Biography Essay

Ernesto Sabato is the most important contemporary intellectual figure of Argentina, not only due to his literary oeuvre but also to the prominent and courageous role he has played as the voice of reason against oppressive military regimes. His political importance was confirmed in 1984 when the democratic government of Raul Alfonsin nominated him to preside over the National Commission of Disappeared Persons, whose report, Nunca mas (Never Again, 1984), Sabato wrote. He has achieved international status, lecturing throughout Latin America, Europe, Israel, and at major universities in the United States. He is a Chevalier de 1'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur of France; he has received the Cervantes award and the Gran Cruz al Merito Civil in Spain, the Jerusalem prize in Israel, the Medici award in Italy, the prize of the Stuttgart Institut fur Auslansbezie hungen from the former West...