Ernesto Sabato (; June 24, 1911 – April 30, 2011) was an Argentine

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

, and

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

. According to the

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he "won some of the most prestigious prizes in Hispanic literature" and "became very influential in the literary world throughout Latin America". Upon his death dubbed him the "last classic writer in Argentine literature". Sabato was distinguished by his bald pate and brush moustache and wore tinted spectacles and open-necked shirts. He was born in Rojas, a small town in

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...

. Sabato began his studies at the Colegio Nacional de La Plata. He then studied

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

at the

Universidad Nacional de La Plata The National University of La Plata (, UNLP) is a national public research university located in the city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It has over 90,000 regular students, 10,000 teaching staff, 17 departments and 10 ...

, where he earned a PhD. He then attended the Sorbonne in Paris and worked at the Curie Institute. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he lost interest in science and started writing. Sabato's oeuvre includes three novels: '' El Túnel'' (1948), '' Sobre héroes y tumbas'' (1961) and '' Abaddón el exterminador'' (1974). The first of these received critical acclaim upon its publication from, among others, fellow writers

Albert Camus Albert Camus ( ; ; 7 November 1913 – 4 January 1960) was a French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist, and political activist. He was the recipient of the 1957 Nobel Prize in Literature at the age of 44, the s ...

and

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

. The second is regarded as his masterpiece, though he nearly burnt it like many of his other works. Sabato's essays cover topics as diverse as

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

, politics and

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...

. His writings led him to receive many international prizes, including the

Miguel de Cervantes Prize The Miguel de Cervantes Prize () is awarded annually to honour the lifetime achievement of an outstanding writer in the Spanish language. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' calls it "most prestigious and remunerative award given for Spanish-languag ...

(Spain), the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(France), the

Jerusalem Prize The Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society is a biennial literary award given to writers whose works have dealt with themes of human freedom in society. It is awarded at the Jerusalem International Book Forum (previously kn ...

(Israel), and the Prix du Meilleur Livre Étranger (France). At the request of President

Raúl Alfonsín Raúl Ricardo Alfonsín (; 12 March 1927 – 31 March 2009) was an Argentine lawyer and statesman who served as President of Argentina from 10 December 1983 to 8 July 1989. He was the first democratically elected president after the 7-yea ...

, he presided over the CONADEP Commission that investigated the fate of those who suffered

forced disappearance An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...

during the

Dirty War The Dirty War () is the name used by the military junta or National Reorganization Process, civic-military dictatorship of Argentina () for its period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983. During this campaign, military and secu ...

of the 1970s. The result of these findings was published in 1984, bearing the title ''Nunca Más'' (''Never Again'').

Biography

Early years

Ernesto Sabato was born in Rojas,

, son of Francesco Sabato and Giovanna Maria Ferrari, Italian immigrants from

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

. His father was from Fuscaldo, and his mother was an Arbëreshë (

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

minority in Italy) from San Martino di Finita."Juana María Ferrari, de ascendencia italiana y albanesa. Francisco Sabato, de origen italiano

He was the tenth of a total of 11 children. Being born after his ninth brother's death, he carried on his name "Ernesto". Antes del fin, Ernesto Sabato; Capítulo I, In 1924 he finished primary school in Rojas and settled in the city of

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

for his secondary education at the Colegio Nacional de La Plata. There he met professor Pedro Henríquez Ureña, an early inspiration for his writing career.Diario La Nación: Evocan a Pedro Henríquez Ureña, gran humanista dominicano
/ref> In 1929 he started college, attending the School of Physics and Mathematics at the

. He was an active member in the '' Reforma Universitaria'' movement, founding "Insurrexit Group" in 1933 – of communist ideals – together with Héctor P. Agosti, Ángel Hurtado de Mendoza and Paulino González Alberdi, among others. In 1933 he was elected Secretario General of the Federación Juvenil Comunista (Communist Youth Federation).Biografía de Ernesto Sabato en Autores de Argentina.
While attending a lecture about

Marxism Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, ...

he met Matilde Kusminsky Richter, aged 17, who would leave her parents' house to live with Sabato.Homenaje de Matilde a Sabato.
In 1934 he started to doubt Communism and

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...

's regime. The Communist Party of Argentina, which had noted this, sent him to the International Lenin School for two years. According to Sabato, "it was a place where either you recovered or ended up in a

gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

psychiatric hospital A psychiatric hospital, also known as a mental health hospital, a behavioral health hospital, or an asylum is a specialized medical facility that focuses on the treatment of severe Mental disorder, mental disorders. These institutions cater t ...

".Cronología de Ernesto Sabato.
Before arriving at Moscow, he traveled to

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

as 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. It was there where he wrote his first novel: ''La Fuente Muda'', which remains unpublished. Once back in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, in 1936, he married Matilde Kusminsky Richter.

His years as a scientist

In 1938 he obtained his PhD in

from the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Thanks to Bernardo Houssay, he was granted a research fellowship in atomic radiation at the Curie Institute in Paris. On May 25, 1938 Jorge Federico Sabato, his first son, was born. While in France he made contact with the

surrealist movement Surrealism is an art movement, art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike s ...

