Angélica Gorodischer (Angélica Beatriz del Rosario Arcal de Gorodischer)(28 July 1928 – 5 February 2022) was an Argentine writer whose short stories and novels belong to a wide variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, and crime. Her literature has a feminist perspective. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction labels Gorodischer's work as resembling the "highly literary work of Jorge Luis Borges or Italo Calvino than it does the...Magic Realism of authors like Gabriel García Márquez or Mario Vargas Llosa".

Biography

Gorodischer was born in Buenos Aires on 28 July 1928.

In 1948 she married architect Sujer Gorodischer. She studied at University of Philosophy and Letters of the National University of the Litoral but did not complete a degree. She was awarded a Fulbright scholarship in 1988 and participated in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.

She also produced many works before Kalpa Imperial, including the collections Opus dos [Opus two, 1967], Bajo las jubeas en flor [Under the Flowering Jubeas,1973], and Casta Luna Electrónica [Chaste Electric Moon, 1977].

She was a science fiction author noted for her work on the inequality of power between men and women. She focused on powerful people and corrupt rulers in her writing.

Gorodischer was author of two novels within the genre of detective fiction. Her detective character is a grand dame who reluctantly and haphazardly engages in the world of international intrigue, making her debut in her 1985 novella entitled Floreros de alabastro, alfombras de Bokhara, which won the Emecé Literary Prize (1984–85) by unanimous decision. This detective character reappeared later in a different form in Jugo de mango (1988).

In an interview with Small Beer Press, Gorodischer says she was an avid reader from a young age. When asked her favorite authors she replied "Borges, of course. Borges always. Balzac, also, always. Alejo Carpentier, Clarice Lispector, Armonía Somers, Juan Rulfo, Mercé Rodoreda, Grace Paley, Marcel Proust. Oh, so many people, so many!".

She received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2011. In 2014 she received a Special Mention Konex Award for her career achievements. In addition to her literary awards, Gorodischer received the Dignity Award from the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights because of her work for women's rights.

Angélica Gorodischer died on 5 February 2022, at the age of 93.

Novels

  • Opus dos. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Minotauro, 1967.
  • Kalpa imperial. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Minotauro, 1983.
  • Floreros de alabastro, alfombras de Bokhara. Lyndhurst, NJ: Lectorum Publications, 1985.
  • Jugo de mango. Buenos Aires: Emecé Editores, 1988.
  • Fábula de la virgen y el bombero. Buenos Aires: Editiones de la Flor, 1993.
  • Mujeres de palabra. San Juan: University of Puerto Rico Press, 1994.
  • Prodigios. Barcelona: Ed. Lumen, 1994.
  • La noche del inocente. Buenos Aires: Emecé Editores, 1996.
  • Tumba de jaguares. Buenos Aires: Emecé Editores, 2005.

Collections

  • Cuentos con soldados. Santa Fe: Premio Club del Orden, 1965.
  • Las pelucas. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, 1968.
  • Bajo las jubeas en flor. Buenos Aires: Ediciones De La Flor, 1973.
  • Casta luna electrónica. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Andrómeda, 1977.
  • Trafalgar. El Cid Editor, Buenos Aires, 1979.
  • Mala noche y parir hembra. Buenos Aires: Ediciones La Campana, 1983.
  • Las repúblicas. Buenos Aires: Ediciones de la Flor, 1991.
  • Técnicas de supervivencia. Rosario: Ed. Municipal Rosario, 1994.
  • Cómo triunfar en la vida. Buenos Aires: Emecé, 1998.
  • Las nenas. Buenos Aires: Emecé, 2016

Translations into English

  • "The End of a Dynasty." Chapter from Kalpa Imperial. Translated by Ursula K. Le Guin. In Starlight 2. Edited by Patrick Nielsen Hayden. New York: Tor, 1999.
  • Kalpa Imperial: The Greatest Empire That Never Was. Translated by Ursula K. Le Guin. Small Beer Press, 2003. . Reissued by Penguin Modern Classics in 2026.
  • Trafalgar. Translated by Amalia Gladhart. Small Beer Press, 2013. . Reissued by Penguin Modern Classics in 2026.
  • Prodigies. Translated by Sue Burke. Small Beer Press, 2015.
  • Jaguars' Tomb. Translated by Amalia Gladhart. Vanderbilt University Press, 2021.

References