René Bascopé Aspiazu

René Bascopé Aspiazu was born in La Paz, Bolivia in 1951 and died in 1984 at age thirty-three from an accidental gunshot wound. He was a novelist, short story writer, poet, journalist, and was the founder and co-director of the magazine Trasluz. He later lived in exile in Mexico, during which time he worked for the Fondo De Cultura Económica and for the El Día newspaper. He was the coeditor of an anthology of short stories, Seis Nuevos Narradores Bolivianos, published in 1979, and from 1980 to 1984 served as the director of the weekly publication Aquí De La Paz. He is the author of the following books: the short story collections Ángela Desde Su Propia Oscuridad (1977), Primer Fragmento De Noche y Otros Cuentos (1977), Niebla y Retorno (1979)—both volumes awarded the Premio Franz Tamayo—La Noche De Los Turcos (1983), Cuentos Completos y Otros Relatos (2004); the essay collection La Veta Blanca: Coca y Cocaina En Bolivia (1982); the novels La Tumba Infecunda (1985)—posthumously awarded the Premio Erich Guttentag—Los Rostros De La Oscuridad (1988); and the poetry collection Las Cuatro Estaciones (2007).

Reading List

Angela From Her Own Darkness

René Bascopé Aspiazu  | 
Issue 69.2 Spring 2020

Translated from the Spanish by Harry Morales I don’t know when I started to feel afraid of that room in the second courtyard. However, I seem to remember one afternoon we were playing soccer when the rag ball hit the closed door hard and it creaked within its entire worn-out structure. Suddenly, it seemed […]