ma184 Antonio Benítez-Rojo Papers, 1957-2002 Finding Aid Finding aid prepared by Isadora Moura Mota. Amherst College Archives and Special Collections
Amherst, MA
2009 Finding aid encoded in NoteTab Pro. Encoded by Peter A. Nelson. 2009-03-04 Finding aid written in English Collection Overview Benítez Rojo, Antonio, 1931- Antonio Benítez Rojo Papers 1957-2002 1 half archives box, 2 flat oversize boxes, 5 archives boxes (4 linear ft.) English and Spanish. Amherst College Archives and Special Collections
Amherst, MA
Chiefly printed materials such as news clippings, articles by and about Benítez-Rojo's literary work, book covers, flyers and posters of conferences given or attended by him, photographs, and videotapes of some of his lectures. Biographical Note

Cuban novelist, essayist and short-story writer Antonio Benítez-Rojo was born in Havana on March 14, 1931. He earned degrees in accounting and economics at the Universidad de La Habana, but left Cuba in the mid-1950s to study statistics at the U.S. Department of Labor and Commerce and research the Pan American Labor Union in Mexico. Attracted by the unfolding of the Revolution, however, Benítez-Rojo went back to his home country in 1959. In 1967, he ascended in the literary scene after winning the Casa de Las Americas award for his novel Tute de Reyes. While in Cuba, Benítez-Rojo worked as head of the Statistics Bureau of the Labor Ministry, integrated the Ministry of Culture, and directed the Casa de Las Americas publishing house in the late 1970s. Although Cuba had become one of the most important intellectual spaces in Latin America, Benítez-Rojo had long decided to leave the country. Dissatisfied with what he saw as an extremely centralized government, he finally found a chance to leave when granted permission to attend a conference in Paris, from where he relocated to the United States. Once in the U.S., Benítez-Rojo taught at several institutions before taking a position as professor of Spanish at Amherst College in 1983. In 1992, he became the Thomas B. Walton, Jr. Memorial Professor of Romance Languages, a faculty appointment that he held until his death in 2005. Among his most important literary works are El mar de las lentejas (The Sea of Lentils), 1979; La isla que se repite: el Caribe y la perspectiva posmoderna (The Repeated Island: The Caribbean and the Post-modern Perspective), 1998; A View From the Mangrove (1998), and Women in Battle Dress, 2001.

Scope and Contents of the Collection

Chiefly printed materials such as news clippings, articles by and about Benítez-Rojo's literary work, book covers, flyers and posters of conferences given or attended by him, photographs, and videotapes of some of his lectures. Although there is some correspondence included, the papers consist chiefly of printed materials.

 Organization of the Collection

This collection is organized into six series:

PERSONAL AFFAIRS, 1957-1999 PRINTED MATERIAL, 1966-2002 NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS, 1967-2002 CONFERENCE PROGRAMS AND SMALL POSTERS, 1981-2001 VIDEOTAPES, 1996-2001 POSTERS, 1995-2001

There is no restriction on access to the Antonio Benítez-Rojo Papers for research use. Particularly fragile items may be restricted for preservation purposes.

Requests for permission to publish material from Antonio Benítez-Rojo Papers should be directed to the Archives and Special Collections. It is the responsibility of the researcher to identify and satisfy the holders of all copyrights.

Please use the following format when citing materials from this collection:

[Identification of item], in Antonio Benítez-Rojo Papers [Box #, Folder #], Amherst College Archives and Special Collections, Amherst College Library

This collection was donated to Amherst College by Professor Benítez-Rojo in 2002.

The collection was substantially processed in February 2009. In processing, the material was organized loosely by subject into six series covering the period 1957-2002. The original separation between English and Spanish language documents was respected.

At Amherst College:

Latino Collection:

Alicia Borinsky Papers, 1972-2005 Sandra Cisneros Collection, 1984-2001 Manuel Cuéllar Vizcaíno Collection, 1909-2002 Jeffrey Davidow Papers, 1993-2003 Martín Espada Papers, 1957-2003 Fayad Jamis Collection, 1959-1987 Ivor L. Miller Papers, 1900-2005 (bulk 1990-2005) Ilan Stavans, Videotapes of "Conversations with Ilan Stavans," 2001-2006

Other Collections: Marshall Bloom (AC 1966) Alternative Press Collection, ca. 1967-1992

At other Repositories: Antonio Benítez-Rojo Papers, 1980-2005 (bulk 1980-1993), Princeton University Library diglib.princeton.edu/ead/getEad?id=ark:/88435/2z10wq22f

Typewriter used by Antonio Benitez-Rojo. See Objects Collection.

 Series 1: PERSONAL AFFAIRS, 1957-1999

Consists of certificates, correspondence, book covers and Prof. Benítez-Rojo's curriculum vitae.

