Juan Carlos Onetti’s Followers (385)

Juan Carlos Onetti

Born

in Montevideo, Uruguay

July 01, 1909

Died

May 30, 1994

Genre

Fiction

Influences

Roberto Arlt, Céline, Faulkner, James Joyce, John Dos Passos, Knut Ham ...more

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Juan Carlos Onetti (July 1, 1909, Montevideo – May 30, 1994, Madrid) was an Uruguayan novelist and author of short stories.

A high school drop-out, Onetti's first novel, El pozo, published in 1939, met with his close friends' immediate acclaim, as well as from some writers and journalists of his time. 500 copies of the book were printed, most of them left to rot at the only bookstore that sold it, Barreiro (the book was not reprinted until the 60's, with an introduction and preliminary study by Ángel Rama). Aged 30, Onetti was already working as editing secretary of the famous weekly Uruguayan newspaper Marcha. He had lived for some years in Buenos Aires, where he published short stories and wrote cinema critiques for the local media, and me Juan Carlos Onetti (July 1, 1909, Montevideo – May 30, 1994, Madrid) was an Uruguayan novelist and author of short stories.

A high school drop-out, Onetti's first novel, El pozo, published in 1939, met with his close friends' immediate acclaim, as well as from some writers and journalists of his time. 500 copies of the book were printed, most of them left to rot at the only bookstore that sold it, Barreiro (the book was not reprinted until the 60's, with an introduction and preliminary study by Ángel Rama). Aged 30, Onetti was already working as editing secretary of the famous weekly Uruguayan newspaper Marcha. He had lived for some years in Buenos Aires, where he published short stories and wrote cinema critiques for the local media, and met and befriended the notorious novelist and journalist, Roberto Arlt ("El juguete rabioso", "Los siete locos", "Los lanzallamas").

He went on to become one of Latin America's most distinguished writers, earning Uruguay's National Prize in literature in 1962. In 1974, he and some of his colleagues were imprisoned by the military dictatorship. Their crime: as members of the jury, they had chosen Nelson Marra's short story El guardaespaldas (i.e. "The bodyguard") as the winner of Marcha's annual literary contest. Due to a series of misunderstandings (and the need to fill some space in the following day's edition), El guardaespaldas was published in Marcha, although it had been widely agreed among them that they shouldn't and wouldn't do so, knowing this would be the perfect excuse for the military to intervene Marcha, considering the subject of the story (the interior monologue of a top-rank military officer who recounts his murders and atrocious behavior, much as it was happening with the functioning regime).

Onetti left his native country (and his much-loved city of Montevideo) after being imprisoned for 6 months in Colonia Etchepare, a mental institution. A long list of world-famous writers -including Gabriel García Márquez, Mario Vargas Llosa and Mario Benedetti - signed open letters addressed to the military government of Uruguay, which was unaware of the talented (and completely harmless) writer it had imprisoned and humiliated.

As soon as he was released, Onetti fled to Spain with his wife, violin player Dorotea Mühr. There he continued his career as a writer, being awarded the most prestigious literary prize in the Spanish-speaking world, the Premio Cervantes. He remained in Madrid until his death in 1994. He is interred in the Cementerio de la Almudena in Madrid.

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Combine Editions
Juan Carlos Onetti’s books

Average rating: 3.76 · 12,484 ratings · 1,427 reviews · 148 distinct works • Similar authors

	El astillero 3.77 avg rating — 2,350 ratings — published 1961 — 42 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Los adioses 3.72 avg rating — 1,877 ratings — published 1953 — 47 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	El pozo 3.69 avg rating — 1,492 ratings — published 1939	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	La vida breve 3.78 avg rating — 1,207 ratings — published 1950 — 5 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Juntacadáveres 3.69 avg rating — 896 ratings — published 1964 — 30 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cuentos completos 4.22 avg rating — 531 ratings — published 1979 — 29 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cuando ya no importe 3.57 avg rating — 437 ratings — published 1993 — 23 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dejemos hablar al viento 3.66 avg rating — 321 ratings — published 1979 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Tan triste como ella y otros cuentos 4.10 avg rating — 162 ratings — published 1963 — 20 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	El pozo: Novelas breves 1 3.76 avg rating — 147 ratings — published 1979 — 13 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Juan Carlos Onetti…

Series by Juan Carlos Onetti

Novelas breves (2 books)
by

Juan Carlos Onetti

3.80 avg rating — 209 ratings

Quotes by Juan Carlos Onetti (?)

“I applaud the courage of he who accepts each and every one of the laws of a game he did not invent and was not asked if he wanted to play”
― Juan Carlos Onetti, A Brief Life

36 likes

“El amor es maravilloso y absurdo e, incomprensiblemente, visita a cualquier clase de almas. Pero la gente absurda y maravillosa no abunda; y las que lo son, es por poco tiempo, en la primera juventud. Después comienzan a aceptar y se pierden.”
― Juan Carlos Onetti, El pozo

tags: love

21 likes

“La literatura es mentir bien la verdad”
― Juan Carlos Onetti

21 likes

See all Juan Carlos Onetti's quotes »

Polls

Our penultimate book to finish our fabulous voyage through many of the Spanish-speaking countries of South and Central America will be representative of Uruguay. The next poll will be about Venezuela.

Image for Parque Rodó, Montevideo, named for "José Enrique Rodó, an important Uruguayan writer whose monument is in the southern side of the main park."

Mario Benedetti, The Truce

6 votes, 37.5%

Juan Carlos Onetti, A Brief Life

4 votes, 25.0%

José Enrique Rodó, Ariel

2 votes, 12.5%

Jorge Majfud, Silicone 5.0

2 votes, 12.5%

Springtime in a Broken Mirror,Mario Benedetti (write-in)

2 votes, 12.5%

16 total votes

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