La muerte de Aurora

Mario Vargas Llosa

El Pas, Madrid, 16 noviembre 2014
http://elpais.com/elpais/2014/11/13/opinion/1415893327_540070.html
Source text (texto fuente)

En diciembre de 1958, un amigo

peruano de la Unesco, Alfonso de Silva,
me invit a su casa a cenar, en Pars. Me
sent junto a un hombre delgado, muy
alto y lampio que, slo a la hora de la
despedida, descubr era Julio Cortzar.
Pareca tan joven que lo cre mi
contemporneo y era 22 aos mayor que
yo. Su mujer, Aurora Bernrdez, bajita,
menuda, tena unos grandes ojos azules
y una sonrisa un poco irnica que
mantena a la gente a distancia.
Nunca he olvidado la impresin que me
hizo esa noche la conversacin de esa
pareja tan dispareja. Parecan haber
ledo todos los libros, slo decan cosas
inteligentes y haba entre ellos una
complicidad tal en lo que contaban se
pasaban la palabra como los palitroques
dos diestros funmbulos que, se dira,
haban llevado todo aquello ensayado.
En los casi siete aos que viv en Francia
nos vimos muchas veces, en su casa, en
la ma, en los cafs, o en la Unesco,
donde ejercamos como traductores.
Nunca dejaron de admirarme la riqueza
de sus lecturas, la sutileza de sus
observaciones, la sencillez y naturalidad
de sus maneras y, tambin, el modo
como tenan organizada su vida para ver
las mejores exposiciones, las mejores
pelculas, los mejores conciertos. Era
difcil descubrir quin era ms
inteligente y ms culto, cul de los dos
haba ledo ms, mejor y con mayor
provecho. Cuidaban su intimidad con
encarnizamiento no perdan nunca el

Target text (texto meta)

In December 1958, Alfonso da Silva, a

Peruvian friend who worked with me at
Unesco, invited me to his house for
dinner. He sat me next to a very tall,
thin, clean-shaven man. Only when we
were leaving did that I realize he was
Julio Cortzar. He looked so young that I
thought we were the same age, but in
fact he was 22 years older than I. His
wife, Aurora Fernndez, was short and
thin. She had big blue eyes and a
somewhat ironic smile that kept people
at a distance.
I have not forgotten the impression I got
from the conversation this uneven couple
had that night. It seemed as if they had
read all the books in the world, they only
said intelligent things and they finished
each other sentences. There was such
complicity in what they were saying that
it seemed as if they had rehearsed
beforehand.
We saw each other many times during
the almost seven years I lived in France.
We met at their house, my house, a caf
or Unesco, where we worked as
translators. I was always amazed by the
richness of their readings, the subtleness
of their observations, the simplicity and
naturalness of their actions, and the way
in which they organized their agendas so
that they could go to the best art
exhibits, movies and concerts. It was
difficult to say who was more intelligent
or cultivated, who had read more and
better, and who had profited the most

tiempo y mantenan a raya a quien

quisiera invadirla. Yo estuve siempre
seguro que Aurora no slo traduca lo
haca maravillosamente, del ingls, el
francs y el italiano, como atestiguan
sus versiones de Faulkner, Durrell,
Calvino, Flaubert sino tambin
escriba, pero que se abstena de
publicar por una decisin heroica: para
que hubiera un solo escritor en la
familia.
En 1967 los tres estuvimos juntos, de
traductores en un congreso dedicado al
algodn, en Atenas. Durante casi una
semana convivimos en el hotel, en las
sesiones del congreso, cenando todas
las noches en restaurancitos de Plaka,
en la visita de un domingo a la isla de
Hydra, y al regresar a Londres (donde yo
me haba mudado) recuerdo haberle
dicho a Patricia: El matrimonio perfecto
existe, es el de Julio y Aurora, no he visto
nunca una inteligencia y compenetracin
igual en ninguna pareja. Tenemos que
aprender de ellos, imitarlos. Pocos das
despus recib una carta de Julio que
comenzaba as: Tu sensibilidad te habr
hecho advertir, en Grecia, que no hay
nada ya entre Aurora y yo. Nos estamos
separando. Nunca en mi vida me he
sentido ms desconcertado (y apenado).
En esos das de convivencia me haban
parecido la pareja mejor avenida y ms
envidiable del mundo, porque, con un
tacto infinito, ambos se las haban
arreglado para disimular a la perfeccin
la tormenta sentimental que sacuda su
matrimonio.

from those readings.

They really treasured their privacy- they
never wasted their time- and they kept
anyone who wanted to invade their
privacy at bay. I was always sure that
besides translating, Aurora also wrote;
she translated marvelously from English,
French and Italian, as her translations of
Faulkner, Durrell, Calvino and Flaubert
show us. However, she refrained from
publishing her writings for a heroic
reason: there was only to be one writer in
the family.
In 1967 the three of us translated
together at a congress about cotton in
Athens. For almost a whole week we
shared the same hotel and translated at
the congress sessions. We also dined in
little Plaka restaurants every night, and
visited Hydra island one Sunday. When
we got back to London (where I lived) I
remember telling Patricia: The perfect
marriage does exist, it is Julio and
Auroras marriage. I have never seen
such an intelligent, compatible couple.
We have to learn from them, imitate
them. A few days later, I received a
letter from Julio that said: You probably
noticed, when we were in Greece, that
there is nothing left between Aurora and
I. We are separating. Never before had I
felt so disconcerted (and sad). During the
days we shared, they seemed like the
most compatible, most enviable couple
in the world. They had perfectly
managed, with an infinite tact, to conceal
the storm that was rocking their
marriage.