Between Two Worlds: Intimate Dialogue and Travel Notes in Victoria Ocampo's Cartas de posguerra

Abstract

In March 1946, Victoria Ocampo begins a journey to Europe. During her tour, the writer exchanges a series of letters, most of them with her sisters, in which it is possible to appreciate her impressions regarding the reunion with post-war Europe. “Keep the letters in order, they are the only data that I keep from my trip, and although they are superficial and almost purely material, they will serve me” (Cartas de posguerra 128). Why does she choose the epistolary form to shape the narrative of her journey? How does she manage, through the letters, to share the experience of her trip and at the same time take notes for future publications? This paper proposes to analyze the epistolary writing of Victoria Ocampo as a way of narrating her travel experiences. For this purpose, the letters written to her sisters during her return to Europe will be examined, and the cartographic record that the writer makes in her reunion with the cities visited in the post-war context will be reconstructed through the sensitivities and affections involved.