 1 1 U.S. Department of Labor Certificate (completion of a course about labor statistics - Washington D.C.) 1957 Jul 6 1 2 International Cooperation Administration Certification of Achievement (completion of a course about censuses and statistics - Havana, Cuba) 1959 Oct 13 1 3 Correspondence 1989-1999 1 4 Curriculum Vitae 1990s 1 5 Book covers n.d. Series 2: PRINTED MATERIAL, 1966-2002

Includes scholarly articles by and about Prof. Benítez-Rojo's work, the English translation of the memoir "Woman in a Battle Dress - Henriette Faber on Board the Schooner Collector," edited by him, and reviews of Benítez-Rojo's books published in literary magazines. This series is divided into Spanish and English language subseries.

 Subseries A: Spanish, 1966-2002 1 6 Articles about the work of Benítez-Rojo 1979-2002 1 7 Articles by Benítez-Rojo 1966-1990 1 8 El Cuento Hispanoamericano en el Siglo XX. Madrid: Editorial Castalia, 1997, tomo II. (book) 1997 1 9 Literary magazines 1985-1993 Subseries B: English, 1982-1999 1 10 Essays and reviews about the work of Benítez-Rojo 1989-2002 1a 1 Book catalogs 1995-2001 1a 2 Flyers 1994-2001 2 1 "Woman in a Battle Dress - Henriette Faber on Board the Schooner Collector"- by Antonio Benítez-Rojo. First translation of the book by James Maraniss (Spanish into English). 2002 Series 3: NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS, 1967-2002

Consists of newspaper and magazine clippings collected by Prof. Benítez-Rojo throughout his life, including a set of Amherst College publications which contains interviews by or articles about him. This series is also divided into Spanish and English language subseries.

 Subseries A: Spanish, 1967-2002 3 1 1967-1968 3 2 1970-1979 3 3 1980-1988 3 4 1990 3 5 1991 3 6 1992-1997 3 7 1998-1999 3 8 2000-2002 3 9 n.d. Subseries B: English, 1982-2001 4 1 1982-1986 4 2 Amherst College publications 1985-2001 4 3 1990-1991 4 4 1992-1998 Series 4: CONFERENCE PROGRAMS AND SMALL POSTERS, 1981-2001

This series documents Prof. Benítez-Rojo's intellectual career through posters, booklets and programs of conferences either given by or attended by him.

 4 5 Conference programs and small posters 1981-1999 4 6 Conference programs and small posters 2000-2001 Series 5: VIDEOTAPES, 1996-2001

Consists of nine tape recordings (VHS) of a series of lectures about Caribbean culture given by Prof. Benítez-Rojo in 1996, as well as a recording of the opening night of the Cuban/American Cultural Institute Awards ceremony in 2001.

 5 2 Cuban/American Awards and Opening Ceremony 2001 Apr 7 5 2 Lecture series about Caribbean history and culture given by Prof. Benítez-Rojo (VHS)Tape 1 (A.M.)- 1996 Jun 10Tape 2 (A.M.)- 1996 Jun 10Tape 1 (1:30 to 4:30) - 1996 Jun 10Tape 2 (1:30 to 4:30) - 1996 Jun 11Tape 2 (A.M.)1996 Jun 11Only tape (1:30 to 4:30) - 1996 Jun 11Tape 1 (8:45 a.m. to 12 p.m.) - 1996 Jun 12Tape 2 - 1996 Jun 12 1996 Jun 10-12 Series 6: POSTERS, 1979-2001

Includes oversize posters related to book launchings, lectures and art exhibitions either given by or attended by Prof. Benítez-Rojo.

 OS6 1 Poster of the screening of the film "Los Sobrevivientes" at Amherst College. Screenplay by Benítez-Rojo. 1979 May 8 OS6 2 Poster of the launching of the book "Polifonía Salvage: ensayos de cultura y política en la postmodernidad," coordinated by Benítez-Rojo. Biblioteca Carnegie, San Juan, Puerto Rico. 1995 Nov 30 OS6 3 Poster of the talk "Is there a Caribbean aesthetics?" by Benítez-Rojo. University of Buffalo, N.Y. 1998 Mar 6 OS6 4 Poster of the Foreign Policy Forum entitled: "Life under Communism. Personal experiences shared," Amherst College. 2001 Apr 30 OS6 5 Jacket of the book "The houses of old Cuba," by Llilian Llanes; photography by Jean-Luc de Laguarigue. n.d. OS6 6 Board of medals from his childhood collected by Benítez-Rojo's mother. n.d. OS7 1 Poster of the symposium: "1898: War, Literature, and the question of Pan-Americanism." Woodrow Wilson School,Princeton University. Reading by Prof. Benítez-Rojo. 1998 May27-29 OS7 2 Poster of the exhibition "The scholar and the collector: Fernando Ortiz, los Instrumentos de la Música Afrocubana and the Howard Family Collection of Percussion Instruments." City of Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum. 1999 May 29-Sep 26