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Albert Bensoussan Working Files on Latin American Writers
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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
Albert Bensoussan is a writer and a translator of Spanish language works.
He was born on August 4, 1935 in Algiers, Algeria, to Sephardic Jewish parents. He received a doctorate in Spanish studies in 1966 and a doctorate in humanities in 1978. He has taught at the Lycée Bugeaud d'Alger, the Sorbonne, and the University of Haute-Bretagne in Rennes, France, where he was professor emeritus of Spanish literature. He has also taught at the European College of Literary Translators.
Bensoussan has translated hundreds of Spanish language titles including Alfredo Bryce Echeniche's Un Mundo para Julius and Tantas veces Pedro, Guillermo Cabrera Infante's Tres Tristes Tigres, José Donoso's Este domingo, Mario Goloboff's Criador de palomas, and Néstor Sánchez's Nosotros dos and Cómico de la lengua. He has translated multiple titles for Manuel Puig, including El Beso de la mujer araña, Pubis angelical, Maldición eterna a quien lea estas páginas, Sangre de amor correspondido, Il bacio della donna ragno, and Misterio del ramo de rosas.
He maintains a close relationship with Mario Vargas Llosa and has translated numerous works of his, including Los Cachorros, Pantaleón y las visitadoras, La orgía perpetua, La tía Julia y el escribidor, La señorita de Tacna, Historia de Mayta, and La guerra del fin del mundo.
He is the author of a number of original works which include Confessions d'un traitre: essai sur la traduction (1995); Retour des caravelles: lettres latino-américaines d'aujourd'hui (1999); J'avoue que j'ai trahi: essai libre sur la traduction (2005); and Ce que je sais de Vargas Llosa (2011), among others.
He received the Cultura Latina Prize in 1985 and a médaille de vermeil from the Académie française in 2011 for his translation work, and is a founding member of l'Association des Traducteurs Littéraires de France. In 1964 he married Mathilde (Tubau) Bensoussan, a Catalonian translator who lived in France most of her life and also taught at the University of Rennes. They collaborated occasionally on translation and other writings. After her death, he remarried in 2013 to Françoise-Déborah Bensoussan-Meinnel, a former high school librarian and translator.
He currently lives in Rennes, France.
Consists of translator and writer Albert Bensoussan's working files related to Latin American authors, including Alfredo Bryce Echenique, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, José Donoso, Jorge Edwards, Jorge Goldenberg, Mario Goloboff, Luis Mizón, Abel Posse, Manuel Puig, Néstor Sánchez, Severo Sarduy, Manuel Scorza, and Mario Vargas Llosa. Files consist of incoming professional and personal correspondence to Bensoussan from authors, theatre producers, critics, translators, and French publishing houses; writings by Bensoussan on Latin American authors, and translation; transcripts of interviews Bensoussan conducted; collected essays and articles related to the authors represented and Bensoussan; scripts and ephemera from theatrical productions of work translated by Bensoussan; and assorted clippings related to the authors.
Materials are arranged alphabetically by writer's last name. Correspondence and subject files were kept in original order.
Purchase, 2017 (AM 2017-126) and 2018 (AM 2019-3).
This collection was purchased (in part) with funds provided by the Program in Latin American Studies (PLAS).
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.
Collection was processed by Kathryn Antonelli in May 2017. Finding aid written by Kathryn Antonelli with the assistance of Elvia Arroyo-Ramirez in May 2017.
Additional materials were processed by Sara Rogers in July 2018. Finding aid updated by Sara Rogers.
Non-unique, printed materials such as book and journal publications were removed from the collection during 2017 processing.
No materials were removed from the collection during 2018 processing beyond routine appraisal practices.
People
- Abad Faciolince, Héctor Joaquín
- Bryce-Echenique, Alfredo (1939)
- Cabrera Infante, G. (Guillermo) (1929-2005)
- Donoso, José (1924-1996)
- Edwards, Jorge
- Goldenberg, Jorge
- Goloboff, Gerardo Mario (1939)
- Levine, Suzanne Jill.
- Mizón, Luis
- Posse, Abel
- Puig, Manuel
- Sanchez, Nestor
- Sarduy, Severo
- Scorza, Manuel
- Vargas Llosa, Mario (1936)
- Zuratas, Léon
Subject
- Publisher
- Manuscripts Division
- Finding Aid Date
- 2017
- Access Restrictions
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Collection is open for research use.
- Use Restrictions
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Collection Inventory
Correspondence from Abad Faciolince and copies of El verbo divino in Spanish and French.
Physical Description1 folder
2 boxes
Correspondence from Bryce Echenique to Bensoussan. 1978 February 14 letter includes a photo of Bryce Enchenique's son.
Physical Description1 folder
Interviews, essays, and articles related to Bryce Echenique.
