Gloria Alcorta
Gloria Alcorta | |
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| Born | September 30, 1915 Bayonne, France |
| Died | February 25, 2012 (aged 96) Buenos Aires, Argentine |
| Occupations | Writer, poet, film critic, artist |
| Spouse | Alberto Girondo Uriburu |
| Relatives |
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| Awards | Prix Médicis |
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Gloria Alcorta (30 September 1915 – 25 February 2012) was an Argentine writer, poet and sculptor.
Early life and art career
Alcorta was the daughter of Rodolfo Alcorta, painter and Argentinean diplomat to France,[1][2] and Rosa Mansilla,[2] daughter of writer Eduarda Mansilla.[3] As a child, she was a voracious reader and showed great passion for sculpture, as well as an aptitude for music and painting.[2]
When her mother died in 1932, she was sent to live with her aunt and uncle in Rome.[2] While there, she would both learn Italian and meet a young Luchino Visconti.[2] Alcorta was enrolled in a Calvinist school in Rome, where she continued reading, writing, and painting.[2] She got good grades, but would later be expelled for slapping a nun after discovering that the nun had confiscated and burned several of her books, including her copy of Les Fleurs du mal.[2] After her expulsion, her uncle brought her back to live with her father in Argentina.[2] On the boat there, she would meet and become the mentee of Silvina Ocampo, who would later intoduce her to Jorge Luis Borges.[2]
From 1934-1938 she studied sculpture in Paris.[3] Her work was shown in several exhibitions alongside other artists, as well as in solo exhibitions at galleries in Montevideo and L'Alcora.[1] She received second place in the 1935 Salón Femenino in Buenos Aires, as well as a silver medal at the 1937 Paris World's Fair.[1]
Writing career
Alcorta was fluent in both Spanish and French, publishing works in both languages.[3] Her first literary work was a 1935 book of poems in French titled La Prison de l'enfant, it is prefaced by Jorge Luis Borges and illustrated by Héctor Basaldúa.[3] La Prison de l'enfant would receive praise from the contemporary poets Saint-John Perse and Jules Supervielle.[4]
Alcorta was reportedly interested in the poetry of Oliverio Girondo, and may have been inspired by him.[4] She married Girondo's brother, Alberto Girondo Uriburu, with whom she had three children.[5][2] Family obligations forced her to stop writing for a time, but she would return around 1945 with the short story Magálica, which was published in La Nación.[2]
In 1951 she published the Spanish-language poem Visages which was translated into French by Rafael Alberti and given the Prix Rivarol award for Best Foreign Work.[4] In addition to poetry and short stories, she also wrote the 1954 play Le seigneur de Saint Gor, which would premiere at the Théâtre des Arts.[2]
A short story she wrote called El hotel de la luna was published in the Sur magazine in 1956.[2] José Pepe Bianco, the director of Sur at the time, encouraged her write a collection of similar stories.[1][2] This led to her most well-known work: the 1958 El hotel de la luna y otras imposturas, a collection short stories with mainly female protagonists.[3][4] The French translation of El hotel de la luna y otras imposturas was released in 1966, where it became the first Argentinean work to be awarded the Prix Médicis.[4] Other works of hers include the 1961 short story collection Noches de nadie and the 1964 fiction novel En la casa muerta.[1][2]
She lived in Paris[6] and would write film criticism throughout her career.[7][8][9] Alcorta attended a private screening of the now-lost 1936 Benjamin Fondane film Tararira.[7][10] In the 60s, she would go to the Cannes Film Festival to report on Argentinian films showing there.[11][12]
Publications
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1935 | La Prison de l'enfant | Poetry collection |
| 1951 | Visages | Poetry collection |
| 1958 | El hotel de la luna y otras imposturas | Short story collection |
| 1966 | En la casa muerta | Fiction |
| 1978 | L'oreiller noir | Short story collection |
| 1989 | Le crime de Doña Clara | Fiction |
| 1997 | Travesías | Written with Olga Orozco and Antonio Requeni |
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Alcorta de Girondo, Gloria". Arte de la Argentina. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Kupchik, Christian (16 February 2023). "Gloria Alcorta, la avenida olvidada". Eterna Cadencia. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Martin, Crista. "Alcorta, Gloria (1915—)". encyclopedia.com.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Kupchik, Christian. "Gloria Alcorta, reencontrada". ulricarevista. Retrieved 28 June 2026.
- ↑ Testa, Edith. "Gloria Alcorta". Retrieved 28 June 2026.
- ↑ Weiss, Jason (2014-01-02). The Lights of Home: A Century of Latin American Writers in Paris. Routledge. p. 189. ISBN 978-1-317-97144-3.
- 1 2 Baltag, Victoria. "The Role Played by the Local in Global Cinema: Benjamin Fondane". Retrieved 29 June 2026.
- ↑ Fondane, Benjamin (2016-05-17). Existential Monday: Philosophical Essays. New York Review of Books. pp. xv. ISBN 978-1-59017-898-0.
- ↑ Suisman, David; Strasser, Susan (2011-10-11). Sound in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-8122-0686-9.
- ↑ ""TAKE2🎬INDIE REVIEW SITS DOWN WITH VICTORIA BALTAG TO DISCUSS HER PASSION PROJECT – PITESTI: THE EXPERIMENT..."". Take2IndieReview. Retrieved 29 June 2026.
- ↑ Navitski, Rielle (2023-11-21). Transatlantic Cinephilia: Film Culture Between Latin America and France, 1945–1965. Univ of California Press. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-520-39143-7.
- ↑ Rocha, Carolina (2018-01-05). Argentine Cinema and National Identity (1966-1976). Liverpool University Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-1-78694-826-7.