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Rita Guibert Collection of Latin American Authors
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Held at: Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division [Contact Us]
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Rita Guibert was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and earned a B.S. in chemistry at the University of Buenos Aires. She immigrated to the United States in 1957 and became a U.S. citizen in 1965. She married twice and had a daughter, Lidia Beatriz, by her first marriage to Raúl Guibert. Her second husband was Herbert Herzberg.
She is best known for her 1973 book Seven Voices, which contains interviews with seven major authors of the Latin American Boom era. Guibert traveled extensively for her in-person interviews. She interviewed Pablo Neruda in Isla Negra, Chile; Jorge Luis Borges in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Miguel Ángel Asturias in Paris; Octavio Paz in Churchill College, Cambridge; Julio Cortázar in Paris; Gabriel García Márquez in Barcelona and New York City; and Guillermo Cabrera Infante in London. She established a personal rapport with several of her subjects, most notably, Pablo Neruda. She accompanied Neruda to Stockholm when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. After a few days in Stockholm, she traveled with him and his wife to Warsaw to attend the Polish premiere of his play Splendor and Death of Joaquín Murieta.
She was a writer, reporter, and researcher at LIFE en Español; reporter and researcher at Time and Time Books, Inc.; managing editor at América Clínica and El Hospital; member of Board of Contributors at Nuestro; and a correspondent at Servipress International, Associated Press, and Latin American Desk. She originated and was an on-camera interviewer for the television series, Latin America - The Restless Colossus; and was a radio producer for Latin American World. She also translated children's books for Random House, Farrar Straus and Giroux, and others.
She lived in New York from 1957 until her death on December 5, 2007.
The collection includes audiocassette recordings, correspondence, interview and article drafts, galleys, proofs, printed materials, and photographs. Most numerous are the audiocassette tapes containing Rita Guibert's in-depth interviews with Latin American authors, including Pablo Neruda, Jorge Luis Borges, Gabriel García Márquez, Octavio Paz, Julio Cortázar, Miguel Ángel Asturias, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Manuel Puig, Jorge Amado, Emir Rodríguez Monegal, Carlos Fuentes, José Donoso, and others.
Purchase, 2015 (AM 2015-79). Gift, 2015 (AM 2016-53).
For preservation reasons, original analog and digital media may not be read or played back in the reading room. Users may visually inspect physical media but may not remove it from its enclosure. All analog audiovisual media must be digitized to preservation-quality standards prior to use. Audiovisual digitization requests are processed by an approved third-party vendor. Please note, the transfer time required can be as little as several weeks to as long as several months and there may be financial costs associated with the process. Requests should be directed through the Ask Us Form.
This collection was processed by Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez in June 2015. Finding aid written by Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez in June 2015.
Audiovisual materials from this collection were digitized in 2017.
Nothing was removed from the collection during 2015 processing.
People
- Amado, Jorge (1912-2001)
- Asturias, Miguel Ángel
- Borges, Jorge Luís (1899-1986)
- Cabrera Infante, G. (Guillermo) (1929-2005)
- Cortázar, Julio
- Donoso, José (1924-1996)
- Fuentes, Carlos
- García Márquez, Gabriel (1927-2014)
- Guibert, Rita.
- Neruda, Pablo (1904-1973)
- Paz, Octavio (1914-1998)
- Puig, Manuel
- Vargas Llosa, Mario (1936)
Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Author
- Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez
- Finding Aid Date
- 2015
- Access Restrictions
-
The collection is open for research.
Audiovisual Materials (Reading Room Access Only): Digital access copies are accessible on a computer in RBSC's reading room. For preservation reasons, physical access to original tapes is restricted.
- Use Restrictions
-
Single copies may be made for research purposes. To cite or publish quotations that fall within Fair Use, as defined under U. S. Copyright Law, no permission is required. For instances beyond Fair Use, it is the responsibility of the researcher to determine whether any permissions related to copyright, privacy, publicity, or any other rights are necessary for their intended use of the Library's materials, and to obtain all required permissions from any existing rights holders, if they have not already done so. Princeton University Library's Special Collections does not charge any permission or use fees for the publication of images of materials from our collections, nor does it require researchers to obtain its permission for said use. The department does request that its collections be properly cited and images credited. More detailed information can be found on the Copyright, Credit and Citations Guidelines page on our website. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us through the Ask Us! form.
Collection Inventory
This series includes audiocassette tape interviews of various literary writers conducted by Guibert for Seven Voices, Life en Español, and Nuestro. Other recordings present are of Latin America: The Restless Colossus, a television series Guibert originated, an interview of Guibert's for the Latin American Review, and a recording of Mario Vargas Llosa for Channel 13 in 1989.
Arranged alphabetically.
Physical Description6 boxes
32101047381635_2_a.mp3
portion of 1 audiocassette; recorded October 22, 1970 at the Hotel Majorie in Paris, France. Note: recorded on side B of last Cabrera Infante tape.
Physical Description1 box
32101047381338_1_a.mp3
32101047381346_1_a.mp3
32101047381346_2_a.mp3
32101047381353_1_a.mp3
32101047381353_2_a.mp3
3 audiocassettes; recorded November 3-10, 1970 in Paris, France. Side B of asset 32101047381338 is blank.
Physical Description1 box
32101047381361_1_a.mp3
32101047381361_2_a.mp3
32101047381379_1_a.mp3
32101047381379_2_a.mp3
32101047381387_1_a.mp3
32101047381387_2_a.mp3
32101047381395_1_a.mp3
32101047381403_1_a.mp3
32101047381403_2_a.mp3
5 audiocassettes; recorded January 15-18 (circa 1968); includes two tapes labelled "Borges y Elsa recitando". Side B of asset 32101047381395 is blank.
Physical Description1 box
32101047381619_2_a.mp3
32101047381627_1_a.mp3
32101047381627_2_a.mp3
32101047381635_1_a.mp3
portion of 3 audiocassettes; recorded in 1970 in London, England. Note: Cabrera Infante's interview (Take I) begins on Paz's last tape, Side B. Side B of asset 32101047381635 features a recording of Jorge Amado.
Physical Description1 box
32101047381411_1_a.mp3
32101047381429_1_a.mp3
32101047381429_2_a.mp3
32101047381437_1_a.mp3
32101047381437_2_a.mp3
32101047381445_1_a.mp3
32101047381445_2_a.mp3
4 audiocassettes; recorded June 19, 1974 at TWA Terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport, New York, New York (Tape 1). Tape 2-3 were recorded on November 19-22, 1975 at the University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma. Tape 4 was recorded on November 21, 1975; the word "Rabassa... Radio Program Interview" is written on the label which perhaps refers to a joint radio interview with Gregory Rabassa done by Rita Guibert in Oklahoma. Side B of asset 32101047381411 is blank.
Physical Description1 box
32101047381452_1_a.mp3
32101047381452_2_a.mp3
32101047381460_1_a.mp3
32101047381460_2_a.mp3
2 audiocassettes; recorded November 21-December 1, 1970 in Vallvidrera, Barcelona, Spain. Side B of one asset 32101047381460 is not part of the Donoso interview and is labelled "Jim Deckson - Marbella - Dec. 1/70"
Physical Description1 box
32101047381676_1_a.mp3
32101047381676_2_a.mp3
32101047381684_1_a.mp3
32101047381684_2_a.mp3
32101047381692_1_a.mp3
32101047381700_1_a.mp3
32101047381700_2_a.mp3
32101047381700_1_a.mp3
32101047381700_2_a.mp3
32101047381718_1_a.mp3
32101047381718_2_a.mp3
5 audiocassettes; recorded March 13, 1978 in Princeton, New Jersey; May 1, 1978, at Columbia University, New York, New York; and May 9, 1978 at City University of New York (CUNY), New York, New York. Side B of asset 32101047381692 is blank.
Physical Description1 box
32101047381478_1_a.mp3
32101047381478_2_a.mp3
32101047381486_1_a.mp3
2 audiocassettes; Recorded June 2-3, 1971 at the Plaza Hotel, New York, New York.Side B of asset 32101047381486 is blank.
Physical Description1 box
32101047381726_1_a.mp3
32101047381726_2_a.mp3
32101047381734_1_a.mp3
32101047381734_2_a.mp3
32101047381742_1_a.mp3
32101047381759_1_a.mp3
32101047381759_2_a.mp3
4 audiocassettes; Recorded July 6-9, 1968 and September 11, 1971. Side B of asset 32101047381742 is blank.
Physical Description1 box
32101047381775_1_a.mp3
1 audiocassette; Rita Guibert was interviewed for the Latin American Review, a radio program created by the Institute of Latin American Studies at the University of Texas, Austin. Covering all of Latin America and the Caribbean, the program aired from 1973 to 1984. The program was primarily diveded into two segments, a news segment, dealing with reports from different parts of Latin America, and an interview segment, in which an individual or small group was interviewed. A diverse number of topics were covered including human rights abuses, economic conditions, music, popular culture, and the history and politics of the region. Originally airing as the Latin American Press Review, the program had its title changed in 1976 to Latin American Review. Guibert's interview (episodes 46-47), in which she discusses Seven Voices, aired on November 8 and 15, 1976. Side B is blank.
