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This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held in the Wilson Library at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in our reading room, and not digitally available through the World Wide Web. See the Duplication Policy section for more information.
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Collection Overview
| 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 The collection is chiefly unpublished manuscripts by Vargas Vila.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 Included are the unpublished novel, "En los Jardines de Lesbos," and two typescript novels: "El Maestro" and "El Tigre."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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Information For Users
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Subject Headings
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.
Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.
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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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Scope and Content
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.
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Jose Maria Vargas Vila Papers, 1919-1937 and undated.
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.
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Items Separated
Processed by: Armando Suarez, September 2011
Encoded by: Armando Suarez, September 2011
Diacritics and other special characters have been omitted from this finding aid to facilitate keyword searching in web browsers.Other processing info
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