Silvina Ocampo

Silvina Ocampo, in a photo taken by her husband, Adolfo Bioy Casares.

Silvina Ocampo Aguirre (July 28, 1903 - December 14, 1993) was an Argentine poet and short-fiction writer.

Ocampo was born in Buenos Aires, the youngest of the six children of Manuel Ocampo and Ramona Aguirre. She was educated at home by tutors. One of her sisters was Victoria Ocampo, the publisher of the literarily important Argentine magazine Sur. She studied drawing in Paris under Giorgio de Chirico. She was married to Adolfo Bioy Casares, whose lover she became (1933) when Bioy was 19. They were married in 1940. In 1954 she adopted Bioy’s daughter with another woman, Marta Bioy Ocampo (1954–94), who was killed in an automobile accident just three weeks after Silvina Ocampo’s death, leaving two children. The estate of Silvina Ocampo and Adolfo Bioy Casares was recently (as of 2006) awarded by a Buenos Aires court to yet another love child of Adolfo Bioy Casares, Fabián Bioy. Fabián Bioy died, aged 40, in February 2006.

With Fabián Bioy's death, it is likely the many documents and manuscripts of both writers will soon become available to scholars.

Literary works

Ocampo began as a writer with the book of short stories Viaje olvidado in 1937, and followed up with three books of poetry, Enumeración de la patria, Espacios métricos and Los sonetos del jardín. With Espacios métricos, which had been published in 1942 by the publishing house Sur, she won the Premio Municipal in 1954. She won the second prize in the National Poetry Comptetition for Los nombres in 1953 and came back to win the first place prize in 1962 with Lo amargo por dulce.

Co-authored with Adolfo Bioy Casares, Ocampo published Los que aman, odian, in 1946, and with Juan Rodolfo Wilcock she published the theatrical work Los Traidores in 1956. With Borges and Bioy Casares, Ocampo co-authored the celebrated Antología de la literatura fantástica in 1940, and also the Antología poética Argentina in 1941.

Bibliography

• Viaje Olvidado (stories), Buenos Aires, Sur, 1937.
• Antología de la literatura fantástica, Buenos Aires, Sudamericana,1940; second edition 1965, third edition 1970, fourth edition 1990.
• Antología poética Argentina, Buenos Aires, Sudamericana, 1941.
• Espacios métricos (poetry), Buenos Aires, Sur, 1942. Premio Municipal.
• Enumeración de la patria (poetry), Buenos Aires, Sur, 1942.
• Los sonetos del jardín (poetry), Buenos Aires, Sur, 1946.
• Los que aman, odian, Buenos Aires, Emecé, 1946.
• Autobiografía de Irene (stories), Buenos Aires, Sur, 1948. Re-issued by Orión, 1976.
• Poemas de amor desesperado (poetry), Buenos Aires, Sudamericana,1949.
• Los nombres (poetry), Buenos Aires, Emecé, 1953. Premio Nacional de Poesía.
• Pequeña antología, Buenos Aires, Editorial Ene, 1954.
• Los traidores (theatrical piece in verse), Buenos Aires, Losange, 1956. Re-issued by Ada Korn, 1988.
• El pecado mortal (anthology of relatos), Buenos Aires, Eudeba, 1966.
• Informe del cielo y del infierno (anthology of relatos), prologue by Edgardo Cozarinsky, Caracas, Monte Ávila, 1970.
• La furia (stories), Buenos Aires, Sur, 1959. Re-issued by Orión, 1976.
• Las invitadas (stories), Buenos Aires, Losada, 1961. Re-issued by Orión, 1979.
• Lo amargo por dulce (poetry), Buenos Aires, Emecé, 1962. Premio Nacional de Poesía.
• Los días de la noche (stories), Buenos Aires, Sudamericana,1970.
• Amarillo celeste (poetry), Buenos Aires, Losada, 1972.
• El cofre volante (children's stories), Buenos Aires, Estrada, 1974.
• El tobogán (children's stories), Buenos Aires, Estrada, 1975.
• El caballo alado (children's stories), Buenos Aires, De la flor, 1976.
• La casa de azúcar
• La naranja maravillosa (children's stories), Buenos Aires, Sudamericana, 1977.
• Canto Escolar (children's stories), Buenos Aires, Fraterna, 1979.
• Árboles de Buenos Aires (poetry), Buenos Aires, Crea, 1979.
• La continuación y otras páginas, Buenos Aires, Centro Editor de América Latina, 1981.
• Encuentros con Silvina Ocampo, dialogues with Noemí Ulla, Buenos Aires, Editorial de Belgrano, 1982.
• Páginas de Silvina Ocampo, selections by the author, prologue by Enrique Pezzoni, Buenos Aires, Editorial Celtia, 1984.
• Breve Santoral (poetry), Buenos Aires, Ediciones de arte Gaglianone, 1985.
• Y así sucesivamente (stories), Barcelona, Tusquets, 1987.
• Cornelia frente al espejo, Barcelona, Tusquets, 1988. Premio del Club de los 13.
• Las reglas del secreto (anthology), Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1991.

External links

• A Spanish-language page on Ocampo with a good bibliography of works by and about her.
• Ocampo's papers at Princeton.
• Ocampo Collection at Notre Dame