"GLI AMICI" di SILVINA OCAMPO racconto

"The Friends" (The Two Friends) is one of Silvina Ocampo's most iconic stories, included in the celebrated collection La furia (1959). Like much of the Argentine author's work, the text treads a fine line between the everyday and the fantastic, dismantling the idyllic and reassuring idea of ​​friendship to reveal its darker, obsessive, and grotesque sides. At the heart of the narrative is a friendship that transcends the confines of normality to become a form of destructive symbiosis. The two protagonists are not simply friends: they are mirrors of each other. Even though the characters act like adults (or are subjected to their dynamics), Ocampo's gaze retains that hallmark of her poetics: perverse innocence. In short: With "The Friends," Silvina Ocampo reminds us that behind the most sacred and celebrated bonds in society, dynamics of power, submission, and madness often lurk. It's a disturbing story precisely because it distorts everyday life, transforming an emotional refuge (friendship) into a trap with no escape. This story is from the collection "An Innocent Cruelty," a phrase Luis Borges used to describe Ocampo's stories about childhood. Published by La nuova frontiera, edited by Francesca Lazzarato