Finding Rómulo Gallegos in the PALABRA Archive

The following is a guest post from Joseph A. Torres-González, Caribbean Studies Reference Librarian, Hispanic Reading Room, Latin American, Caribbean, and European Division. To commemorate his birthday, Joseph highlights the work of Venezuelan author Rómulo Gallegos (1884-1969), and the recently digitized recording for the PALABRA Archive. To read the blog post in Spanish, click here.

The first time I read Rómulo Gallegos was during my last year of high school in senior-level Spanish; I was 17 years old. We were reading Doña Bábara. That same year the television network Telemundo launched a new version of Doña Bárbara in a telenovela format, starring Mexican actress Edith González as Doña Bárbara, and Peruvian actor Christian Meier as Santos Luzardo. I remember reading the novel and sharing observations on the differences between the book and telenovela with my teacher. And that wasn’t the first time Doña Bárbara was made into a telenovela. Gallegos’ work continues to have an impact in the world, both in literature, and in local and international politics. Miguel Angel Mudarra (1984) mentions that Gallegos ends up being an “…‘Ad honorem’ cultural ambassador, spontaneously designated, in a foreign land, where he would dream and create “his” Venezuela within his novels. It was profound, laborious, peaceful, and with many hopes for the future” (pg. 38).[1]

He stands out as one of the authors included in the list of recordings available in the Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape (AHLOT), now known as the PALABRA Archive. When I saw that it was on the list, I was eager to listen to the recording, but I noticed that it had not been digitized yet. I suggested to the curator of the PALABRA Archive, Catalina Gómez, that she recommend it for digitization and publication, which it was. Our division keeps record for each author who has recorded with the Library, and when I consulted the documents from his recording, I noticed the date, and out of curiosity, I asked myself: What motivated the author to visit the US capital during that time? As I began to reconstruct the historical trajectory of his visit, I “found” Rómulo Gallegos, not only in his role as an author, but also as a Venezuelan diplomatic figure. This was demonstrated during his visit to Washington DC in 1960.

Rómulo Gallegos is an important author in Latin American Literature, and, like many other writers of his time, he held roles in local politics and international organizations, such as the Organization of American States (OAS). According to records from the OAS, on May 25^th, 1960, the OAS Council approved the first Statute of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), and on June 29^th of the same year, it elected its first seven members. The first session of the IACHR took place on October 3^rd, 1960, in the Headquarters of the OAS, and the President-elect for this session was Rómulo Gallegos. According to the Diario Las Américas, on October 26^th, of that same year, Rómulo Gallegos traveled to Washington DC, and on that same day, he recorded with the PALABRA Archive.

Portion of a newspaper with a black and white photo of four men in suits, inside a train station in Washington, DC. — Detail: Picture of Rómulo Gallegos on his arrival to the Washington DC train station. His visit to the city was for his inauguration as President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Diario Las Américas, Miami, Florida, October 26th, 1960. Source: Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress.

For his here with the Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape, Rómulo Gallegos read parts of his literary work Canaima (Pórtico – Chapter 1, Part 1); Cantaclaro (La Copla, Chapter 1, Part 1); Doña Bárbara (La Doma, Chapter 8, La devoradora de hombres, Chapter 3, La Estrella en la mira, Chapter 14); Pobre negro (Venezuela, Chapter 1, Jornada 4); Las vacaciones del humanista (Chapter 1, Jornada 2); La pura mujer sobre la tierra (lecture given at the Havana Lyceum in 1949). In our archives, we have original documents that were created during the planning and recording process for authors that participated in the Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape, including for Gallegos.

Sheet of white 8.5 X 11 paper with typed information of the author, the texts he wrote, and the date of the recording. — “Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape – Analysis of Each Separate Selection: Rómulo Gallegos” Picture of the metadata forms used by the Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape, to document the date, reader’s name, language, place and date of recording, and title of selections to be read. You can see the information of Rómulo Gallegos, the date and place of his recording – October 26th, 1960, at the recording studio of the Library in Washington, DC. A separate analysis sheet was prepared for each title selection that was read and recorded. Photo by Joseph A. Torres-González.

The Library of Congress has multiple copies of Rómulo Gallegos’ literary work in our collections, both in print and audiobook formats. Some of the items we have in our collections are multiple editions of his celebrated novel Doña Bárbara.

Collage of book covers of the novel Doña Bárbara, displaying text in English, German, Italian, and Spanish. — Collage image that includes the covers of multiple editions and translations of Doña Bárbara (English, German, Italian, and Spanish) available at the General Collections of the Library of Congress. It should be noted that on some of the book covers there are penciled annotations – it is assumed that they were written during the cataloging process at the Library – in which “Pres. Venezuela” is listed under the name of Rómulo Gallegos.

Cover of the book Doña Bárbara, with a drawn artistic design of a woman in red, with sketches in black, green, and blue, along with the title of the novel. — Doña Bárbara (1984), published by Petróleos de Venezuela and Affiliated Companies, and illustrated by the Venezuelan artist Alirio Palacios. Photo by Joseph A. Torres-González

Using newspapers, digital and physical archives, audio recordings, institutional memory, and books – all tangible material culture – I “found” Rómulo Gallegos and was able to share part of his life and legacy. If you would like to read more about the resources that the Library has on Rómulo Gallegos, I recommend the Biography of the author, along with his recording in the PALABRA Archive. You can also search in the Library of Congress catalog to find a list of works we have written by the author, available both in print and digital formats. Finally, in the Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS), we have several annotations on the work of Rómulo Gallegos, along with other texts about the writer.

Learn more:

Available at the Library of Congress Catalog:

Handbook of Latin American Studies (HLAS): A Resource Guide The Handbook of Latin American Studies is a bibliography on Latin America and the Caribbean consisting of works selected and annotated by scholars who are specialists in their fields. In this link you can find annotations in HLAS about the author.

The PALABRA Archive at the Library of Congress The PALABRA Archive is a collection of original audio recordings of 20th and 21st century Luso-Hispanic poets and writers reading from their works. This link takes you to the audio recordings of South American authors.

Library of Congress Research Guides Library’s guides organized by research topic and collections – these include both online materials, and materials only available on site. The guides related to the Caribbean, Iberian, and Latin American Studies can be found here.

Venezuela: Hispanic Reading Room Country Guide This guide provides curated Library of Congress resources for researching Venezuela, including digitized primary source materials in a wide variety of formats, such as books, periodicals, online databases, along with tips for searching.

[1] Translation of the original text from Spanish to English by Joseph A. Torres-González

An earlier version of the blog indicated the incorrect name of the actress in the Telemundo telenovela.

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