SAER, Juan José 1937-2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born June 28, 1937, in Serodino, Santa Fé, Argentina; died June 11, 2005, in Paris, France. Writer. Though not as well known in the United States as such writers as Gabriel García Márquez or Jorge Luis Borges, Saer was an important Argentinean author of novels, short stories, and poetry. Born in the northern region of Argentina to Syrian immigrants, he attended the Facultad de Filosofía y Letras in the late 1950s and was also a student of law. He left his homeland in 1968, however, and moved to Paris, where he spent the rest of his life. There, he produced a dozen novels, plus several collections of stories, essays, and verse, most of which concerned Argentina. Unlike many popular Latin-American authors of the late twentieth century, Saer rejected the magical realism school, and also refused to strive for strict realism in his prose; rather, he aimed to break down the barriers between straight fiction and poetry, addressing matters of universal concern to humanity. Sometimes this meant addressing political or social issues, something he did not shy away from, though this was not the main goal of his writing. In his fiction and poetry, Saer endeavored to find new ground in his subject matter and style, providing his readers with new ways of conceptualizing their existence and their world. At the time of his death, only four of his novels had been translated into English: Nobody Nothing Never (1993; originally published as Nadie nada nunca, 1980), The Witness (1990; originally published as El entenado, 1983), The Event (1995; originally published as La ocasión, 1988), and The Investigation (1999; originally published as La pesquisa, 1994). Saer was the winner of the Nadal prize from Spain, for La ocasión, and the Prix Roger Calloix from France.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Guardian (London, England), June 20, 2005, p. 21.

Independent (London, England), June 18, 2005, p. 39.