Antonio di Benedetto

Antonio di Benedetto ( born November 2, 1922 in Mendoza, † October 10, 1986 in Buenos Aires ) was an Argentine writer.

Life

Di Benedetto worked as a journalist, foreign correspondent and writer, before he was imprisoned by the Argentine military in 1976. With the help of foreign petitions, he was released after a year and then lived in Paris and Madrid. In 1984 he returned to Argentina and died lonely and impoverished, 1986 in Buenos Aires. For his work he received numerous awards and prizes.

The works of Antonio di Benedetto are not as well known as his compatriots Jorge Luis Borges, Julio Cortázar, Manuel Puig and, above all, why not, because they were gone a long time from bookstores. In Argentina, the end of the nineties began with new editions of his works with Adriana Hidalgo Editora his rediscovery.

Works on German

The novel And Zama waiting

And Zama waiting is di Benedetto's most famous novel. He appeared under the title " Zama " first in 1956 in the editorial Dople P in Buenos Aires. 1967, came to Argentina in a reissue of a revised version of the author. The novel underwent further conditions, eg Spain (1972, 1979, 1985) and Cuba ( 1990). The German translation is by Mary Bamberg and appeared in 1967 in Erdmann Verlag, taking into account the changes made by the author. A new edition of this translation appeared in 2009 under the shortened title " Zama waiting " in Manesseplatz publisher.

The narrative silence

The narrative silence is called in the original El silenciero, where it is also known as novela ( ie as a novel). El silenciero first appeared in 1964 at Ediciones Troquel in Buenos Aires and in 1968 moved to the translation by Curt Meyer- Clason Suhrkamp on German.

The original title of the story, El silenciero, is a neologism that describes the unnamed narrator. This is a man who has ever studied law, but now nothing brings about, as he always and everywhere a disturbing noise (el ruido ) is faced with, and can not think clearly. His insistence on a right to Ungestörtsein, its filings with the authorities remain unsuccessful. He sees himself as an aspiring writer who wants to promote a work called The Roof (El techo ). But the ever-present noise makes him miss his life. In the end he ends up because of an arson in prison.

The book was reissued in 1999 in Argentina, with a foreword by Juan José Saer, which counts El silenciero the major works of Argentine literature.

The narrative Visor Obstinatus

Visor Obstinatus appeared under the original Spanish title obstinado visor first in the short story collection Absurdos (1978). The German translation of René Strien appeared along with the stories of other authors in the anthology The red moon. Fantastic tales of the Río de la Plata in 1988 by Suhrkamp.

The short story ( in the specified band comprising only eight pages) shows four episodes from the life of Rubén, who sees himself driven from his childhood to observe certain things precisely in anticipation of a disaster.

In the first episode Rubén is seven years old. He will always be attracted to a certain house with bright blue facade and holds it there for no apparent reason " guard ". One day he noticed a crack in the wall of the house and watched as first collapse the roof and then the sky blue wall.

The second episode tells the story of nine -year-old Rubén, who spends the teaching of history in an indefinite expectation of a coming disaster. This time it is the teacher whose sheer presence with Rubén causes " an all-pervasive sense of control". Rubén's discomfort is confirmed, as the coat of the teacher touches the oven and catches fire. The teacher wants to escape to the outside through the air supply to the fire expands on her clothes and her long hair.

The third episode spends the now seventeen -year-old Rubén again in anticipation of a disaster. This time relates to his vague feeling a pregnant girl from the neighborhood. One day he drives his premonition in the bus, in which it goes. During the trip, the contractions set a, it brings out the kid on the bus to the world. It occurs no calamity, everything is going well, and although Ruben is not assist directly, he thinks he can be seen: "For [ ... ] he had to be there. "

In the fourth episode this time is no age given by " Mr. Rubén " the speech. He is widowed, has a daughter and a son. A renewed anticipation drives him earlier than usual from the office to your home. Along the way he meets a chained, barking dog who looks at him, "with a direct view, which only applies to him, and it is perhaps a sad looking ." The encounter with the dog he does not go out of your head, at night he can not sleep and suddenly realizes "that he has to wait without impatience and without trouble until five. Wait ... what? " His own death has been announced here, and when it proposes five clock, " he observed from the chair in which he is established, as he dies in his bed. " This indistinct separation of body and soul at death, the story ends.

Not translated into German works

• Mundo animal (1953 )
• El pentágono (1954, reissued in 1974 under the title Anabella )
• Grot (1957, reissued in 1969 under the title Cuentos claros )
• Declinación y ángel (1958 )
• El cariño de los tontos (1961 )
• Los suicidas (1969 ) - a film by Juan Villegas (2005)
• Absurdos (1978)
• Sombras nada más (1984 )
• Cuentos completos (2006)