Jorge Mario Varlotta Levrero (23 January 1940 - 30 August 2004), better known as Mario Levrero, was a Uruguayan author. He authored nearly 20 novels as well as writing articles, columns, comic books and crosswords. His work is said to be influenced by

Franz Kafka Franz Kafka (3 July 1883 – 3 June 1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature. His work fuses elements of realism and the fantastic. It ...

Lewis Carroll Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (; 27 January 1832 – 14 January 1898), better known by his pen name Lewis Carroll, was an English author, poet and mathematician. His most notable works are '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (1865) and its sequ ...

and surrealism. Throughout his life he shunned publicity and was difficult with interviewers. Regardless, he became a cult figure in Uruguay and Argentina. His writing was often branded as science fiction or

genre fiction Genre fiction, also known as popular fiction, is a term used in the book-trade for fictional works written with the intent of fitting into a specific literary genre, in order to appeal to readers and fans already familiar with that genre. A num ...

, a categorisation he strongly rejected. Critics have commented on the both sinister and humorous nature of his work.

Biography

Levrero was born in

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

in 1940 to an Italian-Uruguayan family. He stopped attending school at age 14 due to a heart murmur and instead spent his time in bed, reading and listening to tango music. Homenaje a Mario Levrero

Having never finished school, he claimed that attending a tango club was his university. In his twenties, he ran a secondhand bookshop with a friend and was briefly a member of the

Communist Party of Uruguay The Communist Party of Uruguay ( es, link=no, Partido Comunista del Uruguay, PCU) is a communist party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popu ...

's youth wing. His first short stories were published in science fiction magazines in Buenos Aires. In 1966, Levrero wrote his first novel ''La ciudad'' (The City)''.'' He claimed the book was his attempt to "translate Kafka into Uruguayan". Published in 1970, the novel became part of what he described as an "involuntary trilogy" along with ''Paris'' (1980) and ''El lugar'' (1982). By the 1980s, Levrero was gaining more mainstream recognition after receiving an award for his novella ''Desplazamientos.'' Levrero received a

Guggenheim Grant Guggenheim Fellowships are grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the ar ...

in 2000 to finish work on a project he had begun in 1984 that he called ''La novela luminosa''. Intended to be an account of a transcendental experience, the posthumously published work ended up as a composite of a diary detailing failed attempts at writing the novel and unedited chapters of the incomplete novel. It is widely regarded as his masterpiece. Levrero died in Montevideo in 2004. Levrero's work has inspired Latin American writers such as Rodolfo Fogwill,

César Aira César Aira ( Argentine Spanish: ; born 23 February 1949 in Coronel Pringles, Buenos Aires Province) is an Argentinian writer and translator, and an exponent of contemporary Argentinian literature. Aira has published over a hundred short book ...

and

Alejandro Zambra Alejandro Andrés Zambra Infantas ( Santiago, Chile, b. September 24, 1975) is a Chilean poet, short story writer and novelist. He has been recognized for his talent as a young Latin American writer, chosen in 2007 as one of the " Bogotá39" (the ...

Work

Novels

* ''Caza de conejos'', 2012 * ''Dejen todo en mis manos'', 1998 * ''Diario de un canalla/Burdeos'', 1972 * ''El alma de Gardel'', 1996 * ''El discurso vacío'', 1996 * ''El lugar'', 1982 * ''Fauna/Desplazamientos'', 1987 * ''La Banda del Ciempiés'', 1989 * ''La Banda del Ciempiés'', 2015 * ''La ciudad'', 1970 * ''La novela luminosa'', 2005 * ''Nick Carter se divierte mientras el lector es asesinado y yo agonizo y otras novelas'', 2012 * ''París'', 1980 * ''Trilogía involuntaria'' (includes ''La ciudad'', ''París'', and ''El lugar''), 2008

Short Stories

* ''Aguas salobres'', 1983 * ''Cuentos completos'', 2019 * ''El portero y el otro'', 1992 * ''Espacios libres'', 1987 * ''La máquina de pensar en Gladys'', 1970 * ''Los carros de fuego'', 2003 * ''Los muertos'', 1986 * ''Todo el tiempo'', 1982 * ''Ya que estamos'', 2001

Comic books

* ''Historietas reunidas de Jorge Varlotta'', 2016 * ''Los profesionales'', with artwork by Lizán, 1988 * ''Santo Varón/I'', with artwork by Lizán, 1986

Other writings

* ''Caza de conejos'', 1986 * ''Irrupciones I'', 2001 * ''Irrupciones II'', 2001 * ''Manual de parapsicología'', 1978

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Levrero, Mario 1940 births 2004 deaths Uruguayan science fiction writers Uruguayan short story writers