Cristina Peri Rossi

Last updated
Cristina Peri Rossi
Cristina Peri.jpg
Cristina Peri Rossi in 1986
Born (1941-11-12) 12 November 1941 (age 82)
Occupation(s)Novelist, poet, translator, and author
Awards Miguel de Cervantes Prize

Cristina Peri Rossi (born 12 November 1941) is a Uruguayan novelist, poet, translator, and author of short stories.

Contents

Considered a leading light of the post-1960s period of prominence of the Latin-American novel, she has written more than 37 works. She has been a pioneer and one of the female authors associated to the Latin American Boom. Peri Rossi has lived in Barcelona since 1972, after a civic-military dictatorship was established in Uruguay and censored her works. She has translated into Spanish authors such as Clarice Lispector and Monique Wittig. She has worked for several newspapers and media agencies such as Diario 16 , El Periódico and Agencia EFE .

Peri Rossi won the Miguel de Cervantes Prize in 2021, [1] the most prestigious literary award in the Spanish-speaking world.

Life

She was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, 12 November 1941, but was exiled in 1972 after a civic-military dictatorship was established. She moved to Spain, where she became a citizen in 1975. As of 2005 she lives in Barcelona, where she continues to write fiction and work as a journalist. She studied at the University of the Republic. [2]

Journalism

Cristina Peri Rossi is active as a journalist and political commentator in Barcelona. She is a radio journalist for the public Catalan station Catalunya Radio. She was fired from this position in October 2007 and accused the station of 'linguistic persecution', claiming she was fired for speaking Spanish instead of Catalan. [3] She was later re-instated to her post after an outcry.

She is well known for her defense of civil liberties and freedom of expression. She has long supported gay marriage and welcomed Spain's decision to recognize it. [4]

In an El Mundo article in March 2006, she spoke out against the rise of religious extremism in Europe, and specifically the violence that followed the 'Danish Cartoons Affair'. In the article she expresses her support to the 'Together Facing the New Totalitarianism' Manifesto, which was published in the left-leaning French weekly Charlie Hebdo in March 2006. [5]

Literary criticism

She was part of the Latin American Boom, a movement associated with authors such as Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortázar and Carlos Fuentes. [6]

La nave de los locos (The Ship of Fools) (1984) is generally regarded by critics as Peri Rossi's most important work. [7] It is an experimental novel which takes the form of a pastiche of travel writing. The protagonist, Equis, is a misfit who travels to a number of deliberately vague locations. By inviting the reader to see modern society through the eyes of Equis, Peri Rossi is using the technique of defamiliarisation to produce a biting satire of today's world. This includes a strong dose of feminism: Equis eventually renounces his own sexuality, declaring that there is "harmony in impotence," which can be read as a denouncement of patriarchial and phallogocentric society. More generally, the work shows toleration and arguably even idealisation of sexualities that have been traditionally considered dissident, including gerontophilia and controversially, in the character Morris' love for a ten-year-old boy, pedophilia. The novel exposes the dangers of arbitrary dictatorial government in its inclusion an emotional depiction of a concentration camp in a country which remains unspecified, but which could be based on any of the various Latin American dictatorships of the latter half of the twentieth century. The title of the book is taken from the Ship of Fools legend, which is reworked by Peri Rossi in the novel itself. The novel shows sympathy for those condemned to the ship of fools and there is a clear parallel between this medieval episode and the modern-day aforementioned concentration camp passage.

The themes established in La nave de los locos are ones which Rossi revisits in other works. Her latest novels include Solitario de amor (Solitaire of Love) (1989), La última noche de Dostoievski (Dostoyevsky's Last Night) (1992) and El amor es una droga dura (Love is a hard drug) (1999). All of these novels are formally less experimental than Nave. They deal with male protagonists who, like Equis, gradually explore their sexualities, discovering that they have to renounce traditional gender roles both in sexual behaviour and in the real world to find fulfilment. However, there is little political commentary in these novels.

Peri Rossi has also produced an impressive amount of poetry, [8] again covering many of the ideas outlined above. The lesbian eroticism of Evohé (1971) caused a scandal when first released.

