Argentine writer and human rights champion Ernesto Sabato has died aged¹ 99 at his home near Buenos Aires.

阿根廷作家、人权拥护者埃内斯托·萨瓦托逝世与布宜诺斯艾利斯的家中，享年99岁。

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Ernesto Sabato headed the main commission that investigated killings in Argentina under military rule
His wife, Elvira Gonzalez Fraga, said he had suffered from bronchitis（支气管炎） .

He won some of the most prestigious³ prizes in Hispanic literature but he was also known for his criticism of military regimes in Latin America.

He headed the "Dirty War" commission that investigated the killings of thousands of people under Argentina's military rule in the 1970s and '80s.

Sabato's works include The Tunnel (1948), On Heroes and Tombs (1961) and The Angel of Darkness (1974).

Secrets and madness

When appointed in 1983 to investigate the fate of those who disappeared during Argentina's military rule, he described the task as "a slow descent into hell".

His commission's comprehensive account was later used to prosecute⁴ nine members of the military establishment.

As a young man, Sabato studied physics and earned a doctorate⁵, but became disenchanted（不再抱幻想的） with what he saw as the misuse⁶ of science.

When he lost his job as a university lecturer in Argentina after criticising the government at the time, he gave up on science altogether.

He became very influential⁷ in the literary world throughout Latin America, despite the fact that he had only published three novels - the only survivors⁸ of his tendency to burn his manuscripts（手稿） .

"It's not reasonable, really, but all my life I tended to destroy things - my own things - not other people's," he once said.

"It may be because I considered that all my work was imperfect, impure⁹, and I found that fire was purifying.

"I was about to burn On Heroes and Tombs after many years of work, but my wife became ill because of this decision, so I changed my mind."

On Heroes and Tombs, his second novel, is considered to be his masterpiece.

Sabato was also a prolific¹⁰（多产的） essayist who wrote about metaphysics（玄学） , politics and tango.

The irony¹¹ of Sabato's life is that while he did much to bring light to the cruelties of the Dirty War, his own writings were dark and brooding portrayals¹² of worlds of secrets and madness.