Esteban Echeverria – författare

The first English translation of an Argentinean classic.Argentina, 1839. A young man dies for his political beliefs when attacked by a mob in a slaughteryard used to butcher cattle.The story takes place at the height of Juan Manuel de Rosas’ reign of terror. Though fictional, it is an open indictment of that brutal regime and the first masterwork of Latin-American literature, orginally published twenty years after the author’s death. El matadero, or The Slaughteryard, is reputed to be the most widely studied school text in Spanish-speaking South America.Available now for the first time in a modern English translation this is a story that in well over a century has lost none of its freshness and popularity. This edition is the fruit of years of research into little-known corners of Argentine literature and history, including an extensive glossary, the story’s rare first printed version, and an appendix of reports by early English travellers to the River Plate, including Charles Darwin.This is an uncompromising and unforgettable story of huge force and power which richly deserves a wide English-speaking audience.

The first English translation of an Argentinean classic.Argentina, 1839. A young man dies for his political beliefs when attacked by a mob in a slaughteryard used to butcher cattle.The story takes place at the height of Juan Manuel de Rosas’ reign of terror. Though fictional, it is an open indictment of that brutal regime and the first masterwork of Latin-American literature, orginally published twenty years after the author’s death. El matadero, or The Slaughteryard, is reputed to be the most widely studied school text in Spanish-speaking South America.Available now for the first time in a modern English translation this is a story that in well over a century has lost none of its freshness and popularity. This edition is the fruit of years of research into little-known corners of Argentine literature and history, including an extensive glossary, the story’s rare first printed version, and an appendix of reports by early English travellers to the River Plate, including Charles Darwin.This is an uncompromising and unforgettable story of huge force and power which richly deserves a wide English-speaking audience.

Como es sabido, Esteban Echeverría dejó entre sus papeles inéditos en prosa una obra titulada Cartas a un amigo. Son un intento de novela epistolar y confidencia disfrazada de realidad autobiográfica. Las Cartas a un amigo —treinta y tres en total— pudieron haber sido escritas hacia 1830-1832.Las Cartas a un amigo de Esteban Echeverría recogen episodios de la vida del autor, como la pérdida de su madre, reflexiones que, a la postre, son el germen de muchas de sus ideas o, incluso aspectos tan íntimos como la fascinación ante una mujer virtuosa. Echeverría relata estos sucesos en unas epístolas que prefiguran el estilo exaltado de su obra La Cautiva.

La correspondencia de Esteban Echeverría echa luz sobre la trayectoria de uno de los intelectuales más trascendentes del Río de la Plata en el siglo XIX. Esta colección de cartas abarca el período entre 1825 y 1850, es decir que se extiende entre los veinte años del autor y la antesala de su muerte, ya siendo hace tiempo una figura reconocida.Se incluyen cartas enviadas a otras personas notables, como Juan María Gutiérrez, Mariquita Sánchez, Juan Bautista Alberdi y Domingo Faustino Sarmiento.El epistolario unificado de Echeverría es indispensable para conocer los entretelones de los ambientes literarios y políticos de Argentina y Uruguay durante aquella época.

La presencia por ausencia de Juan Manuel de Rosas y la actualidad de su contenido político convierten a estas dos obras en lecturas imprescindibles para la formación de los jóvenes argentinos.