
Jorge Cayetano Zaín Asís (3 March 1946,
Avellaneda
Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, and is connecte ...
) is an Argentine writer, journalist and politician. His literary career took off in the 1970s, when he published a daily column in
''Clarín'', and published a number of novels that dealt with youth, sex, politics, and the everyday life of the poor and working classes in modern Argentina. While some of his books expressed sympathy for the victims of the
military junta
A military junta () is a government led by a committee of military leaders. The term ''junta'' means "meeting" or "committee" and originated in the national and local junta organized by the Spanish resistance to Napoleon's invasion of Spain in ...
of 1976-1983, he was later also accused of having collaborated with the regime. In the 1980s he became directly involved in politics and occupied a number of positions during the government of
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. ...
. He ran as vice-presidential candidate in 2007 on a ticket that finished 6th in the elections.
Biography
Asís was born in Avellaneda, a working/middle-class suburb of
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...
, to a family of
Syrian
Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indig ...
immigrants. From his youth he was drawn to literature and political activism.
Among his first major books is ''Los reventados'' ("The down-and-out"), a
novella
A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) fact ...
about sundry characters seeking to make easy money in the context of
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine Army general and politician. After serving in several government positions, including Minister of Labour and Vice President of a military dictatorship, he was electe ...
's return to Argentina in 1973. Some characters witness the 20 June 1973
Ezeiza massacre, which is narrated from their point of view.
During the 1970s, Asís (using the
pen name
A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name.
A pen na ...
''Oberdán Rocamora'') published a daily column in the daily
''Clarín'', in the tradition of
Roberto Arlt
Roberto Arlt (April 26, 1900 – July 26, 1942) was an Argentine novelist, storyteller, playwright, journalist and inventor.
Biography
He was born Roberto Godofredo Christophersen Arlt in Buenos Aires on April 26, 1900. His parents were bot ...
. In 1978, he reported (as Rocamora) from the South American
rally
Rally or rallye may refer to:
Gatherings
* Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade
* Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event
Spor ...
where he ran as co-pilot of a stock
Citroen car.
Asís rose to fame in 1980 with ''Flores robadas en los jardines de Quilmes'' ("Flowers stolen in the gardens of
Quilmes
Quilmes () is a city on the coast of the Rio de la Plata, in the , on the south east of the Greater Buenos Aires. The city was founded in 1666 and it is the seat of the eponymous county. With a population of 230,810, it is located south of th ...
"), which relates the adventures of several young people experimenting with sex, careers, and politics in 1970s Argentina, centered on the narrator's relationship with a young woman from Quilmes, who eventually decides to leave the country. The book was dedicated to
Haroldo Conti Haroldo Conti, 150px
Haroldo Conti (May 25, 1925 – 1976?) was an Argentine writer, screenwriter, teacher and Latin professor. On May 5, 1976 he disappeared
An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or impri ...
, who was already a "
desaparecido" at the time, and included bolder than accepted political statements in the era of the
military junta's dictatorship. That book became the first part of a trilogy named ''Canguros'' (lit. "Kangaroos") that dealt with everyday life in
Greater Buenos Aires
Greater Buenos Aires ( es, Gran Buenos Aires, GBA), also known as the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area ( es, Área Metropolitana de Buenos Aires, AMBA), refers to the urban agglomeration comprising the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the adj ...
, sometimes from a
lumpenproletariat
In Marxist theory, the ''Lumpenproletariat'' () is the underclass devoid of class consciousness. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels coined the word in the 1840s and used it to refer to the unthinking lower strata of society exploited by reactionary a ...
perspective.
In 1984, Asís released ''Diario de la Argentina'' ("Argentina's Newspaper"), a
roman à clef
''Roman à clef'' (, anglicised as ), French for ''novel with a key'', is a novel about real-life events that is overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship b ...
about his days in Clarín. Major newspapers were not thrilled
[''La fracturación del campo intelectual argentino. Un caso emblemático: Jorge Asís''](_blank)
- Dra. Nidia Burgos, Departamento de Humanidades, Universidad Nacional del Sur
The National University of the South (in Spanish: ''Universidad Nacional del Sur'', UNS) is the largest national university in southern Argentina. Its motto is ''Ardua Veritatem'', which means "through the difficulties to the truth".
