Alejandra Pizarnik

Alejandra Pizarnik (1936-1972) was born in Buenos Aires, the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. She studied Philosophy and Literature at the University of Buenos Aires, but dropped out to dedicate herself to painting and poetry. In 1960, she moved to Paris, where she became friends with writers such as Octavio Paz, Julio Cortázar, and Silvina Ocampo. Considered one of the most remarkable Argentine lyric poets of her time, her artistic influences included authors such as Hölderlin, Baudelaire, Nerval, Rimbaud, Lautréamont, and Artaud.
Pizarnik's poetic works include the books La tierra más ajena (1955), The Last Innocence (1956), The Lost Adventures (1958), Diana's Tree (1960), The jobs and the nights (1965), Extraction of the stone of madness (1968) and Musical hell (1971). He also published the essay The Bloody Countess (1971), about a 16th-century Hungarian countess allegedly responsible for the torture and murder of over 600 girls. She died at the age of 36.