“Silvina Ocampo is one of our best writers. Her stories have no equal in our literature.”—Jorge Luis Borges
“I don’t know of another writer who better captures the magic inside everyday rituals, the forbidden or hidden face that our mirrors don’t show us.”—Italo Calvino
“Like William Blake, Ocampo’s first voice was that of a visual artist; in her writing she retains the will to unveil immaterial so that we might at least look at it if not touch it.”—Helen Oyeyemi, author of Gingerbread
Copyright © 2019 by the Heirs of Silvina Ocampo
Translation copyright © 2019 by Suzanne Jill Levine and Katie Lateef-Jan
All Rights Reserved.
First published in Spanish as Viaje olvidado in 1937.
This work was published with the sponsorship of the “Sur” Translation Support Program administered by the Argentine Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Worship. / Obra editada en el marco del Programa “Sur” de Apoyo a las Traducciones del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores y Culto de la República Argentina.
Cover photo of Silvina Ocampo courtesy of the Estate of Silvina Ocampo
Cover design by Elizabeth Knafo/Noctiluna Design
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Ocampo, Silvina, author. | Levine, Suzanne Jill, translator. | Lateef-Jan, Katie, translator.
Title: Forgotten journey / Silvina Ocampo ; translated by Suzanne Jill Levine and Katie Lateef-Jan.
Description: San Francisco : City Lights Books, [2019] | Translated into English from Spanish. | Summary: “Delicately crafted, intensely visual, deeply personal stories explore the nature of memory, family ties, and the difficult imbalances of love”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019027249 (print) | LCCN 2019027250 (ebook) | ISBN 9780872867727 (paperback) | ISBN 9780872868021 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Ocampo, Silvina—Translations into English.
Classification: LCC PQ7797.O293 A2 2019 (print) | LCC PQ7797.O293 (ebook) | DDC 863/.62—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019027249
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019027250
An earlier version of the translation of “Sarandí Street” was published in Granta, August 2016
City Lights Books are published at the City Lights Bookstore
261 Columbus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94133
www.citylights.com
CONTENTS
Foreword by Carmen Boullosa
Skylight
Esperanza in Flores
The Olive Green Dress
The Backwater
The Dead Horse
The Enmity of Things
Eladio Rada and the Sleeping House
The Lost Passport
Florindo Flodiola
The Poorly Made Portrait
Landscape with Trapezes
The Two Houses of Olivos
The Acrobats
Siesta in the Cedar Tree
The Head Pressed Against the Window
The Wide and Sunny Terrace
Nocturne
A Strange Visit
Sarandí Street
The Statue Salesman
Saint’s Day
Diorama
The Pavilion on the Lakes
The Sea
Forgotten Journey
The Linio Milagro Family
Bare Feet
Where the Streetcars Sleep
FOREWORD
Silvina, Faithful to the Imagination
In general, I’m at least faithful to the imagination.
—Silvina Ocampo
The extraordinary stories you are about to read are by Silvina Ocampo (1903-93), the youngest of six sisters who grew up in Argentina when it was one of the richest countries in the world, and when the Ocampo family was one of the richest families in Argentina.