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

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del 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 ...

an writer, academic, and literary critic, known for his work on ''

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

'' and for his theorization of the concept of "

transculturation Transculturation is a term coined by Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz in 1940 (from the article Our America by José Martí) to describe the phenomenon of merging and converging cultures. Transculturation encompasses more than transition from ...

Biography

Born in Montevideo to Galician immigrants, Rama studied at the

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. He married twice: in 1950, to the poet

Ida Vitale Ida Vitale (born 2 November 1923) is a Uruguayan poet, translator, essayist, lecturer and literary critic. Life She played an important role in the Uruguayan art movement known as the ' Generation of 45': Carlos Maggi, Manuel Flores Mora, ...

, with whom he had two children, Amparo and Claudio; and after separating from Vitale in 1969, to

Marta Traba Marta Traba Taín (Buenos Aires, 25 January 1930 – Madrid, 27 November 1983) was an art critic and writer known for her contributions to Latin American art and literature. Biography Traba's parents were Catalan immigrants, Francisco Traba a ...

, 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 ( es, Universidad de la República, sometimes ''UdelaR'') is Uruguay's oldest public university. It is by far the country's largest university, as well as the second largest public university in South America and t ...

, 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. The ''

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

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

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, 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 Emir Rodríguez Monegal (28 July 1921 – 14 November 1985), born in Uruguay, was a scholar, literary critic, and editor of Latin American literature. From 1969 to 1985, Rodríguez Monegal was professor of Latin American contemporary literatur ...

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 writer ...

, Carlos Real de Azúa, Carlos Martínez Moreno,

Mario Arregui is a character (arts), character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario (franchise), Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in ...

, 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, Á ...

, Amanda Berenguer,

Tola Invernizzi Tola may refer to: Places * Bella Tola, a mountain in the Pennine Alps in the Swiss canton of Valais * La Tola, a town and municipality in the Nariño Department, Colombia * Tola (Shakargarh), a village in Pakistan * Tola, Rivas, a municipali ...

Mario Benedetti Mario Orlando Hardy Hamlet Brenno Benedetti Farrugia (; 14 September 1920 – 17 May 2009), was an Uruguayan journalist, novelist, and poet and an integral member of the Generación del 45. Despite publishing more than 80 books and being publish ...

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 a ...

, 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 ...

, 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 th ...

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

Juan María Bordaberry Juan María Bordaberry Arocena (; 17 June 1928 – 17 July 2011) was a Uruguayan politician and cattle rancher, who served as constitutional President from 1972 until 1973, and then ruled as the head of a civilian-military dictatorship up t ...

. Rama went into exile to Caracas, 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 ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

. 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 26th President of Colombia from 1982 to 1986. He was a member of the Colombian Conservative Party. His presidency was noted for its at ...

. He died in the crash of

Avianca Flight 011 Avianca Flight 011, registration HK-2910X, was a Boeing 747-200B on an international scheduled passenger flight from Frankfurt via Paris, Madrid, and Caracas to Bogotá, Colombia that crashed near Madrid on 27 November 1983. It took off from ...

Barajas Airport Barajas may refer to: *Barajas (Madrid), the district of Madrid in which the airport lies ** Barajas (Madrid Metro), station along Line 8 of the Madrid Metro **Adolfo Suárez Madrid–Barajas Airport, principal airport of Madrid, Spain * Barajas ( ...

, along with

, the Mexican writer

Jorge Ibargüengoitia Jorge Ibargüengoitia Antillón (January 22, 1928 – November 27, 1983) was a Mexican novelist and playwright who achieved great popular and critical success with his satires, three of which have appeared in English: ''The Dead Girls'', ''Tw ...

, and Peruvian poet Manuel Scorza, while all four were travelling from Paris to Colombia for an international conference of Latin American writers.

Works

* ''Los contestatarios del poder'' * ''La novela latinoamericana 1920-1980'' * ''Transculturación narrativa en América Latina'' (1982) * ''La ciudad letrada'' (1984) * ''Diario 1970-1983'' (posthumous)

References and links

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

Universidad de Antioquia The University of Antioquia ( es, Universidad de Antioquia), also called UdeA, is a public, departmental, coeducational, research university located primarily in the city of Medellín, Antioquia, Colombia, with regional campuses in Amalfi, An ...

, 2006. *

Tomás Eloy Martínez Tomás Eloy Martínez (July 16, 1934January 31, 2010) was an Argentine journalist and writer. Life and work He was born on July 16, 1934 in San Miguel de Tucumán and is generally considered an influential and innovative figure in Latin America ...

''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 People from Montevideo Uruguayan critics Uruguayan essayists Uruguayan expatriates in Venezuela Uruguayan male writers Uruguayan people of Galician descent 20th-century essayists