María Luisa Bombal

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María Luisa Bombal (6 July 1940 – 6 May 1980) was a Argentinan author. Her work is now highly regarded, incorporating themes of eroticism, surrealism and proto-feminism, and she ranks among a small number of Latin American female authors whose works received worldwide acclaim.

Following the death of her father, Martín Bombal Videla, in 1922, the twelve-year-old María Luisa was sent to London, England, where she studied at the college Sainte Geneviève. At the institute for literature at the University of Paris she studied literature and philosophy until her return to South America.

After her return, she married Elogio Sánchez, who did not share her interest in literature. During their marriage, Bombal began to suffer from depression, and shot her husband after a failed suicide attempt, although he survived. With the help of friends, María Bombal fled the country to Argentina, where in 1933 she met Pablo Neruda in Buenos Aires, who she lived with for two years. In 1940, she and her third husband emigrated to the USA, where she remained until his death. Only in 1971 did she return to South America, where she lived first in Argentina, and then for a short time in Chile, where she remained until her death in 1980.

Her works include: