Recent depictions of translators in fiction illustrate individuals devoted to this task as
flesh and blood humans that exhibit an array of emotions. Two Latin American short
stories, “Carta a una señorita en París” (1951) by Julio Cortázar and “Nota al pie” (1967) by
Rodolfo Walsh, introduce readers to translators who take their own lives. The
characters’ suicides remove them from the world of the living as they are erased from
view and eventually become imperceptible and invisible. Their deaths also make them
more visible as their suicides raise unanswered questions and provide written texts that
explain their violent action