Physical Description1 folder
2 boxes
Correspondence from Cabrera Infante to Bensoussan relating to translations of his work. Later correspondence includes letters on more personal topics.
Physical Description1 folder
Correspondence from Editions Gallimard to Bensoussan regarding his translation of Tres tristes tigres. Includes a printed copy of the original Spanish edition of Tres tristes tigres with annotations.
Physical Description1 folder
Typescripts, printed works (including an interview by Bensoussan translated from Spanish to French), and records of Bensoussan's translation process for Cabrera Infante's works.
Physical Description1 folder
Collected clippings related to Cabrera Infante.
Physical Description1 folder
Includes articles written by Bensoussan about Cabrera Infante; articles by Cabrera Infante; and news pieces about Cabrera Infante's death in 2005.
Physical Description3 folders
1 box
Correspondence from Roberto Solomon to Bensoussan regarding the translation of Este domingo into French as Ce dimanche-là, a typescript for Ce dimanche-là, and ephemera and press reviews from its May 1992 production at Théâtre Saint-Gervais in Geneva, Switzerland.
Physical Description1 folder
Photocopy of a published theatrical version of Este Domingo. Published by Editorial Andrés Bello.
Physical Description1 folder
2011 July 18 letter from Edwards to Bensoussan, and press about Edwards including reviews of Edward's work La muerte de Montaigne.
Physical Description1 folder
2 boxes
Letter from Goldenberg to Bensoussan, and published French script for Goldenberg's play Knepp.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of materials related to Goldenberg's play Knepp, including ephemera from a French production, a transcript of the play in French, and correspondence related to an Argentine production.
Physical Description1 folder
1 folder
Two letters from Levine to Bensoussan.
Physical Description1 folder
Two letters from Mizón to Bensoussan regarding his writings and exile.
Physical Description1 folder
Two letters from Posse to Bensoussan.
Physical Description1 folder
3 boxes
Correspondence from Puig to Bensoussan. Also, a 1984 typescript of an interview between Puig and Bensoussan with annotations.
Physical Description1 folder
Letter from Graciela Goldchluk to Bensoussan, ephemera from various French productions of El beso de la mujer araña ( Le baiser de la femme araignée) and typescript for El beso de la mujer araña with annotations.
Physical Description1 folder
Copy of typescript with annotations for Il bacio della donna ragno, and for Misterio del ramo de rosas.
Physical Description1 folder
Articles and essays about Puig's work, including an email from professor Julia Romero and a copy of her essay Manuel Puig: del delito de la escritura al error gay. Also includes a script for Le baiser de la femme araignée.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of materials related to Le baiser de la femme araignée, including correspondence from the French publishing house, Éditions du Seuil; correspondence and ephemera related to theatre prodcutions; critical essays; and invoices. Also includes an interview between Bensoussan and Puig, and materials related to a tribute to Puig in his hometown of General Villegas.
Physical Description4 folders
2 boxes
Correspondence from Sánchez to Bensoussan, mainly concerning the translation of Cómico de la legua ( Pitre de la langue).
Physical Description1 folder
Includes correspondence to Bensoussan from the publishing house, Editions Gallimard, regarding the translation of Nous Deux and a transcript of an interview with Néstor Sánchez.
Physical Description1 folder
Correspondence from Sarduy, an editor at Éditions du Seuil, to Bensoussan mainly concerning publications for translation.
Physical Description1 folder
Correspondence from Scorza to Bensoussan, and typescript of an interview between Scorza and Bensoussan with annotations.
Physical Description1 folder
3 boxes
Correspondence from Vargas Llosa to Bensoussan and ephemera from La demoiselle de Tacna and La Chunga. Also, the program and a copy of Bensoussan's speech from the occasion of Vargas Llosa receiving an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Rennes.
Physical Description1 folder
Correspondence from Léon Zuratas (a representative of Paramount Pictures) to Bensoussan regarding the translation of La guerra particular.
Physical Description1 folder
Spanish typescript for the planned film adaptation of La guerra del fin del mundo.
Physical Description1 folder
French typescript for the planned film adaptation of La guerra del fin del mundo, translated from Spanish by Bensoussan.
Physical Description1 folder
Typescript for Botero, and for Alonso Alegría Amézquita's theatrical adaptation of Los Cachorros.
Physical Description1 folder
Bound and numbered copy of Vargas Llosa's Nobel Prize speech, Elogio de la lectura y la ficción. Signed by Vargas Llosa and dedicated to Bensoussan.
Physical Description1 folder
Consists of correspondence from publishers related to translations of Vargas Llosa's work by Bensoussan; essays and interviews related to Vargas Llosa and Bensoussan's work as a translator; programs and ephemera from a French production of La Chunga; an interview with Vargas Llosa's first wife, Julia Urquidi Illanes; and four photographs of Vargas Llosa (two with Bensoussan).
Physical Description2 folders