Rufino Blanco-Fombona, (b. June 17, 1874, Caracas, Venezuela—d. October 17, 1944, Buenos Aires, Argentina), 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 (1908–35) of Juan Vicente Gómez, Blanco-Fombona fled to Europe, where he established Editorial América 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 Blanco-Fombona’s vast output, his literary essays are considered his best work. Two of hiscritical works, El modernismo y los poetas modernistas (1929; “Modernism and the Modernist Poets”) and Camino de imperfección, diario de mi vida (1906–1913) (1929; “Road of Imperfection, Diary of My Life 1906–1913”), are considered standard works on the Modernist movement in Spanish. Other important works include Letras y letrados de Hispano-América (1908; “Letters and the Learned in Latin America”) andGrandes escritores de América (1919; “Great Writers of America”). His novel, El hombre de oro (The Man of Gold), was published in 1912.
Creole Democracy
Pampas – the vast grassy plains of northern Argentina
Creole – a person of European descent born in the West Indies or Latin America, a person descended from French ancestors in southern United States (especially Louisiana)
Mulatto – an offspring of a black and a white parent
Peon – drudge: a laborer who is obliged to do menial work
Salvannah – savanna: flat grassland in tropical or subtropical regions
Machete – a large heavy knife used in Central and South America as a weapon or for cutting vegetation
Vaquero – local names for a cowboy (`vaquero' is used especially in southwestern and central Texas and `buckaroo' is used especially in