49 Facts About Silvina Ocampo

Silvina Ocampo was an Argentine short story writer, poet, and artist.

Silvina Ocampo studied painting and drawing in Paris where she met, in 1920, Fernand Leger and Giorgio de Chirico, forerunners of surrealism.

Silvina Ocampo received, among other awards, the Municipal Prize for Literature in 1954 and the National Poetry Prize in 1962.

Silvina Ocampo's family resided on the Canary Islands before moving into Argentina on the mid 19th century.

Silvina Ocampo was the sister of Victoria Silvina Ocampo, the founder and editor of the prestigious Argentine journal Sur.

Silvina Ocampo was educated at home by tutors and in Paris.

Silvina Ocampo's family belonged to the upper bourgeoisie, a fact that allowed her to have a very complete training.

Silvina Ocampo had three governesses, a Spanish teacher, and an Italian teacher.

Silvina Ocampo's ancestors belonged to the Argentine aristocracy and owned extensive lands.

Manuel Jose de Silvina Ocampo was one of the first governors when independence was declared.

Silvina Ocampo's great-grandfather Manuel Jose de Ocampo y Gonzalez was a politician and candidate for president of the country.

Silvina Ocampo's father, Manuel Silvio Cecilio Ocampo Regueira, was born in 1860 and was an architect.

Silvina Ocampo was one of nine children and had a conservative character.

In winter, Silvina Ocampo visited her great-grandfather, who lived nearby, daily.

Silvina Ocampo stated that she began to hate socializing once Clara died.

In 1908, Silvina Ocampo traveled to Europe for the first time with her family.

When Victoria founded the magazine Sur in 1931, which published articles and texts by many important writers, philosophers, and intellectuals of the 20th century, Silvina Ocampo was part of the founding group.

In 1934, Silvina Ocampo met her future husband, the Argentine author Adolfo Bioy Casares.

Marta Bioy Silvina Ocampo died in an automobile accident shortly after Silvina Ocampo's own death.

Silvina Ocampo began her career as a short story writer in 1936.

Silvina Ocampo published her first book of short stories, Viaje olvidado, in 1937, followed by three books of poetry: Enumeracion de la patria, Espacios metricos, and Los sonetos del jardin.

Silvina Ocampo was a prolific writer, producing more than 175 pieces of fiction during one forty-year period.

Silvina Ocampo wrote Los que aman, odian with Bioy Casares in 1946, and with JR Wilcock she published the theatrical work Los Traidores in 1956.

Silvina Ocampo did not abandon her artistic training; she produced illustrations for Borges' poetry and painted throughout her life.

Silvina Ocampo was awarded Argentina's National Prize for Poetry in 1962, among other literary awards.

Silvina Ocampo published her first book of short stories, Viaje olvidado, in 1937.

Sur played a foundational role in the life of Silvina Ocampo, facilitating her connections with Borges, Bioy, Wilcock, and others in her circle.

La furia is often considered the point in which Silvina Ocampo reached the fullness of her style.

Silvina Ocampo was somewhat less active in terms of editorial presence in the 1960s, as she only published the volume of short stories, Las invitadas, and the poetry book, Lo amargo por dulce.

Silvina Ocampo published the story Los dias de la noche and a series of children's stories: El cofre volante, El tobogan, El caballo alado, and La naranja maravillosa.

Silvina Ocampo died in Buenos Aires on 14 December 1993, at the age of 90.

Silvina Ocampo was buried in the family crypt of the Recoleta Cemetery, a cemetery where Bioy Casares is buried.

In 2011, La promesa was published, a novel that Silvina Ocampo began around 1963 and that, with long interruptions and rewrites, finished between 1988 and 1989, pressured by her illness.

Silvina Ocampo has been described as a shy woman who refused interviews and preferred a low profile.

The only requirement that Silvina Ocampo put in order to be interviewed was that none of the questions be about literature.

Silvina Ocampo says that the lack of information about where the writer comes from results in a dependence on literary norms.

Carolina Suarez-Hernan considers that Silvina Ocampo is a feminist or at least works from feminist angles.

Suarez-Hernan bases her opinion on the context of Silvina Ocampo's literature, stating that Silvina Ocampo's literature contains a deep reflection on femininity and numerous demands for women's rights, as well as a critique of her situation in society.

Silvina Ocampo finds different mechanisms of creation and deconstruction of the feminine.

In contrast, Suarez-Hernan proposes that the humor used in Silvina Ocampo's work helps to subvert female stereotypes.

For Suarez-Hernan, Silvina Ocampo's work maintains a subversive and critical stance that finds pleasure in transgression.

When Maria Moreno asked her what she thought about feminism, Silvina Ocampo replied: "Mi opinion es un aplauso que me hace doler las manos" [My opinion is a round of applause that makes my hands hurt].

Amicola suggests that Silvina Ocampo's intention is to create child characters that aim to demystify the idea of infantile innocence.

Suarez-Hernan considers that women, children, and the poor in Silvina Ocampo's work act in a subordinate position dominated by stereotypes.

Critics note that Silvina Ocampo's writing particularly focused on transformations, such as metamorphosis, doubling, splitting, and fragmenting of the self.

In many of her stories, Silvina Ocampo uses physical and psychological changes to transform many of her characters.

Silvina Ocampo uses gradual changes in her short story "Sabanas de tierra" to highlight the metamorphic process of a gardener in a plant.

In recent years Silvina Ocampo's work has been newly translated into English, bringing greater awareness to Silvina Ocampo's accomplishments as a writer.

Silvina Ocampo is buried at La Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires.