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Hello form Wonder Media Network. I'm

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Jenny Kaplan and this is Womanica. This

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Pride Month, we're talking about wordsmiths, women

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who use language to create community,

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give a voice for change, and inspire future

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generations to do the same. Today

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we're talking about an Argentine short story

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writer, poet and novelist. She

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didn't have a wide readership in her lifetime,

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but now is considered one of the most prolific

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and singular Argentine writers. Please

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welcome Silvina Ocampo. Silvina

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was born in nineteen oh three in Buenos Aires

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to one of Argentina's wealthiest families.

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They owned big tracts of land for livestock

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and agriculture, and also made money and exports

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and trade. Silvina

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was the youngest of six sisters. All

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of them enjoyed a privileged upbringing. They

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were educated by governesses and learned

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English, French, and Italian, language

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is considered more sophisticated than the national

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language of Spanish. In

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addition to their elaborate riverside estate

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outside Buenos Aires, the family

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had an apartment in Paris. When

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they took trips there via ship, they'd bring

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along one or two cows, so their daughters

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had fresh milk to drink. Growing

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up, Silvina felt like the ugly duckling she

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called herself, the etcetera of her family.

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Her parents largely ignored her, which gave

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her the freedom to play and explore on her

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own. She rebelled against her

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family's uppercross lifestyle. Silvina

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preferred spending time sewing, ironing,

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and cooking with the domestic servants. When

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she wasn't doing that, she was striking out

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against her parents' wishes. Silvina

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would walk around the neighborhood, making friends

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with the people who slept near the river. As

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soon as she could, Silvina moved to Paris so she

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could study painting under the modernist painters

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Giorgio de Quirico and Ferdinand

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Lege, But Sylvina found

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her tutors to be unimpressive, so she returned

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home to Buenos Aires. Soon

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she met a rich and attractive writer named

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Adolpho Bioy Cassaris. They

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started dating, and Sylvia moved into his country

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house. They weren't married,

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a scandal at the time, but Sylvina

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didn't care. Sylvina

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didn't care much for social norms or society

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in general. She didn't visit

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salons or attend dinners or cultural

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events. She didn't much enjoy

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traveling. Instead, she

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and Adolpho spent their days writing on

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the page. Silvina was able to work through her

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feelings of anxiety and isolation. In

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nineteen thirty seven, she published her first book

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of stories, called Forgotten Journey. It's

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a collection of more than twenty surrealist fairy

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tales that drew inspiration from local crime

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stories and distortions of her childhood

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memories. Each

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story centers around children who were cruel,

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abused, abusive, often murderous.

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In nineteen forty, Adolpho and Silvina got

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married. It was a modest occasion, no

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parties or fanfare, just a few witnesses

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at the Civil registrar. Silvina

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was close to other prolific writers who sometimes

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criticized her work. Her sister

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Victoria ran the publishing house on literary

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magazine Sore. Victoria

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published the likes of Carl Jung, Virginia

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Woolf, Albert Camue, and Jean Paul Sartre.

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Victoria praised Silvina's poetry but called

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her stories awkward.

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Silvina's husband was good friends with iconic

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writer Jorge Luis Borjis, and

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he had something to say about Silvina's stories

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too. Bor Has complained that

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some parts are too long, some too short,

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and he was confused by the cruelty that Silvina's

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character so often displayed, though

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he also wrote that Silvina was quote

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one of our best writers. Her stories have

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no equal in our literature. Throughout

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her life, Silvina published poetry, books,

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novels, and short story collections. Her

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poetry was more conventional and thus received

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more attention and praise that her experimental

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and surrealist narrative fiction. In

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addition to writing, Silvina was also an accomplished

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translator, rendering works from Emily Dickinson

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at Garralan Poe and Herman Melville

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into Spanish. She also wrote

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plays and stories for children. Much

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of Sylvina's personal life remained a

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mystery. We know that her husband

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had many affairs, Sylvina

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possibly had affairs of her own, some with

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women. We know that the couple

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remained close friends with Borhis and

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invited him over for Christmas dinners,

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New Year's parties, and summer vacations.

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And we know that Sylvina very rarely left

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her apartment. Sylvina

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died on December fourteenth, nineteen ninety

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three, in Buenos Aires. She

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was ninety years old. It seems

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that she would take her secrets with her, but after

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her death, unpublished writings of hers were found.

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One of them was her novel The Promise. It

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took Silvina twenty five years to write,

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and she was battling dementia for many of those

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years. The

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plot follows a woman who's a passenger on

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a ship and falls into the ocean. Swimming

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for her life, she constructs a gallery of memories

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to avoid losing hope.

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In twenty nineteen, The Promise and Forgotten

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Journey were available for the first time in English.

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Today, Silvina is celebrated for her experimental

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surrealist work. It's highly regarded

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as a treasure of the Argentine literary world.

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All month, we're talking about Wordsmiths. For more information,

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find us on Facebook and Instagram at Wamanica

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Podcast special thanks to Liz

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Kaplan, my favorite sister and co creator. As

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always, will be taking a break for the weekend. Talk

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to you on Monday.