Parricide on the Pampa: A New Study and Translation of Los Gauchos Judíos

This book presents a radical rereading of Alberto Gerchunoff’s classic Argentinian immigrant saga, Los gauchos judíos (The Jewish Gauchos; 1910). This collection of stories about early 20th-century agricultural colonies founded by persecuted Eastern Europeans Jews on the pampa has been both praised and labeled as Argentine xenophobia. In this new study, Aizenberg reassesses the linguistic and ideological importance of Gerchunoff’s book. She highlights the significant variations between Gerchunoff’s original 1910 text and his 1936 revised edition and unearths a new, more ethnically and linguistically aware side to Gerchunoff.


Alberto Gerchunoff was a Russian-born Argentinian journalist and author.

Edna Aizenberg, editor and translator, (Marymount College) is the author of The Aleph Weaver: Biblical, Kabbalistic, and Judaic Elements in Borges.