Cristina Peri Rossi

This Uruguayan author received condemnation and military oppression for her leftist ideology and political criticism. She even had to flee from her country and seek refuge in Spain, in the year 1972.

Due to the cancellation of her visa and Uruguayan citizenship, this writer had to go to exile a second time, in 1974. This time she moved to France.

She returned to Spain by the end of the year and married a citizen of Spain, which got her a citizenship of the country. However, she soon evaded her marriage as her husband was a gay.

This Latin American writer was born on 12th November, 1941 in Montevideo, Uruguay, in a family of Italian immigrants. Her father was basically a farmer by profession, but later started working in the textile sector. Her mother, who was a teacher, was the only educated person in the family.

During her childhood, the government had made education secular and free so that everyone could avail it, which helped this writer continue studying in spite of financial difficulties.

She was introduced to the world of books by an uncle, who himself had a library which became Cristina’s source of knowledge.

She used to make a note of the books she desired to read, and having not being able to buy them, she would spend most of her time reading books at the ’National Library’ in Montevideo. At the age of sixteen she had finished reading ‘The Second Sex’, written by Simone de Beauvoir.

Rossi wished to be a writer from her very childhood and she even started writing when she was quite young. But she hid it from her family because she knew that no one will approve of it.

In 1963, her first book was published by the name ‘Viviendo’ (Living). It comprised of stories which had females as their protagonists.

Her second book ‘Los museos abandonados’ (Abandoned museums) reached the public in 1968. Although it is a collection of stories, many regard it to be a single novel. Despite the fact that, this book earned her the ‘Arca Publishers Prize for Young Authors’, she also received condemnation from the government for her political criticism and leftist ideology.

The following year, in 1969, her third literary work ‘El Libro de mis primos’ (My Cousins’ Book) hit the book stores, which discussed about the guerrilla movements and military oppression.

The year 1970 saw the publication of her book ‘Indicios pánicos’ (Panic Signs), which is a collection of letters in Hispanic, and has been much appreciated for its personal tone. The book indicates the impending doom that would usher in with the dictator regime in her nation, as foreseen by this writer.

The following year, another book penned by Rossi, named ‘Evohé’, came into print. This book was a collection of erotic poems, which was banned by her country’s military administration. This book was followed by the publication of ‘Descripción de un naufragio’ (Description of a Shipwreck) in 1975, which dwells on the exile theme.

‘La nave de los locos’ (The Ship of Fools) is considered by many as the most significant work of Cristina Peri Rossi. The narrative technique employed in this novel is innovative, as it imitates a travelogue. The readers see the modern world through the eyes of Equis, the protagonist in the story. The author uses the technique of ‘Ostranenie’ to give the readers a new view of commonplace things, and thus creates a satire of the modern society.