In 2004, Peri Rossi published Por fin solos, a collection of short stories where love is a result of eroticism and frustration. The lovers, whatever their condition or sex, seek a reason in the beloved so that they may feel saved, as is the case in "Náufragos". Peri Rossi also uses (determinedly) symbols that link with the deterioration of heterosexual relationships, such as the bottle of lye, the scarf, and flowers, among others. Peri Rossi's book Estrategias del Deseo, which was also published in 2004, was found so moving and inspiring by Latina lesbian writer Tatiana de la tierra that de la tierra decided to translate the book to English (Strategies of Desire). [9]

Complete list of published works

  1. Viviendo (1963) - "Living" (Short Story)
  2. Los museos abandonados (1968) - "Abandoned Museums" (Short Story)
  3. El libro de mis primos (1969) - "My Cousin's Book" (Novel)
  4. Indicios pánicos (1970) - "Panicky Omens" (Short Story)
  5. Evohé (1971) - (Poetry)
  6. Descripción de un naufragio - "Description of a Shipwreck" (Poetry)
  7. Diáspora (1976) - "Diaspora" (Poetry)
  8. La tarde del dinosaurio (1976) - "The Dinosaur's Evening" (Short Story)
  9. Lingüística general (1979) - "General Linguistics" (Poetry)
  10. La rebelión de los niños (1980) - "Kids' Rebellion" (Short Story)
  11. El museo de los esfuerzos inútiles (1983) - "Museum of The Useless Efforts" (Short Story)
  12. La nave de los locos (1984) - "Crazies' Ship" (Novel)
  13. Una pasión prohibida (1986) - "Forbidden Passion" (Short Story)
  14. Europa después de la lluvia (1987) - "Post-Rain Europe" (Poetry)
  15. Solitario de amor (1988) - "Love Solitaire" (Novel)
  16. Cosmoagonías (1988) - "Cosmoagonies" (Short Story)
  17. Fantasías eróticas (1990) - "Erotic Fantasies" (Essay)
  18. Acerca de la escritura (1991) - "On Writing" (Essay)
  19. Babel bárbara (1991) - (Poetry)
  20. La última noche de Dostoievski (1992) - "Dostoievski's Last Night" (Novel)
  21. La ciudad de Luzbel y otros relatos (1992) - "Luzbel's City and Other Stories" (Short Stories)
  22. Otra vez Eros (1994) - "Eros, Again" (Poetry)
  23. Aquella noche (1996) - "That Night" (Poetry)
  24. Inmovilidad de los barcos (1997) - "Ships's Stiffness" (Poetry)
  25. Desastres íntimos (1997) - "Intimate Disasters" (Short Stories)
  26. Poemas de amor y desamor (1998) - "Poems of Love and Lovelessness" (Poetry)
  27. Las musas inquietantes (1999) - "The Disturbing Muses" (Poetry)
  28. El amor es una droga dura (1999) - "Love is a Hard Drug" (Novel)
  29. Estado de exilio (2003) - "State of Exile" (Poetry)
  30. Por fin solos (2004) - "Alone At Last" (Short Stories)
  31. Estrategias del deseo (2004) - "Strategies of Desire" (Poetry)
  32. Habitación de hotel (2007) - "Hotel Room" (Poetry)
  33. State of Exile (2008)

English translations

Anthologies

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">César Vallejo</span> Peruvian writer

César Abraham Vallejo Mendoza was a Peruvian poet, writer, playwright, and journalist. Although he published only two books of poetry during his lifetime, he is considered one of the great poetic innovators of the 20th century in any language. He was always a step ahead of literary currents, and each of his books was distinct from the others, and, in its own sense, revolutionary. Thomas Merton called him "the greatest universal poet since Dante". The late British poet, critic and biographer Martin Seymour-Smith, a leading authority on world literature, called Vallejo "the greatest twentieth-century poet in any language." He was a member of the intellectual community called North Group formed in the Peruvian north coastal city of Trujillo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deià</span> Municipality in Balearic Islands, Spain

Deià is a municipality and small coastal village in the Serra de Tramuntana, which forms the northern ridge of the Spanish island of Mallorca. It is located about 16 kilometres (10 mi) north of Valldemossa, and it is known for its literary and musical residents. Its idyllic landscape, orange and olive groves on steep cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean, served as a draw for German, English, and American expatriates after the First World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mario Benedetti</span> Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet (1920–2009)

Mario Benedetti Farrugia, was a Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet and an integral member of the Generación del 45. Despite publishing more than 80 books and being published in twenty languages, he was not well known in the English-speaking world. In the Spanish-speaking world he is considered one of Latin America's most important writers of the latter half of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julio Cortázar</span> Argentine writer (1914–1984)

Julio Florencio Cortázar was an Argentine, naturalised French novelist, short story writer, essayist, and translator. Known as one of the founders of the Latin American Boom, Cortázar influenced an entire generation of Spanish-speaking readers and writers in America and Europe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silvina Ocampo</span> Argentine writer (1903–1993)

Silvina Ocampo was an Argentine short story writer, poet, and artist. Ocampo's friend and collaborator Jorge Luis Borges called Ocampo "one of the greatest poets in the Spanish language, whether on this side of the ocean or on the other." Her first book was Viaje olvidado (1937), translated as Forgotten Journey (2019), and her final piece was Las repeticiones, published posthumously in 2006.

