“South of Us”: Waldo Frank and José Carlos Mariátegui

Abstract

The paper dwells on the contacts of the American writer Waldo Frank (1889– 1967) with the Peruvian labor movement leader, literary critic, and editor of Amauta José Carlos Mariátegui (1894–1930). Despite the large number of studies on W. Frank’s Latin American connections, this particular aspect remains poorly investigated. Their acquaintance took place in 1926, when Frank having seen an article about himself written by Mariátegui, sent to the Peruvian writer a thankful letter. Their correspondence continued until Mariátegui's death in 1930. The letters help to reconstruct the creative plans of the correspondents (publications in Amauta, the idea of the book America Hispana, Frank’s project of publishing an anthology of Peruvian stories), a few details on their only personal meeting in Lima in December 1929, the publishing history of W. Frank’s works in Latin America and the peculiarities of his literary image in Hispanic countries before his first lecture tour there in 1929. A number of projects by Frank and Mariátegui were carried out with the help of Argentine publisher S. Glusberg, who was also taking care of Frank’s translations into Spanish, and made arrangements for Mariátegui’s move to Buenos Aires due to poor health (his departure was scheduled for May 1930, but in April Mariátegui died). Frank and Mariátegui shared their views on the European experience as a part of American identity, they both strove to the social change by means of culture, and believed in the concept of the New World, unity of “our America”. Frank’s book America Hispana (1931) (South of Us in American edition) written on the basis of his first Latin American tour is dedicated to J.C. Mariátegui. The article uses press materials from the 1920s and archival documents.

Keywords

• waldo frank
• j.c. mariátegui
• usa–latin american contacts
• correspondence
• archival documents
• usa
• peru
• amauta
• s. glusberg
• latin america.