Abstract
Juan Carlos Onetti is less known in the English-speaking world than other Latin American authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Júlio Cortázar or Mario Vargas Llosa. To these writers, however, he is ‘the master’, affectionately regarded as one of the major founders of modern Latin American literature. Born in Montevideo on 1 July 1909, his first short story was published in 1933, winning the prestigious La Prensa prize. In 1939 he joined the editorial staff of the newly-founded magazine Marcha, working as its literary editor and also writing a regular humorous column. Although he left Uruguay two years later for Argentina, his association with Marcha continued, helping to make it Latin America's foremost cultural publication, the tribune of two generations of writers and intellectuals. Until his return to Montevideo in 1955, Onetti worked in Buenos Aires as a journalist, translator and editor of English-language novels. In 1957 he was appointed Director of Montevideo's Municipal Libraries, and ten years later became a member of the governing body of Uruguay's National Theatre (Comedia Nacional). In 1972, he was chosen as the ‘best Uruguayan narrative writer of the last 50 years’ by 35 writers and poets interviewed by Marcha.
It was his association with Marcha which finally cost Onetti his freedom and his country after the 1973 military takeover. Never an overtly political figure, Onetti had nevertheless given his support to the left-wing Frente Amplio (‘Broad Front’) electoral coalition, and was highly regarded for his independent, disquieting vision of Uruguayan society. In 1974 he was a member of the jury for the annual Marcha literary competition. The story chosen for the prize, El guarda espaldas (‘The Henchman’) by Mercedes Reiss, was taken by the authorities as an attack on the police. Marcha was closed for good, and several members of its staff, including Onetti, arrested (see Index on Censorship 4/1974 and 2/1979). After a week in a police cell and four days in a sports stadium, he was held for three months in a psychiatric clinic before being brought to trial. Among the defendants found innocent of any charge, Onetti later left Uruguay, first for Italy, then for Spain, where he now lives.