The univer ...
to have their inner conflicts aired in public, and (informally) boycotted Asís and his work for several years.
During the 1980s, Asís became more involved in politics. He regularly attended meetings with intelligence operatives, which became the basis for the 1987 novel ''Partes de inteligencia'' ("Intelligence Reports"). During
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 more than ...
's presidency, Asís gravitated towards the
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party ( es, Partido Justicialista, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism.
Current president Alberto Fernández belongs to the Justicialist Party (and has, since 2021, served ...
, and specifically supported presidential candidate
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. ...
. When Menem became
President of Argentina
The president of Argentina ( es, Presidente de Argentina), officially known as the president of the Argentine Nation ( es, Presidente de la Nación Argentina), is both head of state and head of government of Argentina. Under the national cons ...
in 1989, Asís was appointed to several government and diplomatic posts, including ambassador to
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...
, Secretary of Culture, and ambassador to Portugal.
After Menem's ten years as president, Asís remained in politics, and became a sought-after commentator in print, radio and TV, where his rich language and his flamboyancy set him apart from the more formal tone of most politicians. In the
2007 presidential election, Asís ran for vice president sharing a ticket with
Jorge Sobisch
Jorge Omar Sobisch (born January 16, 1943) is an Argentine peronist centre-right politician, formerly governor of Neuquén Province. He led the Neuquén People's Movement and was candidate for President of Argentina in 2007.
Biography
Sobisch w ...
, a former governor of
Neuquén province. The ticket attained approximately 1.6% of the national vote, finishing in sixth place.
The social realism of his earlier works was seen by some critics as "collaborationism" with the dictatorship, owing to the success of ''Flores robadas en los jardines de Quilmes'' during the regime. His style has been judged to resemble the nineteenth-century realistic novel.
[Berg, Edgardo (2002). ''Poéticas en suspenso''. Editorial Biblos, pp. 39-40. ]
Books
Novels
* ''La manifestación'' (1971)
* ''Don Abdel Zalim, El burlador de Domínico'' (1972)
* ''La familia tipo'' (1974)
* ''Los reventados'' (1974)
* ''Flores robadas en los jardines de Quilmes'' (1980)
* ''Carne Picada'' (1981)
* ''La calle de los caballos muertos'' (1982)
* ''Canguros'' (1983)
* ''Diario de la Argentina'' (1984)
* ''El pretexto de París'' (1986)
* ''Partes de inteligencia'' (1987)
* ''Cuaderno del acostado'' (1988)
* ''El cineasta y la partera (y el sociólogo marxista que murió de amor)'' (1989)
* ''La línea de Hamlet o la ética de la traición'' (1995)
* ''Sandra, la trapera'' (1996)
* ''Lesca, el fascista irreductible'' (2000)
* ''Del Flore Al Montparnasse'' (2000)
* ''Excelencias de la NADA'' (2001)
* ''Cuentos Completos'' (2005)
* ''Hombre de Gris'' (2012)
* ''Casa Casta'' (2012)
* ''Tulipanes salvajes en agua de rosas'' (2012)
* ''Dulces otoñales'' (2014)
* ''Memorias tergiversadas'' (2017)
Short stories
* ''La manifestación'' (1971)
* ''Fe de ratas'' (1976)
Poetry
* ''Señorita vida'' (1970)
Non-fiction
* ''El Buenos Aires de Oberdán Rocamora'' (1981)
* ''La Ficción Política'' (1985)
* ''La Marroquinería Política'' (2006)
* ''El Descascaramiento'' (2007)
* ''La elegida y el elegidor'' (2008)
References
External links
Asís's commentary blog (Spanish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Asis, Jorge
1946 births
Living people
People from Avellaneda
Argentine journalists
Argentine male writers
Argentine people of Syrian descent
Justicialist Party politicians
Ambassadors of Argentina to Portugal
Permanent Delegates of Argentina to UNESCO