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Benjamín Labatut

ベンハミン・ラバチュート

Benjamín Labatut

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1980-00-00 （Rotterdam）
Nationality
Chilean
Languages
Spanish
Residence History
Rotterdam, Netherlands → The Hague, Netherlands → Buenos Aires, Argentina → Lima, Peru → Santiago, Chile

Career

Occupations
Writer
Active Years
2009-2024
Influenced By
Samir Nazal, Pascal Quignard, Eliot Weinberger, William S. Burroughs, Roberto Bolaño, W. G. Sebald
Nominations
International Booker Prize 2021 shortlist

Awards

Premio Caza de Letras
2009
Work: La Antártica empieza aquí
Organization: UNAM / Alfaguara
Result: winner
Santiago Municipal Literature Award
2013
Work: La Antártica empieza aquí
Category: 短編小説部門
Organization: Municipality of Santiago
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

When We Cease to Understand the World

2020 Fiction

A blend of fact and fiction exploring the lives of 20th-century scientists and the dark side of discovery.

Ethics of scienceReality vs fictionMadness
Translations
  • Translated into 22 languages

Bibliography

  • La Antártica empieza aquí
  • Después de la luz
  • Un verdor terrible
  • The MANIAC

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Blending fact and fictionEssayistic narrativeNon-fiction novel style
Recurring Motifs
Fate of scientistsFear of the unknownCost of creation

Legacy

Praised for innovative style blurring lines between science, fact, and fiction. Selected in NYT's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century.

Quotes

  • It is a book made up by an essay (which is not chemically pure), two stories that try not to be stories, a short novel, and a semi-biographical prose piece.
    Source: Author's statement (2020)

Trivia

  • Born in the Netherlands to Chilean parents
  • Moved to Chile at age 14