Sur: A Study of the Argentine Literary Journal and its Role in the Development of a Culture, 1931–1970

Cambridge Iberian and Latin American Studies

by John King

This book tells the story of Sur, Argentina's foremost literary and cultural journal of the twentieth century. Victoria Ocampo (its founder and lifelong editor) and Jorge Luis Borges (a regular and influential contributor) feature prominently in the story, while the contributions of other major writers (including Eduardo Mallea, William Faulkner, André Breton, Virginia Woolf, Alfonso Reyes, Octavio Paz, Waldo Frank, Aldous Huxley and Graham Greene) are discussed. Politically speaking, Sur represented a certain brand of liberalism, a resistance to populism and mass culture, and an attachment to elitist values which offended against the more dominant phases of Argentine thought, from Peronism to the varied forms of nationalism, socialism and Marxism. Dr King examines the journal's roots, its development and its demise, relating it to other journals circulating at the time, and highlighting vital issues debated in its pages, such as Argentine attitudes towards fascism during the Second World War.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published December 26, 1986

About the author

John King is the author of eight novels – The Football Factory, Headhunters, England Away, Human Punk, White Trash, The Prison House, Skinheads and The Liberal Politics Of Adolf Hitler. The Football Factory was turned into a high-profile film. A new novel – Slaughterhouse Prayer – was published on 8 November 2018.

King has written short stories and non-fiction for a number of publications, with articles appearing in the likes of The New Statesman, Le Monde and La Repubblica. His books have been widely translated abroad. He edits the fiction fanzine Verbal and lives in London.

Reviews

[骆驼 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Blind admirers of Borges, Ocampo and gang should read this to realise how when one is a politically unprogressive, pseudo aristocratic elitist, literary talent would be a limitation that creates more blind spots in their worldview. As literary history, this informative book is quite objective. Although it is more about Victoria Ocampo and Sur, with Borges in the shadow, this text helps to affirm my skepticism towards him, and why it is irritating to read his interviews and to hear the witty old man 'speak in-person'.