Amparo Dávila (21 February 1928 – 18 April 2020) was a Mexican writer best known for her short stories touching on the fantastic and the uncanny. She won the Xavier Villarrutia Award in 1977 for her short story collection, ''Árboles petrificados''. In 2015, a literary prize in her honor was created in Mexico for the best story within the genre of "the fantastic": the Premio Bellas Artes del Cuento Fantástico Amparo Dávila.

Biography

Dávila was born on February 21, 1928, in Pinos, Zacatecas. Her childhood was marked by fear, a theme that appeared in a number of her future works as an author. Her first published work was ''Salmos bajo la luna'' in 1950. This was followed by ''Meditaciones a la orilla del sueño'' and ''Perfil de soledades''. In 1954 she moved to Mexico City where she worked as

Alfonso Reyes Alfonso Reyes Ochoa (17 May 1889 in Monterrey, Nuevo León – 27 December 1959 in Mexico City) was a Mexican writer, philosopher and diplomat. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature five times and has been acclaimed as one of the ...

's secretary. In 1966, she was a part of the Centro Mexicano de Escritores (Mexican Writers' Center) where she received a grant to continue writing. In 2008, Davila was recognized by the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

Death

Dávila died on 18 April 2020. Her death was announced by the Secretary of Culture of Zacatecas on April 18, 2020. In 2018, she wrote:

Work

Davila is known for her use of themes of insanity, danger, and death, typically dealing with a female protagonist. Many of her protagonists appear to have mental disorders and lash out, often violently, against others. Many times the women are still unable to escape from their mental issues and live with the actions they have taken. She also plays with ideas of time by using time as a symbol of that which we cannot change. Her other works include: *''Salmos bajo la luna'' (1950) *''Meditaciones a la orilla del sueño'' (1954) *''Perfil de soledades'' (1954) *''Tiempo destrozado'' (1959) *''Música concreta'' (1964) *''Árboles petrificados'' (1977) *''Muerte en el bosque'' (1985)

English Translations

* ''The Houseguest and Other Stories'' (New Directions, 2018) tr. Audrey Harris and Matthew Gleeson

References

External links

The Fern Cat: On Translating Amparo Dávila's 'Moses and Gaspar.
" Audrey Harris,

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...

, 21 February 2017.
Ghosts Embodied: The Visions of Amparo Davila"
Darren Huang, 3:AM Magazine, 6 November 2018. *
The Houseguest and Other Stories by Amparo Dávila
Amber Wheeler Bacon, Ploughshares at Emerson College, 16 November 2018.

by Juan Vidal, Los Angeles Times, 30 November 2018. *�
'Who Would Read Me, Lower Your Eyes': Remembering Amparo Dávila"
Matthew Gleeson, Los Angeles Review of Books, 26 June 2020. {{DEFAULTSORT:Davila, Amparo 1928 births 2020 deaths People from Zacatecas Mexican women novelists Mexican women poets Mexican women short story writers Mexican short story writers Xavier Villaurrutia Award winners