, studying the works of Oscar Domínguez, Benjamin Péret, Roberto Matta Echaurren and Esteban Francés among others. This would have a deep influence on his future writing. In 1939 he transferred to the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. 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 the Universidad de La Plata for Engineering admission, and relativity and

quantum mechanic Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...

s for post graduate degrees. In 1943, due to an "existential crisis", he left science for good to become a full-time writer and painter. In 1945, his second son, Mario Sabato was born.

Writing career

In 1941, Sabato published his first literary work, an article about '' La invención de Morel'' by Adolfo Bioy Casares, in the magazine ''Teseo'' from

. Also, in concert with Pedro Henríquez Ureña, he published a collaboration in the renowned '' Sur'' magazine. In 1942, working for ''Sur'' magazine reviewing books, he was put in charge of the "Calendario" section and participated in "Desagravio a Borges" in ''Sur'' nº 94. He also published articles in ''

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal ''Clarín (Argentine newspaper), Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argen ...

'' and a translation of '' The Birth and Death of the Sun'' by

George Gamow George Gamow (sometimes Gammoff; born Georgiy Antonovich Gamov; ; 4 March 1904 – 19 August 1968) was a Soviet and American polymath, theoretical physicist and cosmologist. He was an early advocate and developer of Georges Lemaître's Big Ba ...

. The following year he published a translation of ''The ABC of Relativity'' by

Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970) was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual. He had influence on mathematics, logic, set theory, and various areas of analytic ...

. 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 a

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

and

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

standing. That same year he was awarded a prize by the municipality of

for his book and the honor wand of the Sociedad Argentina de Escritores. In 1948, after being rejected by several Buenos Aires editors, Sabato published in ''Sur'' his first novel, '' El túnel'', a psychological novel narrated in the first person. Framed in

existentialism Existentialism is a family of philosophical views and inquiry that explore the human individual's struggle to lead an authentic life despite the apparent absurdity or incomprehensibility of existence. In examining meaning, purpose, and valu ...

, it was met with enthusiastic reviews by

, who had Gallimard publish a French translation. It has been further translated to more than 10 languages. Others who enjoyed the book included

. France's literary industry named Sabato's book ''Abaddon, el Exterminador'' (''The Angel of Darkness'') the best foreign book of 1976. His eldest son Jorge died at the age of 56 on 10 February 1995 in a car accident. In 1998, Sabato's wife died. In 1999 he acquired Italian citizenship in addition to his original Argentine nationality. Sabato died in Santos Lugares on April 30, 2011, two months short of his 100th birthday. His death was the result of

bronchitis Bronchitis is inflammation of the bronchi (large and medium-sized airways) in the lungs that causes coughing. Bronchitis usually begins as an infection in the nose, ears, throat, or sinuses. The infection then makes its way down to the bronchi. ...

, according to his companion and collaborator Elvira González Fraga. The Spanish newspaper '' El Mundo'' said he had been "the last surviving Argentine writer with a capital W".

Works

Novels

* 1948: '' El túnel'' (Translated by Harriet de Onis in 1950 as ''The Outsider'' and again by Margaret Sayers Peden in 1988 as ''The Tunnel'') * 1961: '' Sobre héroes y tumbas'' (Translated by Helen R. Lane in 1981 as ''On Heroes and Tombs'') * 1974: '' Abaddón el exterminador'' (Translated by Andrew Hurley in 1991 as ''The Angel of Darkness'')

Essays

* 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° 4 https://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 as ''The 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 Jean-Paul Charles Aymard Sartre (, ; ; 21 June 1905 – 15 April 1980) was a French philosopher, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, political activist, biographer, and literary critic, considered a leading figure in 20th-century French ph ...

'') * 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 fin'' is 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 more

idealism Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, Spirit (vital essence), spirit, or ...

, Sabato says), about his deceased wife and son, Matilde and Jorge, and about the struggling workers he meets on the streets of

. * 2000: ''La resistencia'
(The Resistance)
* 2004: ''España en los diarios de mi vejez'' (''Spain in the Diaries of my Old Age'')

Others

* 1964: ''Itinerario'' (''Itinerary'') * 1966: ''Romance de la muerte de Juan Lavalle. Cantar de Gesta'' (''Romance of Juan Lavalle's Death. Cantar de gesta'') * 1984: ''Nunca más. Informe de la Comisión Nacional sobre la desaparición de personas'' (''Never Again. Report from the

National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (Spanish: ', CONADEP) was an Argentine organization created by President Raúl Alfonsín on 15 December 1983, shortly after his inauguration, to investigate the fate of the (victims of force ...

'')

Tribute

On 24 June 2019, on Sabato's 108th birthday, he was honored with a

Google Doodle Google Doodle is a special, temporary alteration of the logo on Google's homepages intended to commemorate holidays, events, achievements, and historical figures. The first Google Doodle honored the 1998 edition of the long-running annual Bu ...

References

External links

* *
''Interview with Ernesto Sábato: a sense of wonder''
''The UNESCO Courier'', August 1990

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sabato, Ernesto 1911 births 2011 deaths People from Rojas Partido Argentine physicists Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine people of Arbëreshë descent Premio Cervantes winners National University of La Plata alumni University of Paris alumni International Lenin School alumni Jerusalem Prize recipients Psychological fiction writers 20th-century Argentine novelists 20th-century Argentine male writers