Ángel A. Rama (; April 30, 1926November 27, 1983) was a

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

an writer, academic, and

literary critic A genre of arts criticism, literary criticism or literary studies is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical analysis of literature' ...

, known for his work on ''

modernismo ''Modernismo'' is a literary movement that took place primarily during the end of the nineteenth and early 20th century in the Spanish-speaking world, best exemplified by Rubén Darío, who is known as the father of ''modernismo''. The term ''m ...

'' and for his theorization of the concept of "

transculturation Transculturation is a term coined by Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz in 1940 to describe the phenomenon of merging and converging cultures. Transculturation encompasses more than transition from one culture to another; it does not consist me ...

Biography

Born in

Montevideo Montevideo (, ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2023 census, the city proper has a population of 1,302,954 (about 37.2% of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

to Galician immigrants, Rama studied at the

Collège de France The (), formerly known as the or as the ''Collège impérial'' founded in 1530 by François I, is a higher education and research establishment () in France. It is located in Paris near La Sorbonne. The has been considered to be France's most ...

. He married twice: in 1950, to the poet Ida Vitale, with whom he had two children, Amparo and Claudio; and after separating from Vitale in 1969, to Marta Traba, an eminent art critic, originally from Buenos Aires. In the 1960s, after several years teaching at the secondary and university level, he became director of the department of Hispanoamerican literature at the

Universidad de la República The University of the Republic (, sometimes ''UdelaR'') is a public research university in Montevideo, Uruguay. It is the country's oldest and largest university, as well as one of the largest public universities in South America in terms of en ...

, the Uruguayan state-run University. He also founded the publishing houses Editorial Arca in Montevideo and Editorial Galerna in Buenos Aires. During the 1970s, he held professorships at numerous universities in the Americas and served as literary adviser to the Ayacucho Library in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

. The ''

coup d'état A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup , is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...

'' of the Uruguayan government surprised him on June 27, 1973, while residing in

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

, so he lived in exile for the remainder of his life. He was a member of Uruguay's "Generation of '45," also known as the "Critical Generation": Carlos Maggi, Manuel Flores Mora, Emir Rodríguez Monegal,

Idea Vilariño Idea Vilariño Romani (Montevideo, 18 August 1920 – 28 April 2009) was a Uruguayan poet, essayist and literary critic. She belonged to the group of intellectuals known as ''"Generación del 45".'' In this generation, there are several writers s ...

, Carlos Real de Azúa, Carlos Martínez Moreno,

Mario Arregui Mario (; ) is a character created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the star of the ''Mario'' franchise, a recurring character in the ''Donkey Kong'' franchise, and the mascot of the Japanese video game company Nintendo. ...

, Mauricio Muller,

José Pedro Díaz José Pedro Díaz (January 12, 1921 - July 3, 2006) was a Uruguayan essayist, educator and writer. He is remembered as a member of the ''Generation of 45'', a Uruguayan intellectual and literary movement: Carlos Maggi, Manuel Flores Mora, Áng ...

, Amanda Berenguer, Tola Invernizzi, Mario Benedetti, Ida Vitale,

Líber Falco Líber Falco (4 October 1906 – 10 November 1955) was a Uruguayan poet. Biography Born on 4 October 1906 in the neighborhood of Villa Muñoz in Montevideo, Uruguay. As a young man, he worked as a barber, salesman, clerk in a print shop and as ...

, Juan Cunha,

Juan Carlos Onetti Juan Carlos Onetti Borges (July 1, 1909 – May 30, 1994) was a Uruguayan novelist and author of short stories. Early life Onetti was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. He was the son of Carlos Onetti, a customs official, and Honoria Borges, who be ...

, among others. He contributed frequently to the weekly review ''

Marcha Marcha (born Margaretha Hendrika Maria Groeneveld on 2 July 1956), also known as Marga Bult, is a Dutch singer and television presenter, who has been a member of the groups Tulip, Babe and Dutch Divas and is also known for her participation in t ...

'' until its suppression in 1974 by the military government of

Juan María Bordaberry Juan María Bordaberry Arocena (; 17 June 1928 – 17 July 2011), was an Uruguayan politician and cattle rancher who served as the 34th President of Uruguay from 1972 until his resignation in 1976 and the 1st President of the Civic-Military Dic ...

. Rama went into exile to

, Venezuela, where in addition to collaborating with the press and teaching courses, he worked as the Literary Director of the recently formed Ayacucho Library. When the Uruguayan military government denied him the renewal of his Uruguayan passport, in 1977 he took Venezuelan citizenship. He published important studies on the writings of Ruben Darío, Jose Marti, Jose Maria Arguedas, Juan Carlos Onetti, Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Mario Vargas Llosa, among others. Three of his seminal works are ''Transculturacion narrativa en America Latina'', ''La ciudad letrada'' and ''Las mascaras democraticas del modernismo''. Rama's interest and study of the relationships between literacy, power and the complex urban spaces of Latin America led him to develop the concept of the "lettered city," in which networks of various forms of literacy entwine. In 1979, Rama was given an appointment as a professor at the University of Maryland and with Traba they settled in nearby

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. However, in 1982 they were denied resident visas and were forced to leave the United States. The couple moved to Paris, where they were living in early 1983 when Traba was granted Colombian citizenship by President

Belisario Betancur Belisario Betancur Cuartas (4 February 1923 – 7 December 2018) was a Colombian politician who served as the List of Presidents of Colombia, 26th President of Colombia from 1982 to 1986. He was a member of the Colombian Conservative Party. His ...

