Horacio Silvestre Quiroga Forteza was an Uruguayan playwright, poet, and short story writer. He wrote stories which, in their jungle settings, use the supernatural and the bizarre to show the struggle of man and animal to survive. He also excelled in portraying mental illness and hallucinatory states.
Background
Throughout his life, Quiroga was plague by his illnesses. He suffered from mental disorder, and to dispel his bouts of tension and anxiety, he began to drink. Quiroga committed suicide by cyanide on February 19, 1937, at a Buenos Aires clinic, after he was told he had cancer.
Education
He demonstrated enormous interest in a variety of subjects, such as literature, chemistry, photography, mechanics, cycling and country life. He founded the Cycling Society of Salto and achieved the remarkable feat of uniting bicycle cities of Salto and Paysandu (120 km).
Career
His influence can be seen in the Latin American magic realism of Gabriel García Márquez and the postmodern surrealism of Julio Cortázar. Quiroga has been compared to Edgar Allan Poe. He wrote over 200 short stories.
Quiroga visited Paris, but realized that the 'bohemian' life was not for him. He accepted the invitation of the poet Leopoldo Lugones to join an expedition as official photographer to Misiones in northeast Argentina. Quiroga became enchanted by the wild region and he spent the larger part of his life in remote jungle regions. He planted cotton but the venture failed and he abandoned the project. Misiones. Besides keeping honey bees, planting yerba maté and oranges, distilling liquor, and hunting, he took jobs as justice of the peace, as civil registrar, and as Uruguayan consul in Misiones.
Follower of the modernist school founded by Rubén Darío and being an obsessive reader of Edgar Allan Poe and Guy de Maupassant, Quiroga was attracted to topics covering the most intriguing aspects of nature. Obsession with death, human weakness, and emphasis on bizarre situations marked Quiroga's work. Often in his fatalistic stories the protagonist is struck down by a fatal accident or fights against nature, but man rarely if ever wins out: the will of nature cannot be opposed. Quiroga also published two novels and a play, but his reputation rests on his short stories. His own technique Quiroga presented in "Manual de cuentista perfecto" (1927), stressing the need for economy and intensity.