Rosario Ferré Ramírez de Arellano was a Puerto Rican writer, poet, and essayist. Her father, Luis A. Ferré, was the third elected Governor of Puerto Rico and the founding father of the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico. When her mother, Lorenza Ramírez de Arellano, died in 1970 during her father's term as governor, Rosario fulfilled the duties of First Lady until 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosario Castellanos</span> Mexican poet and author

Rosario Castellanos Figueroa was a Mexican poet and author. She was one of Mexico's most important literary voices in the last century. Throughout her life, she wrote eloquently about issues of cultural and gender oppression, and her work has influenced Mexican feminist theory and cultural studies. Though she died young, she opened the door of Mexican literature to women, and left a legacy that still resonates today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jorge Luis Borges bibliography</span>

This is a bibliography of works by Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet, and translator Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alejandra Pizarnik</span> Argentine poet (1936–1972)

'Flora' Alejandra Pizarnik was an Argentine poet. Her idiosyncratic and thematically introspective poetry has been considered "one of the most unusual bodies of work in Latin American literature", and has been recognized and celebrated for its fixation on "the limitation of language, silence, the body, night, the nature of intimacy, madness, [and] death".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfonsina Storni</span> Argentine poet (1892–1938)

Alfonsina Storni was an Swiss-Argentine poet and playwright of the modernist period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Daína Chaviano</span> Cuban-American writer

Daína Chaviano is a Cuban-American writer of French and Asturian descent. She has lived in the United States since 1991.

Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and the indigenous languages of the Americas. It rose to particular prominence globally during the second half of the 20th century, largely due to the international success of the style known as magical realism. As such, the region's literature is often associated solely with this style, with the 20th century literary movement known as Latin American Boom, and with its most famous exponent, Gabriel García Márquez. Latin American literature has a rich and complex tradition of literary production that dates back many centuries.

Clara Janés Nadal, born in Barcelona, is a Spanish writer of several literary genres. She is recognised as a poet and is distinguished as a translator of different central European and eastern languages. Since 2015, she has occupied a seat in the Real Academia Española [1], becoming the tenth woman elected as a member of the RAE.

The Xavier Villaurrutia Award is a prestigious literary prize given in Mexico, to a Latin American writer published in Mexico. Founded in 1955, it was named in memory of Xavier Villaurrutia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karina Galvez</span> Ecuadorian American poet (born 1964)

Karina Galvez is an Ecuadorian American poet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jesse Lee Kercheval</span> American poet (born 1956)

Jesse Lee Kercheval is an American poet, memoirist, translator, fiction writer and visual artist. She is an emeritus professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is the author of numerous books, notably Building Fiction, The Museum of Happiness, Space and Underground Women, and she is a translator of Uruguayan poetry.

Justo Jorge Padrón was a Spanish poet, essayist, and translator. His work has been described as confirming "[t]he strength of modern Canarian poetry".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jomí García Ascot</span>

Jomí García Ascot was a poet, essayist, filmmaker, director and educator. Born in Tunisia, he was a Spanish exile who lived in Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elvira Sastre</span> Spanish writer, poet, philologist, and literary translator

Elvira Sastre Sanz is a Spanish writer, poet, philologist, and literary translator.

Cristina Lacasa (1929–2011) was a Spanish poet and short story writer. She was considered an important figure among contemporary Spanish poets.

References

  1. "La uruguaya Cristina Peri Rossi, ganadora del Premio Cervantes 2021 - El Pais". elpais.com (in Spanish). 10 November 2021. Retrieved 2021-11-10.
  2. "::-Biografía- Cristina Peri Rossi::". Archived from the original on 2012-10-15. Retrieved 2012-08-27.
  3. "Peri Rossi acusa Catalunya Ràdio de persecución lingüística". Archived from the original on 2007-10-28.
  4. http://www.indiana.edu/~madweb/s4112005/compositionguides/extramatsforfinal/sexuality/matrimoniogay/Cristina%20Peri-Rossi-%20Ventajas%20del%20matrimonio%20homosexual-10-8-04.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  5. "Contra el totalitarismo islámico", Cristina Peri Rossi, 14 March 2006: http://www.almendron.com/tribuna/?p=2629
  6. "Cristina Peri Rossi by Carmen Boullosa - BOMB Magazine". bombmagazine.org. January 2009. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
  7. Schmidt, María Elisa (November 16, 2021). "Cristina Peri Rossi: la patria en la escritura". Gatopardo.
  8. Gigena, Daniel (November 10, 2021). "Cuatro poemas de la "insumisa" Cristina Peri Rossi, ganadora del Cervantes 2021". La Nación.
  9. Productora de información género (2010-10-04), Tatiana de la tierra.wmv , retrieved 2016-03-13