BLANCO-FOMBONA, RUFINO

born June 17, 1874, Caracas, Venez. died Oct. 17, 1944, Buenos Aires, Arg. Venezuelan literary historian and man of letters who played a major role in bringing the works of Latin-American writers to world attention. Jailed during the early years of the dictatorship (190835) of Juan Vicente Gmez, Blanco-Fombona fled to Europe, where he established Editorial Amrica in Madrid (1914), which presented Latin-American writers to the European literary world. A prolific author, he wrote poetry, short stories, novels, and essays. Of his vast output, however, his literary essays are considered his best work, and two of his critical works, El modernismo y los poetas modernistas (1929; Modernism and the Modernist Poets) and Camino de imperfeccin, diario de mi vida (19061913) (1929; Road of Imperfection, Diary of My Life 19061913), are considered standard works on the Modernist movement in Spanish. Other important works include Letras y letrados de Hispano-amrica (1908; Letters and the Learned in Latin America) and Grandes escritores de Amrica (1919; Great Writers of America). His novel, El hombre de oro (The Man of Gold), was published in 1912.