Jose Maria Vargas Vila Papers, 1919-1937 and undated

Collection Number: 12019

Collection Title: Jose Maria Vargas Vila Papers, 1919-1937 and undated

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Size	0.5 feet of linear shelf space
Abstract	Writer Jose Maria Vargas Vila was born in Bogota, Colombia, in 1860. He spent a large part of his life in exile because of his critical and controversial writings, many of which included liberal ideas and criticism of the clergy. He died in Barcelona, Spain, in 1933. The collection is chiefly unpublished manuscripts by Vargas Vila. Most manuscripts are undated and unbound. They are handwritten or typed, and some have annotations and corrections. Included are the unpublished novel, "En los Jardines de Lesbos," and two typescript novels: "El Maestro" and "El Tigre." Also included is a diplomatic passport with a photograph of Vargas Vila at age 63; documents concerning his burial in Barcelona, Spain; and four images of him, one an oil painting and the other three, black-and-white photographs.
Creator	Vargas Vila, Jose Maria, 1860-1933.
Curatorial Unit	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Rare Book Literary and Historical Papers.
Language	Spanish

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Restrictions to Access: No restrictions. Open for research.

Restrictions to Use: No usage restrictions.

Copyright Notice: Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation: [Identification of item], in the Jose Maria Vargas Vila Papers #12019, Rare Book Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information: Purchased from Roberto Enrique Elizalde Hernandez, 2010; "El Maestro" and "El Tigre" manuscripts, received from Roberto Enrique Elizalde Hernandez, 2010 (Acc. 101478).

Sensitive Materials Statement: Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

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Processed by: Armando Suarez, September 2011

Encoded by: Armando Suarez, September 2011

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The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

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Expand/collapse Biographical Information

Writer Jose Maria Vargas Vila was born in Bogota, Colombia, in 1860. His writings contain liberal ideas and staunch criticism of the clergy. In 1884, he left Bogota because of charges brought against him relating to his accusations of sexual misconduct against the Jesuit priest Tomas Escobar. In 1885, civil war broke out in Colombia, and Vargas Vila acted as secretary to the leader of the Liberal Army. After the victory of the conservatives, he fled the country and reappeared in Venezuela, where he was a co-founder of La federacion, a political newspaper that was critical of the conservative government in Colombia.

In Venezuela, Vargas Vila wrote his first novel, Aura o las violetas (1887). In 1892, he traveled for the first time to New York, where he wrote for the newspaper El progreso. After a brief trip to Colombia, he returned to New York where he lived from 1894 to 1896. In New York, he continued writing and also co-edited the journal Hispano America.

Between 1896 and 1903, Vargas Vila divided his time between Europe and New York. In 1903, he returned to New York, where he published his political journal Nemesis. After Colombia ceded the Canal Zone to Panama, his attacks against Colombia, Panama, and the United States resulted his leaving the United States. He eventually settled in Barcelona, Spain.

In the early 1920s, Vargas Vila's physical and mental health began to deteriorate, and he eventually became more distant and solitary. Nonetheless, he undertook a last journey through Latin America in 1924, visiting Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Cuba. In 1929, he was back in Barcelona, where he died in 1933.

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The collection is chiefly unpublished manuscripts by Vargas Vila. Most manuscripts are undated and unbound. They are handwritten or typed, and some have annotations and corrections. Included are the unpublished novel, "En los Jardines de Lesbos," and two typescript novels: "El Maestro" and "El Tigre." Also included is a diplomatic passport with a photograph of Vargas Vila at age 63; documents concerning his burial in Barcelona, Spain; and four images of him, one an oil painting and the other three, black-and-white photographs.

Contents list

Expand/collapse Jose Maria Vargas Vila Papers, 1919-1937 and undated.

36 items.

Arrangement: Items have been maintained, for the most part, as received by the repository. Titles and item page and leaf counts are based on the description received with the materials.

Unless otherwise noted, the manuscripts are handwritten by Jose Maria Vargas Vila.

