Bibliography
Los arrecifes de coral, 1901
El crimen del otro, 1904
Niños Historia de un amor turbio, 1908
Cuentos de amor, de locura y, de meurte, 1917
Cantos de la selva para, 1918
El salvaje, 1920
Las sacrificadas, 1920
Anaconda, 1921
South American Jungle Tales, 1922 (transl. by Arthur Livingston)
El desierto, 1924
"La gallina degollada" y otros cuentos, 1925
Los desterrados, 1926
Pasado amor, 1929
Suelo natal, 1931
El más allá, 1935
Diario de viaje a París, 1950
Obras inéditas y desconocidas, 1967-73 (8 vols.)
The Decapitated Chicken and Other Stories, 1976 (transl. by Margaret Sayers Peden)
Cuentos completas, 1978 (2 vols.)
Novelas completas, 1979
The Exiles and Other Stories, 1987 (transl. by David Danielson and Elsa K. Gambarini)
Testimonios Autobiograficos De Horacio Quiroga. Cartas Y Diari, 1997 (ed. by Norma Perez Martin)

Compiled by Petri Liukkonen for www.litweb.net






















The Decalogue of Good Writing from the Manuel of a Short Story Writer

1. Believe in the masters...as you would in God himself.
2. Believe that your art is an unreachable summit... When you are able to conquer it you will do so without being aware of it.
3. Resist imitation, but if you must imitate do so. The development of a personal style is a science.
4. ...Love your art as you would your lover, giving it all your heart.
5. Don’t begin to write without knowing from the first word where you are going. In a well-constructed story the three first lines are almost as important as the three last.
6. If you want to express with precision the idea that “from the river blew a cold wind” there are no other words than those to say so.
7. Use no unnecessary adjectives. Useless adjectives cannot enliven a weak noun. If you find the right word it will live. The trick is to find it.
 8. Take your characters by the hand and lead them firmly to the conclusion without deviating from your path. Don’t be distracted by seeing what they cannot or don’t value. Do not abuse your reader. A story is a novel devoid of useless verbiage. Take this as absolute truth even though it may not be.
9 Do not write under the sway of emotion. Let it die then evoke it anew. If you can revive what was, in art that is half the battle.
10. Do not think about your friends when you write, nor on the impression your story will make. Write as if your story were of interest to no one but its characters, of whom you could have been one. There is no other way for your story t o truly live. In “La retorica del cuente’’ he discusses the importance of choosing and ordering words. It is the selection and ordering, he says that differentiate a great writer from a modest citizen. The art of writing consists of finding for each idea just the right words to express it. First a writer must have ideas, but a masterful writer must find the words which definitely express those ideas. Synonyms, he proclaims, are not. If a writer cannot see the profound difference inherent in any two words he cannot writ e effectively.

translated and abridged by  Angel Flores in Appreximaciones a Horacio Quiroga














Time Line

1878 Born in Salte, uruguay

1897-1890--began with small local magazines in his hometown of Salte, Uraguay
1897-1899 Was the founding editor of Revista de Selto (ran from 1899-1900)

1900 Spent a few months in Paris, reading de de Maupassant and Chekov, which inspired him deeply.
1900-Returned from Paris and moved to Buenos Aires Aries, where he joined a group of intelligentsia called the anaconda

1901-His volume of poetry, essays and short stories--Los arrecifes de coral, aligned him with the Modernissmo movement.

1903 became a citizen of Argentina, participated as a photographer and diarist in expeditions to the Lagones.

1907-1917- Divided time between Buenos Aries, and his ranch at El Chaco, where he attempted to reclaim Argentine jungle for cotton farming.

1918- wrote Cantos de la selva para which has direct borrowings from Kiplings The Jungle Book

1917-1926- Returned to Buenos Aries to live full time, with only occasional visits to the San Ignacious jungle.

1937- Committed Suicide, after a long battle with cancer.














Themes :

His 200 short stories can be summed up in the title of his 1917 collection Cuentos de amor, de locura y, de meurte, or Stories of Love, Madness and Death.

His tales of the uncanny relate to Poe, who he revered and which he first encountered from the Modernissmo.

Although he tried poetry early in his life he, unlike most of the Modernissmo, decided against it.

His stories are often efficient, and have nature trusted on the character, rather then the character interacting with nature. In this way, in addition to writing that leans towards reportage, he could be considered the Jack London of South America. (interestingly enough, much of London's writing was easily available in cheap pulp.)

His concern for the reader, and his interest in telling a good tale above any larger literary goals, could be construed as coming from Kipling, who he read
extensively

He also cares deeply about how the human personality responds under stress, esp. the stress of nature and other humans.