Quiroga, Horacio

Quiroga, Horacio

▪ Uruguayan writer
born December 31, 1878, Salto, Uruguay
died February 19, 1937, Buenos Aires, Argentina

      Uruguayan-born short-story writer whose imaginative portrayal of the struggle of man and animal to survive in the tropical jungle earned him recognition as a master of the short story. He also excelled in depicting mental illness and hallucinatory states, in stories that anticipate those of later 20-century masters such as the American writer William Faulkner (Faulkner, William).

      After travels in Europe during his youth, Quiroga spent most of his life in Argentina, living in Buenos Aires and taking frequent trips to San Ignacio in the jungle province of Misiones, which provided the material for most of his stories. He was a journalist for the greater part of his life, briefly a teacher and a justice of the peace. Such early works as the collection of prose and verse Los arrecifes de coral (1901; “The Coral Reefs”) show Quiroga's imitation of then-fashionable literary devices. Soon, however, he found his own direction in the short story. He was influenced at first by 19th-century writers: from the United States the macabre visions of Edgar Allan Poe (Poe, Edgar Allan), and from England the jungle settings of the stories by Rudyard Kipling (Kipling, Rudyard).

      Exploring his view of life as an endless struggle for survival, Quiroga depicted the primitive and the savage with exotic imagery in such collections as Cuentos de la selva (1918; Stories of the Jungle) and La gallina degollada y otras cuentos (1925; The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories). The work generally recognized as his masterpiece, Anaconda (1921), portrays on several levels—realistic, philosophical, and symbolic—the battles of the snakes in the tropical jungle, the nonpoisonous anaconda and the poisonous viper.

      Quiroga's preoccupation with the short story as genre led him to publish the influential “Decalogo del perfecto cuentista” (“Decalogue of the Perfect Short-Story Writer”). Though perhaps tongue-in-cheek, his “commandments” preached what his own short stories exemplified: a model of perfection for Latin American writers.

      Quiroga began to suffer from illness and chronic depression; his later writings reflect the overwhelming sense of futility that eventually led to his suicide in a charity hospital.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Quiroga, Horacio — ► (1878 1937) Cuentista argentino. Se le considera el más destacado de los cuentistas iberoamericanos. Autor de Cuentos de amor, de locura y de muerte. * * * (31 dic. 1879, El Salto, Uruguay–19 feb. 1937, Buenos Aires, Argentina). Escritor… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Horacio Quiroga — en 1900. Nacimiento 31 de diciembre de 1878 …   Wikipedia Español

  • Horacio Quiroga — (* 31. Dezember 1878 in Salto (Uruguay); † 19. Februar 1937 in Buenos Aires) war ein südamerikanischer Schriftsteller. Er wurde als Sohn des argentinischen Vizekonsuls in Salto Uruguay geboren. Nach dem frühen Tod des Vaters ging er zurück nach… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • QUIROGA (H.) — QUIROGA HORACIO (1878 1937) Écrivain uruguayen, Horacio Quiroga inaugure le réalisme magique dans la littérature latino américaine. Il naquit à Salto, le 31 décembre 1878. Adolescent, il admire Gutiérrez Nájera, Bécquer, et connaît Leopoldo… …   Encyclopédie Universelle

  • Quiroga — puede referirse a: ● Quiroga es un municipio español de la provincia de Lugo (Galicia), perteneciente a la comarca homónima. ● Quiroga es una comarca española situada en la provincia de Lugo (Galicia). ● Quiroga es una localidad mexicana… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Quiroga — may refer to:in geography, * Quiroga, Galicia mdash; a municipality in Lugo province, Galicia, Spain * Quiroga Valley * Quiroga, Michoacán mdash; a municipality in the Mexican state of Michoacán for people, * Quiroga (surname) mdash; the surname… …   Wikipedia

  • Horacio Quiroga — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Quiroga. Horacio Quiroga. Horacio Quiroga est un écrivain uruguayen né à Salto Oriental en 1878 et mort à Buenos Aires (Argentine) en 1937 …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Quiroga — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Quiroga puede referirse a: Quiroga es un municipio español de la provincia de Lugo, Galicia, perteneciente a la comarca homónima. Quiroga es una comarca española situada en la provincia de Lugo, Galicia …   Wikipedia Español

  • Quiroga — ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Facundo Quiroga (* 1978), argentinischer Fußballspieler Fernando Quiroga y Palacios (1900–1971), spanischer Kardinal und Bischof der römisch katholischen Kirche Hernan Marcelo Quiroga Rojas (* 1977),… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Horacio — steht für Horacio (Insel) in Äquatorialguinea Männlicher Vorname Horacio Quiroga (1878–1937), Horacio Vásquez (1855/1860–1936), dominikanischer Politiker und Präsident Horacio Elizondo ( *1963), argentinischer Schiedsrichter Horacio Serpa (*1943) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

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