Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography / Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Descriptive Summary
Title: Fernando Alegria papers
Dates: 1924-2000
Bulk Dates: 1940-1998
Collection number: M0651
Creator:
Alegr?a, Fernando, 1918-
Collection Size:
59 linear ft.
Repository:
Stanford University. Libraries. Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives.
Abstract: The collection contains correspondence with virtually every prominent literary figure in Latin America during the mid-to-late
Twentieth Century, including Pablo Neruda, Salvador Allende, Augusto Roa Bastos, Jaime Alazraki, Isabel Allende, Carlos Fuentes,
Juan Rulfo, Nicanor Parra, and many others. Also includes correspondence with North American authors such as Allen Ginsberg
and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, as well as Linus Pauling.The collection also contains numerous manuscripts by Alegria and other
Latin American authors, including Raul Barrientos, Jorge Bernales, Alejo Carpentier, Joaquim-Francisco Coelho, Roque Dalton,
Humberto Diaz-Casanueva, Juan Armando Epple, Mario Antonio Espinosa, Ricardo Israel, Reynaldo Jimenez, Luis Merino, and Pablo
Neruda.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Access
Collection is open for research; materials must be requested at least 24 hours in advance of intended use.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain
permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
Preferred Citation
Fernando Alegria papers, M0651. Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Acquisition Information
Gift of Fernando Alegria, 1989 and his son, Daniel S. Alegria, 2000.
Biography / Administrative History
Fernando Alegria, born September 16, 1918 in Santiago, Chile, to Santiago Alegria Toro and Julia Alfaro, is a poet, novelist
and educator. He married Carmen Letona Melendez on Jan. 29, 1943. Together they had four children: Carmen, Daniel, Andres,
and Isabel.
Alegria received his M.A. from Bowling Green State University in 1941 and his Ph.D. from University of California at Berkeley
in 1947. He taught as a professor at the University of Chile, 1939; as an instructor at Bowling Green State University, 1940-1941;
as an instructor, 1947-1949, as an assistant professor, 1949-1955, as an associate professor, 1955-1963, and as a professor,
1964-1967 at University of California at Berkeley; and as a professor at Stanford University from 1967-1998.
From 1970 through 1973, Alegria served as cultural attach? from the government of Salvador Allende to the United States, using
his home in Berkeley, California as his base of operations in this capacity.
Alegria's organizational affiliations include the Instituto Internacional de Literature Iberoamericana ; the American Association
of Teachers of Spanish; and the Sociedad de Escritores.
He was a Guggenheim Fellow, 1947-1948; he won the Latin American Prize of Literature, 1943; as well as the Premio Atenea and
Premio Municipal.
He published extensively; his works include Recabarren, 1938; Ideas esteticas de la poesia moderna, 1939; Ensayo sobre cinco
temas de Thomas Mann, 1949; Walt Whitman en Hispanoamerica, 1954; Caballo de copas, 1957; My Horse Gonzales, 1964; Historia
de la novela hispanoamericana, 1965; Genio y figura de Gabriela Mistral, 1966; Los dias contados, 1968; Los mejores cuentos
de Fernando Alegria, 1968; Amerika, 1970; Coral de Guerra, 1979; El Paso de los gansos, 1980; The Chilean Spring, 1980.
Scope and Content of Collection
The collection contains correspondence with virtually every prominent literary figure in Latin America during the mid-to-late
Twentieth Century, including Pablo Neruda, Salvador Allende, Augusto Roa Bastos, Jaime Alazraki, Isabel Allende, .Carlos Fuentes,
Juan Rulfo, Nicanor Parra, and many others. Also includes correspondence with North American authors such as Allen Ginsberg
and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, as well as Linus Pauling.
The collection also contains numerous manuscript items as well as copies of printed works by Alegria and various Latin American
authors, including Raul Barrientos, Jorge Bernales, Alejo Carpentier, Joaquim-Francisco Coelho, Roque Dalton, Humberto Diaz-Casanueva,
Juan Armando Epple, Mario Antonio Espinosa, Ricardo Israel, Reynaldo Jimenez, Luis Merino, Pablo Neruda, Frederick Nunn, Roberto
Quesada, Louis Marcos Rodriguez, Bernardo Subercaseaux, and Ines Villafa?e Le?n amongst others.
The collection also contains extensive subject files on notable Latin American authors, his notebooks, diaries and calendars.
It also contains documentation on various international Latin American writer's conferences.
The collection also contains more than 3,000 photographs and slides of Alegria, his family, various authors and other literary
figures, as well as images used in his various books.
The collection includes a series of 31 political posters from the 1960's with additional posters for readings given by Alegria
from the 1970's through the 1980's, as well as performances by Chilean cultural groups, such as Inti-Illimani.