Alberto Vanasco

Alberto Vanasco (Buenos Aires, Argentina; 1925 – May 11, 1993) was an Argentine novelist, poet and short fiction writer.

In 1961 he travelled to New York, where he stood two years working for Crown Publishers. In 1968, he married Alicia Virginia Petti, with whom he travelled through Europe in 1972, and settled in Barcelona, at Alberto Cousté's house. From that moment he lived exclusively from his literary works and wrote television scripts. He published in the magazine Zona among other poets, and was professor of physics, mathematics, and literature. He participated in the vanguard literary movement. His job as a story teller adjusts to the necessity of renewing and broadening the possibilities of the novelistic language through new means or expressive instruments. He was pointed by critics as one of the Argentina writers that used the techniques of objectivism before this movement became widely known, his latter novelistic works comprise a trilogy in which this judgment is based: Sin embargo Juan vivía (Even Though Juan Lived, 1948); Para ellos la eternidad (Eternity for Them, 1957); Los muchos que no viven (The Many of Them Who Don't Live, 1964). In his poetic topics, identified with reality in different planes, it is evident a permanent interest and preoccupation for the political-social circumstances. He was president of the National Protecting Commission of Popular Libraries of Argentina (Conabip) from 1991 until his death. He died on May 11, 1993, in Buenos Aires.

After his father's death in 1944, his family returned to Buenos Aires; there Alberto Vanasco had different jobs: at the Transportation Corporation, at the Court, as private professor of mathematics, as a custom's officer, journalist, translator, among others. These jobs left on him an experience that he reflected on his poems and short stories.

Alberto Vanasco was born in 1925 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. His family moved to San Juan to settle at an estate belonging to his grandfather on his mother's side as a consequence to the crisis of the 1930s, as his father lost his job at the Municipal Bank. There in San Juan, Alberto Vanasco started his primary education. In 1934, his family moved back to a suburb of Buenos Aires, and by 1939, he moved once again to the town of San Martin. Changing to different sites of residence, from the countryside to the suburbs, had a profound impact on the author's personality that was reflected on his poetry. During his studies at the Colegio Nacional de Buenos Aires he met other artists such as Mario Trejo, Aldo Cristiani, and César de Vedia. In 1943 he published his first book, a short novel entitled Justo en la cruz del camino (Just in the Way's Crossing).