Introduction
Sergio Pitol Deméneghi (born 18 March 1933 in Puebla) is a prominent Mexican writer, translator and diplomat. In 2005 he received the Cervantes Prize, the most prestigious literary award in the Spanish-speaking world.
Early life
Pitol spent his childhood in Ingenio de Potrero, a provincial town in the Mexican state of Veracruz. His mother died when he was four years old and soon after Pitol contracted malaria leaving him bedridden until about the age of 12. He was raised by his grandmother. As a teenager, Pitol moved to Córdoba, Veracruz.
Education and diplomatic work
In 1950, Pitol moved to Mexico City to study literature at the Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM). In 1960, he became a member of the Mexican Foreign Service and served over a number of years as cultural attaché in Rome, Belgrade, Warsaw, Paris, Beijing, Moscow, Prague, Budapest and Barcelona. In the 1980s he served as Mexico’s ambassador to Czechoslovakia. Since 1993 he has lived in Xalapa, capital of the Mexican state of Veracruz.
Writing career
Pitol’s publications as translator include literary works by such authors as Jerzy Andrzejewski, Jane Austen, Giorgio Bassani, Kazimierz Brandys, Anton Chekhov, Joseph Conrad, Witold Gombrowicz, Henry James, and Vladimir Nabokov. He also served as a professor at the UNAM, at the Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa, and at the University of Bristol, England.
Awards
In 2005, Pitol received the Cervantes Prize. Other major awards include the Premio Juan Rulfo (1999), Premio Herralde de Novela (1984), and the Premio Xavier Villaurrutia (1981).
Selection of works by Sergio Pitol
Novels
- El tañido de una flauta (Era, México, 1972)
- Juebos florales (Siglo XXI, 1982)
- El desfile del amor (Anagrama, Barcelona 1984)
- Domar a la divina garza (Anagrama, Barcelona, 1988)
- La vida conjugal (Era, México; Anagrama, Barcelona, 1991)
Essay-Memoirs
- El arte de la fuga (Era, México, 1996 (The Art of Flight, Trans. George Henson; Deep Vellum Publishing, 2015)
- El viaje (Era, México, 2000 (The Journey, Trans. George Henson; Deep Vellum Publishing, 2015)
- El mago de Viena (Pre-Textos, Valencia, 2005)
Short Story Collections
- Tiempo cercado (Editorial Estaciones, México, 1959)
- Infierno de todos (Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, 1964)
- Los climas (Joaquín Mortiz, México, 1966)
- No hay tal lugar (Era, México, 1967)
- Del encuentro nupcial (Tusquets, Barcelona, 1970)
- Nocturno de Bujara (Siglo XXI, México, 1981)
- Vals de Mefisto (Anagrama, Barcelona, 1984)
- El relato veneciano de Billie Upward (Monte Ávila Editores, Caracas, 1992)
- Todos los cuentos (Alfaguara, México, 1998)
- El oscuro hermano gemelo y otros relatos (Norma, Bogotá, 2004)
- Los mejores cuentos, presentación de Enrique Vila-Matas (Anagrama, Barcelona, 2005)