. He died in the crash of Avianca Flight 011 at Barajas Airport, along with Marta Traba, the Mexican writer Jorge Ibargüengoitia, and Peruvian poet Manuel Scorza, while all four were travelling from Paris to Colombia for an international conference of Latin American writers.

Works

Fiction

* ''¡Oh, sombra puritana!'', Montevideo: Fábula, 1951. * ''Tierra sin mapa'', Montevideo: Asir, 1961

Drama

* ''La inundación'' (1958) * ''Lucrecia'' (1959) * ''Queridos amigos'' (1961)

Essay

* ''La aventura intelectual de Figari'', Buenos Aires: Ed. Fábula, 1951. * ''Ideología y arte de Eduardo Acevedo Díaz en El Combate de la Tapera'', Montevideo, Arca, 1965. * ''Rubén Darío y el modernismo: (circunstancia socio-económica de un arte americano)''. Caracas: Ediciones de la Biblioteca de la Universidad Central de Venezuela, 1970. * ''Diez problemas para el novelista latinoamericano''. Caracas: Síntesis dosmil, 1972 * ''La generación crítica. 1939 - 1969''. Montevideo: Arca, 1972. * '' Salvador Garmendia y la narrativa informalista''. Caracas: Ediciones de la Biblioteca de la Universidad Central de Venezuela, 1975. * '' Rufino Blanco Fombona y el egotismo latinoamericano''. Valencia: Universidad de Carabobo, 1975. * ''Los gauchipolíticos rioplatenses''. Literatura y sociedad. Buenos Aires: Calicanto, 1976; Buenos Aires, Centro Editor de América Latina, 1982. * ''Los dictadores latinoamericanos''. México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1976. * ''El universo simbólico de

José Antonio Ramos Sucre José Antonio Ramos Sucre (Cumaná, 9 June 1890 – Geneva, 13 June 1930) was a Venezuelan poet, professor, diplomat and scholar. He was a member of the Sucre family of Venezuela and the great-great-nephew of Antonio José de Sucre. He was educate ...

''.

Universidad de Oriente The University of Oriente (UDO), founded in 1958, is one of the main national universities in Venezuela and the main autonomous university institution dedicated to teaching, research and development in Eastern Venezuela. With the commitment to t ...

Cumaná Cumaná () is the capital city of Venezuela's Sucre State. It is located east of Caracas. Cumaná was one of the first cities founded by Spain in the mainland Americas and is the oldest continuously-inhabited Hispanic-established city in Sout ...

, 1978. * ''Novísimos narradores hispanoamericanos en marcha, 1964-1980''. México: Marcha Editores, 1981 * ''Transculturación narrativa en América Latina''. México: Siglo XXI, 1982. * ''La novela latinoamericana. Panoramas 1920-1980''. Bogotá: Colcultura, 1982. * ''Literatura y clase social''. México: Folios Ediciones, 1984. * ''La ciudad letrada''. Municipio de Hanover (Nueva Jersey): Ediciones del Norte, 1984. As The Lettered City, Durham, Carolina del Norte:

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

Press, 1996. * ''Las máscaras democráticas del modernismo''. Montevideo: Fundación Ángel Rama, 1985. * ''La crítica de la cultura en América Latina''. Caracas: Biblioteca Ayacucho, 1985; Barcelona: Talleres de Bodoni, 1985. * ''Ensayos sobre literatura venezolana''. Caracas: Monte Ávila, 1985. * ''García Márquez, edificación de una cultura nacional y popular''. Montevideo:

, 1987. * ''La riesgosa navegación del escritor exiliado''. Montevideo: Arca, 1993. * ''Diario 1974-1983'', Caracas: Ediciones Trilce / Fondo Editorial La Nave Va, 2001; Montevideo: Trilce, 2011; Caracas: Monte Ávila Editores Latinoamericana, 2012 * ''Literatura, cultura y sociedad en América Latina'', Montevideo: Trilce, 2006.

References and links

* Carlos Carlos (ed.), ''Ángel Rama. Crítica literaria y utopía en América Latina''. Medellín,

Universidad de Antioquia The University of Antioquia (), also called UdeA, is primarily a Public university, public research, research-based university, located in the city of Medellín, Colombia. With regional campuses in Amalfi, Antioquia, Amalfi, Andes, Antioquia, An ...

, 2006. * Tomás Eloy Martínez
''Ángel Rama o el placer de la crítica''
* Mabel Moraña (ed.), ''Ángel Rama y los estudios latinoamericanos'' * Spitta, Silvia. Between Two Waters: Narratives of Transculturation in Latin America (Rice UP 1995; Texas A&M 2006) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rama, Angel 1926 births 1983 deaths Avianca Flight 011 victims Latin Americanists Writers from Montevideo Uruguayan literary critics Uruguayan expatriates in Venezuela Uruguayan male writers Uruguayan people of Galician descent 20th-century Uruguayan essayists