Julio Ramon Ribeyro

Julio Ramón Ribeyro Zúñiga (Lima, August 31, 1929-ibid., December 4, 1994) was a Peruvian writer, considered one of the best short story writers in Latin American literature. He is a prominent figure of his country's 50's generation, to which storytellers such as Mario Vargas Llosa and Enrique Congrains Martin also belong. He published the stories Los vulnazos sin plumas (1955), Tales of circumstances (1959) and Three revolting stories (1964). His work has been translated into English, French, German, Italian, Dutch, Polish and Arabic. Although the largest volume of his work is his short stories, he also excelled in other genres: novel, essay, theater, diary and aphorism. In 1994, before his death, he won the renowned Juan Rulfo Prize for Latin American and Caribbean Literature.

Biography

Early years (1929-1953)

Julio Ramón Ribeyro was born at 7:00 p.m. on August 31, 1929, in Santa Beatriz (Cercado de Lima). The son of Julio Ramón Ribeyro Bonello (he worked at Casa Ferreyros) and Mercedes Zúñiga Rabines (bilingual secretary at Banco Perú y Londres), he was the first of four siblings (Juan Antonio, Mercedes and Josefina "Chamina"). His family was from the middle class, but in previous generations he had belonged to the upper class, since among his ancestors there were illustrious figures of Peruvian culture and politics, with a conservative and civil tendency. In his childhood he lived in a neighborhood in Santa Beatriz middle class from Lima and later moved to Miraflores, residing in the Santa Cruz neighborhood, next to Huaca Pucllana. He received his school education at the Champagnat School in Miraflores. The death of his father (who died of tuberculosis) affected him greatly and complicated the economic situation of his family.

Later, he studied Letters and Law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, between 1946 and 1952, where he met Pablo Macera, Alberto Escobar and Luis Felipe Angell "Sofocleto", among other young people with intellectual and artistic interests. He began his career as a writer with the short story La vida gris that he published in the magazine Correo Bolivariano, in 1949. In 1953 he won a journalism scholarship from the Institute of Hispanic Culture., which allowed him to travel to Spain.

First trip to Europe (1953-1958)

He traveled by boat to Barcelona on October 20, on the Américo Vespucci, which arrived in Barcelona on November 14, and from there he went to Madrid, where he stayed for a year and studied at the Complutense University of that city. He also wrote some short stories and articles.

When his scholarship ended in 1953, he traveled to Paris, and lived in the Latin Quarter, to prepare a thesis on French literature at the Sorbonne University. At that time she wrote her first book Los vulnazos sin plumas , a collection of urban-themed short stories, considered one of his most accomplished narrative writings. But he dropped out and stayed in Europe doing odd jobs, alternating his stay in France with brief periods in Germany and Belgium. It was so that between 1955 and 1956 he was in Munich, with a scholarship for a year, where he wrote his first novel, Chronicle of San Gabriel . He returned to Paris (1956) and then traveled to Antwerp in 1957, where he worked in a photographic products factory. In 1958 he returned to Germany and spent time in Berlin, Hamburg and Frankfurt am Main. During his stay in Europe, he had to do many jobs to survive, such as newspaper recycler, janitor, subway loader, seller of printing products, etc.

He returned to Lima in 1958. He worked as a professor at the National University of San Cristóbal de Huamanga, in Ayacucho, at whose request he dedicated himself to the creation of an Institute of Popular Culture, in 1959. In 1960 he published his novel Crónica de San Gabriel, which earned him the National Novel Award that year.

Second Trip to Europe (1961)

In 1961, he returned to Paris, where he worked as a journalist for ten years at Agence France Press.

In 1972, during the government of Juan Velasco Alvarado, he was appointed cultural attaché at the Peruvian embassy in Paris. Later, he was Minister Counselor and Deputy Delegate to Unesco.

He married Alida Cordero and they had one child. In 1973, he underwent surgery for the first time for lung cancer, caused by his smoking, and as a result of which he received a long treatment. Inspired by this experience, he wrote a book entitled For Smokers Only.

In 1983, he received the National Prize for Literature and, ten years later, the National Prize for Culture.

Last years

Generous with his friends and with young writers, Ribeyro never had enemies and was always highly valued by his contemporaries.

In December 1985, his appointment as permanent ambassador-delegate of Peru to Unesco was announced, appointed by President Alan García and ratified by the Senate of the Republic. He took office in 1986 and held until 1990.

He had a very harsh verbal exchange with his compatriot and friend Mario Vargas Llosa, as a result of the discussion unleashed in Peru regarding the projected nationalization of the banks of the first government of Alan García, which divided public opinion in the country. Ribeyro criticized Mario for supporting the conservative sectors of his country, thus opposing, according to him, the irruption of the popular classes. Vargas Llosa did not miss the opportunity to respond to him in his memoirs El pez en el agua (1993), pointing out his lack of coherence, which led him to be servile to each government on duty just for the purpose of maintain his diplomatic position at Unesco. However, apart from this episode, Vargas Llosa has incessantly praised the literary work of Ribeyro, whom he considers one of the great Spanish-speaking storytellers. The relationship between the two authors, who shared a flat in Paris, was otherwise complex and full of mysteries.

His last years were spent traveling between Europe and Peru. In the last year of his life, he had decided to settle permanently in his homeland. Ribeyro died on December 4, 1994 at the National Institute of Neoplastic Diseases (Surquillo) days after obtaining the Juan Rulfo Literature Award. He was buried in the Jardines de la Paz Cemetery (La Molina) and on his epitaph you can read: «The only way to continue in life is to keep the string of our spirit warm, the bow taut, aiming towards the future».

Balance of his work

After his death, more editions of La palabra del mudo were published. The last is that of Editorial Seix-Barral, in two volumes for Peru (2009) and one for Spain (2010), which covers all the stories published by the author in the book format, to which the publishers added the six forgotten stories ("La vida grise", "La huella", "El cuarto sin numerar", "La careta", "La encrucijada" and "El caudillo"), three unknown ones ("Los Huaqueros", "El Abominable" and "Childhood Games") and an unpublished one ("Surf").

Another of his most representative stories is “Alienación”, which tells the story of Roberto, an Afro-Peruvian boy, whose sole objective is to become a white American in the United States and conquer the beautiful Queca. This short story was translated into English under the title "Alienation", in the anthology BEINGS: Contemporary Peruvian Short Stories, Berforts Press, London, 2014.

Critics include him in the most important trio of Spanish-American short story writers, along with Julio Cortázar and Jorge Luis Borges.

Work

Storybooks

Novel

• 1960: Chronicle of Saint Gabriel. Novela National Award of the same year.
• 1965: Sunday geniecillos. Novela Prize for the Diary Express.
• 1976: Change of guard.

Theater

• 1975: Santiago, the Pajarero. Theatre work based in Santiago el Volador, character of the Peruvian traditions of Ricardo Palma.
• 1981: Atusparia.

Other genres

• 1975: The subtle hunt (assayers).
• 1975: Stateless (no rating).
• 1989: Luder's sayings (no rating).
• 1992-1995: The temptation of failure (diaries).
• 1996-1998: Letters to Juan Antonio (correspondence).

Awards and recognitions

• Novela National Prize (1960)
• Novela Prize for the Diary Express (1963)
• National Literature Prize (1983)
• National Prize for Culture (1993)
• Juan Rulfo Prize for Latin American and Caribbean Literature (1994)