José Ortega y Gasset, a central figure in European literature, arrived in Buenos Aires one fine day in 1916. At just thirty-seven, he had already garnered prestige as a philosopher, writer, orator, sociologist, and founder of the Review of the West. Victoria was blown away by this Spanish guest. It was not long before the two fell into a friendship characterized by eternal conversations and verbose letters in which no topic was left without discussion. With her European education and its stress on French and English, Victoria had had only limited exposure to Spanish literature. It was Ortega y Gasset who initiated her into the delight-filled world of her native language.

De Francesca a Beatrice, an essay by Victoria on Dante, was published in the Review of the West in 1924. In his epilogue to the work, Ortega expressed his profound admiration of its author. Once Victoria’s project was underway, it was Ortega who suggested she name the review Sur. He also recommended that Victoria employ the voice of the first person in her writings and that she make use of a more intimate tone, “like Montaigne’s, on the most personal themes that come to mind.” It is likely that with this advice —which held the weight of hundreds of blurbs by the critics— Ortega intuited the work that with time would grow to be Victoria’s most important: the marvelous pages of her Autobiografía.