Physical Description1 box
32101047381668_1_a.mp3
portion of 1 audiocassette; interview is on the third Manuel Puig cassette, side 1 and reads: "Fernando Lamas 8/8/1974 UC I Los Angeles" on label.
Physical Description1 box
32101047381783_1_a.mp3
32101047381783_2_a.mp3
32101047381791_1_a.mp3
32101047381809_1_a.mp3
32101047381809_2_a.mp3
32101047381817_1_a.mp3
32101047381817_2_a.mp3
32101047381825_1_a.mp3
32101047381825_2_a.mp3
32101047381833_1_a.mp3
32101047381841_1_a.mp3
32101047381841_2_a.mp3
32101047381858_1_a.mp3
32101047381858_2_a.mp3
32101047381866_1_a.mp3
32101047381866_2_a.mp3
32101047381874_1_a.mp3
32101047381874_2_a.mp3
32101047381882_1_a.mp3
32101047381882_2_a.mp3
32101047381890_1_a.mp3
32101047381890_2_a.mp3
32101047381908_1_a.mp3
13 audiocassettes; as originator and on-camera interviewer, Guibert worked on Latin America - The Restless Colossus, a television series of 54 episodes produced by CBS in association with Bergen Community College that broadcasted from May 16 - September 16, 1977. Topics covered by the series include Latin American film, literature, religion, women, politics, Cuba, and U.S. foreign relations. The cassettes present in the collection include episodes 22, 24, 26-27, 31, 33, 41-44. Side B is blank on the following assets 32101047381791, 32101047381833, and 32101047381908.
Physical Description2 boxes
32101047381494_1_a.mp3
32101047381494_2_a.mp3
32101047381502_1_a.mp3
32101047381502_2_a.mp3
32101047381510_1_a.mp3
32101047381510_2_a.mp3
32101047381528_1_a.mp3
32101047381528_2_a.mp3
32101047381536_1_a.mp3
32101047381536_2_a.mp3
32101047381544_1_a.mp3
32101047381551_1_a.mp3
32101047381551_2_a.mp3
32101047381569_1_p1_a.mp3
32101047381569_1_p2_a.mp3
32101047381569_2_a.mp3
8 audiocassettes; recorded January 18-31, 1970 at the writer's home at Isla Negra, Chile. Includes readings of La Espada Encendida by Neruda in La Chasquiña (La Chascona?). One cassette is dated from 1977, after Neruda's death. Side B is blank on 32101047381544. Side B of 32101047381569 is a recording of Perez Rivera.
Physical Description1 box
32101047381957_1_a.mp3
1 audio reel; on reel label: "Neruda - Public Radio Based on R. Guibert's tape" (container), and "Nobel Prize / Polish Press Address to Poets."
Physical Description1 folder
32101047381916_1_a.mp3
32101047381924_1_a.mp3
32101047381924_2_a.mp3
32101047381932_1_a.mp3
3 audiocassettes; Tape labels include, "Dec. 10, Stockholm. Neruda Nobel Prize Take 1"; "Dec. 13, 1971 Neruda Acceptance Speech, Interview Radio Española, Sweden, etc."; "Dec. 14, 1971 Neruda address to American Poets, Grand Hotel".
Physical Description1 box
32101047381577_1_a.mp3
32101047381577_2_a.mp3
32101047381585_1_a.mp3
32101047381585_2_a.mp3
32101047381593_1_a.mp3
32101047381593_2_a.mp3
32101047381619_1_a.mp3
32101047381601_1_a.mp3
32101047381601_2_a.mp3
portions of 5 audiocassettes; recorded September-October 1970 in Cambridge and London, England. Side B of the asset 32101047381619 is Take 1 of Cabrera Infante interview.
Physical Description1 box
32101047381643_1_a.mp3
32101047381643_2_a.mp3
32101047381650_1_a.mp3
32101047381650_2_a.mp3
32101047381668_2_a.mp3
3 audiocassettes; recorded December 17, 1976. Third cassette (asset 32101047381668) features an interview with Puig dated March 21, 1977 on Side 2; Side 1 is labelled, Fernando Lamas 8/8/1974 UC I Los Angeles" which could refer to an interview with Lamas at UCLA.
Physical Description1 box
32101047381767_1_a.mp3
32101047381767_2_a.mp3
1 audiocassette; recorded February 2-3, 1978 at the Museum of Modern Latin American Art (Art Museum of the Americas) in Washington, D.C. with Tom Messer.
Physical Description1 box
32101047381940_1_a.mp3
32101047381940_2_a.mp3
1 audiocassette; label description, "Vargas Llosa, Channel 13, 10/23/89".
Physical Description1 box
Original and copy typescript correspondence to and from Guibert. Correspondence of not significant volume was sorted alphabetically in A-M and N-Z files.