Folder 1	"El final de una odisea," undated Originally written to continue and complete the unpublished work entitled, "El Maestro." 179 leaves.
Folder 2	"La revolucion y Bonaparte," undated Includes typewritten sections and handwritten annotations. 46 leaves
Folder 3	Notes for a conference about Jose Marti, undated Notes for a conference concerning the Cuban national hero, Jose Marti. There is one handwritten document of 18 leaves and one typewritten document of 15 leaves.
Folder 4	"Los Mirafes de la muerte: diario de un convaleciente," 1925 120 leaves.
Folder 5-6 Folder 5 Folder 6	Seven manuscripts on various themes, undated Items are handwritten on strip-like pieces of paper of about 8 inches in length.
Oversize Volume SV-12019/1a-b	"En los jardines de Lesbos," 1925 Described as a novel of high erotic content, the handwritten manuscript begins with the introductory text, "La belleza que haya en este libro ha de ser desnuda, como el cuerpo de la bella mujer cuya vida vive en las paginas de el (The beauty found in this book ought to be naked, as the body of the beautiful woman whose life resides within its pages)." 419 leaves. The manuscript was received bound in paper covers which have been removed from item and can be found in SV-12019/1b.
Folder 7	"Para el portico," 1932 The only published item of the collection. 44 leaves, November 1932.
Folder 8	"A los 16 anos ...," undated 67 leaves.
Folder 9	"Danzaron ...," undated 34 leaves.
Folder 10	Scattered fragments of manuscripts, undated Scattered fragments of apparently unrelated handwritten manuscripts. 40 leaves.
Folder 11	"Nadie es mas poeta que Goethe ...," undated 33 leaves.
Folder 12	"El amor y Luis XV ...," undated 24 leaves.
Folder 13	"Un dossmandoit etre toute poesie Novalis," undated Two newspaper clippings: one showing Vargas Vila in Veracruz, Mexico, and the other showing Vargas Vila among a group of intellectuals in Brasil. 17 leaves.
Folder 14	"No escuchais el ruido que hacen ...," undated 24 pages.
Folder 15	Autobiographical notes, undated 7 pages.
Folder 16	"El Japon ...," undated 6 leaves.
Folder 17	"Jose Marti: heroe - tribuno - poeta," undated Typewritten document with handwritten annotations throughout. 7 leaves.
Folder 18	"La sombra del gran caudillo," undated 6 leaves.
Folder 19	"El arte es divino," undated 24 leaves.
Folder 20	"La palabra del enigma," undated 25 leaves.
Folder 21	"France ...," undated 18 leaves.
Folder 22	"Ya los ojos ...," undated 10 leaves.
Folder 23	"Plego las alas curvas, el Condor ...," undated 18 leaves.
Folder 24	"Mi amor exasperado ...," undated "1929" is handwritten in pencil on the third leaf. 22 leaves.
Folder 25	"Novela de arte y para artistas, fue mi novena sinfonia," undated 14 leaves.
Folder 26	"La injusticia es vieja como el mundo ...," undated 14 leaves.
Folder 27	"Donde hallar los yacimientos de esa pasion virgen ...," undated Typescript text is unclear; each line of text has a handwritten transcription in pencil just below it. 46 leaves.
Folder 28	"Ojos ...," undated 19 leaves.
Folder 29	Diplomatic passport, 1927 Includes a black-and-white photograph of Vargas Vila at the age of 63 and his signature.
Folder 30	Burial documents, 1933 Documents from Barcelona, Spain, related to the burial of Vargas Vila including details of his tomb and headstone. One of the documents appears to be written in Catalan.
Image P-12019/1	Portrait in oils of Jose Maria Vargas Vila, 1924 Oil painting of Jose Maria Vargas Vila, painted on a cardboard core and signed by the artist, "al hijo mas grande de mi patria. Sinceramente. Enrique Duarte. Mxco. Junio 26-1924 (to the greatest son of my country. Sincerely. Enrique Duarte. Mexico. 26 June 1924)."
Image P-12019/2	Photograph: Jose Maria Vargas Vila at office desk, 1918 Photograph depicting Jose Maria Vargas Vila behind what appears to be his office desk in Barcelona, Spain, August 1918.
Image P-12019/3	Photograph: Jose Maria Vargas Vila in Montevideo, Uruguay, 1924
Image P-12019/4	Photograph: Jose Maria Vargas Vila in Havana, Cuba, 1927 Photograph for his diplomatic passport.
Oversize Volume SV-12019/2	"El Maestro," circa 1933 Unpublished novel. There are three copies of about 170 leaves each.
Oversize Volume SV-12019/3	"El Tigre," circa 1933 Unpublished novel of 266 leaves.

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Photographs (P-12019/1-4)
Oversize volumes (SV-12019/1-3)

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Collection Number: 12019 Collection Title: Jose Maria Vargas Vila Papers, 1919-1937 and undated