journalists {{Argentina-writer-stub