Arranged alphabetically.
Physical Description1 box
Includes correspondence to and from Jorge Amado, Susy Arenzburg, Cal Brant, Cristian Casanova, Alejo Carpentier, Ronald Christ, Barbara Duncan, Rubens Furtado, Jane Garrett, and Jorge Guillén among others.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
Includes correspondence with writing auxiliaries of Borges' such as Juan Merchison, his wife, Elsa Astete Millán, and Leonor Acevedo de Borges, his mother.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
Associated correspondence on Cortázar's interview for Life en Español and subsequent request (Cortázar denied) for an extended version for Seven Voices. Includes correspondence with others on the subject.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Includes correspondence to and from Matilde Neruda, P.E.N. American Center, Per-Ake-Uddman, Adelina Plana, George Plimpton, Velazco Portinho, Rodman Rockefeller, Alan Ryan, Harold Strauss, Virginia Tan, and A.B.C. Whipple among others.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes a postcard Neruda wrote on a trip to Poland after his stay in Norway, when he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1971. Guibert accompanied Neruda to Stockholm and the Nobel Prize ceremony. After their stay in Stockholm, Guibert, Neruda and Matilde Urrutia, travelled to Warsaw to attend the Polish premiere of his play, Splendor and Death of Joaquín Murieta. Neruda may have given the postcard to Guibert to give to someone else.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Original typescript and typescript copies of Rita Guibert's written questions and responses by authors, translated into English. Includes Guibert's handwritten annotations and corrections in ink.
Arranged by subseries, alphabetically.
Physical Description3 boxes
Includes original and copy typewritten and handwritten drafts of questions, full interviews in English with handwritten annotations, and associated documents. Includes interviews for Seven Voices and Life en Español.
Arranged alphabetically.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Includes typewritten drafts with handwritten annotations and revisions, galleys, published print cut outs of final publications.
Arranged alphabetically.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
2 folders
1 folder
1 folder
Single file arrangement.
Includes assorted documents related to the production of Seven Voices including blank licensing agreements, Cabrera Infante proof, and handwritten notes.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
Alphabetically.
Various materials including an early edition of Siete Voces, published Guibert articles and interviews in Life en Español and The Paris Review, copies of a typewritten statement given by Neruda addressing the Poets of America, Traduction des Discours a la Fête Nobel a printed booklet from the Nobel Prize event, and incomplete typescript copies of Cortázar's Rayuela. Also includes poems and notes of unknown origin addressed to Guibert, one drawing, newspaper and article clippings.
Physical Description3 boxes
Includes Life en Español Volume 31, No. 5 of March 11, 1968 and Volume 33, No. 7 of April 7, 1969 which feature Guibert's interviews of Borges and Cortázar.
Physical Description1 box
In honor of Neruda receiving the Nobel Prize in Literature in Stockholm in 1971, several Poets of America gathered at the Center for Inter-American Relations in New York for a panel discussion titled "Poetry of Pablo Neruda" on December 16, 1971. Neruda addressed the Poets via statement from Stockholm on December 14, 1971 through Guibert. Present here are copies of the typewritten statements.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes issue 51, Winter 1971 which features "The Art of Poetry XIV", Guibert's interview of Pablo Neruda, translated into English by Ronald Christ.
Physical Description1 box
Published by Organización Editorial Novarro, 1974.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
Includes two incomplete sets of copies, one in the original Spanish, the other translated to English, with handwritten editions. The English translation with revisions in English and annotations in Spanish. The English revisions seem to be for minor syntax/emphasis. The Spanish are handwritten annotations that are similar to Cortázar's handwriting.
Physical Description1 folderThermofax
1 folder
Includes negatives, contact sheets and strips, and prints of personal travel photos, portraits of Guibert, and Latin American figures she interviewed. For Seven Voices's photo insert, Guibert included both candid shots she took and photographs she purchased of the authors she interviewed. Most close-up portraits featured in the book were taken by from Argentine photographers, Alicia D'Amico and Sara Facio, whose prints of Asturias, Borges, Cabrera Infante, García Márquez, and Paz are featured here.
Arranged by subseries, alphabetically.
Physical Description2 boxes
Arranged alphabetically.
Because of the order of the film rolls, Cabrera Infante is featured in the same negatives file as Paz.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Most are general travel shots of city and landscapes; inclues few shots of Miguel Ángel Asturias and Jose Donoso.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
Arranged alphabetically.
Includes complete sheets and strips. Most negatives are present subseries 1.
Physical Description2 boxes
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder
Includes prints of Borges, Neruda, and others.
Physical Description1 box
1 folder
1 folder
1 folder