Call Number:

C0681

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 1 box
• 0.4 linear feet

Language:

French and Spanish; Castilian

Preferred Citation:

Identification of specific item; Date (if known); José Bianco Papers, Box and Folder Number; Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Date:

1928-1985 (inclusive) and 1941-1979 (bulk)

Creator:

Bianco, José.

Form:

Audio cassettes., Audiotapes., Correspondence., and Manuscripts.

Abstract:

The José Bianco Papers consists of notes and correspondence of the Argentine editor, author, and translator José Bianco, as well as a small selection of writings by others and audio recordings of Cuban poets José Lezama Lima and Nicolás Guillén reading their poetry.

José "Pepe" Bianco was born on 21 November 1908 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He left the university just shy of obtaining a law degree, and later joined the prestigious literary journal Sur as a contributor in 1938. Bianco rose through the ranks from secretary to editor, and it was during his years at Sur that the publication earned its greatest international renown. However, in 1961, a public disagreement with Victoria Ocampo, the head of Sur, over a trip he took to Cuba led to Bianco's resignation. Bianco quickly began work at Editorial Universitaria de Buenos Aires (EUDEBA), but again was forced to resign only six years later when the dictator Juan Carlos Onganía took over the government of Argentina.

In addition to his editorial work, Bianco also wrote four principal works, La pequeña Gyaros (short stories, 1932), Sombras suele vestir (novel, 1941), Las ratas (novel, 1943), and La pérdida del reino (novel, 1972). A collection of his essays previously written for Sur and other publications were published as Ficción y realidad (1977). Bianco was also well regarded as a translator of the writings of foreign authors to Spanish, including Samuel Beckett, Julien Benda, Ambrose Bierce, T. S. Eliot, Jean Genet, Henry James, Jean Paul Sartre, Tom Stoppard, and Paul Valéry. He was a long-time friend of fellow countryman Jorge Luis Borges, as well as publisher, through Sur, of Borges' El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan and Ficciones.

Bianco died in Buenos Aires on 24 April 1986 as a result of a lung ailment.

Consists primarily of correspondence received by Bianco by a wide selection of Latin American writers. The major correspondents are Mexicans Elena Garro and Octavio Paz, and Argentines Silvina Ocampo and Victoria Ocampo. Other correspondents include Julio Cortázar, Juan Gustavo Cobo Borda, César Fernández Moreno, Juan García Ponce, Jorge Guillén, Eduardo Mallea, Ezequiel Martínez Estrada, Adrienne Monnier, Daniel Moyano, Maurice Saillet, Alejandro Rossi, Ernesto Sábato, Eduardo Schiaffino, Virgilio Piñera, and Gabriel Zaid. Also included are a small selection of manuscript pages by Bianco in the form of a diary, four poetry manuscripts by César Fernández Moreno, one prose manuscript by Elena Garro, and one prose manuscript by an unknown author, and audio recordings of José Lezama Lima and Nicolás Guillén reading their poetry.