- On Heroes and Tombs
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On Heroes and Tombs Author(s) Ernesto Sabato Original title Sobre Héroes y Tumbas Translator Helen R. Lane Country Argentina Language Spanish Genre(s) Novel Publisher Sudamericana Publication date 1961 Media type Print (Paperback) ISBN NA On Heroes and Tombs (Spanish: Sobre héroes y tumbas) is a novel by Argentine writer Ernesto Sabato, first published in Buenos Aires by Editorial Sudamericana in 1961 (translated by Helen R. Lane in 1981 as On heroes and tombs.)
Contents
Plot summary
It tells the story of 19 year-old Martín Castillo, a boy from Buenos Aires trying to find his path in life. He meets and falls in love with Alejandra Vidal Olmos who with her father Fernando represents the "old", colonial and autochthonous Argentina, which is seen mutating amid a strange and unsettling "new" world. The novel gives an evocative portrait of the city of Buenos Aires and its people.
Literary significance and criticism
This work, filled with dark and emotional imagery, is considered by many to be Sabato's magnum opus, and the section Informe sobre ciegos ("Report on the Blind"), about Fernando's distorted obsession with, and fear of, the sightless, is a haunting, nightmarish contribution to Latin American literature.
References to actual history, geography and current science
Interspersed with the text of the novel, as an almost surrealistic running commentary on it, is the italicised narrative of the flight, killing and ensuing odyssey of Juan Lavalle, a classic Argentine subject.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
John Malkovich has optioned the film rights for this novel.
Categories:- 1961 novels
- Argentine novels
- Works by Ernesto Sabato
- Novels set in Buenos Aires
- 1960s novel stubs
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