Summary
Overview
12.0 linear feet, 30 archival boxes
Princeton University. Library. Dept. of Rare Books and Special Collections
Manuscripts Division
One Washington Road
Princeton, New Jersey 08544 USA
Abstract
The Vicente Leñero Papers contain materials
pertaining to the Mexican playwright, novelist, and screenwriter Vicente Leñero
(1933- ). Included are manuscripts, correspondence, and printed material.
Description
Description
The Vicente Leñero Papers represents Leñero's work as a playwright,
screenwriter, novelist, and essayist from the late 1950s to the present day. The
majority of materials consist of typed and autograph manuscripts of novels,
plays, screenplays, television scripts and essays. The notebooks provide access
to the earlier stages of some of Leñero's published or performed works, and
feature poems, drawings, ephemera and personal notes as well. Leñero provided an inventory
list detailing the contents of the collection. This inventory was critical to identifying and describing materials, and has been included
[Box 1, Folder 1].
In addition to the manuscripts
there is a sizeable amount of correspondence from friends and professional
associates, including letters from José Emilio Pacheco and Subcomandante Marcos
of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), and printed material highlighting Leñero's early days as a writer.
Collection Creator
Biography
Vicente Leñero was born on June 9, 1933, in Guadalajara, Mexico, though his family
returned to Mexico City shortly after his birth. Leñero earned a degree as a civil
engineer from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and later studied
journalism. He married his wife Estela in 1959 and they had four daughters. In his
essay “Vivir del cuento” Leñero describes the obsessive approach he took to writing
when he was just starting out, when he wrote “without knowing, without thinking,”
banging away at his brother’s Remington typewriter. He published his first
collection of short stories, La polvareda, y otras
cuentos in 1959, winning first prize in the Concurso Nacional del Cuento
Universitario for the collection’s eponymous story. Four years later, in 1963,
Leñero was awarded the Premio Biblioteca Breve for his novel, Los albañiles, which he later adapted for the stage.
In subsequent decades Leñero has produced a critically acclaimed and expansive body
of work, including novels, plays, screenplays, television scripts and essays.
Although he evolved independent of any specific literary circle or milieu, as
co-founder of the magazine Proceso, Leñero's place as a
leading intellectual in Mexico is undisputed. Considered a champion of documentary
theater and fiction based in real-life events, Leñero has defied easy categorization
as a writer, though among his many achievements Leñero is considered one of Mexico's
most important playwrights of the twentieth century. In later years Leñero has
written prodigiously for Mexican cinema, and his credits include: La ley de Herodes (1999); El crímen
del Padre Amaro (2003); Fuera del cielo
(2006); Desde dentro (2012).
Sources:
Leñero, Vicente. De cuerpo entero. Mexico City: UNAM,
1992.
Day, Stuart A. "Vicente Leñero." Latin American Dramatists:
First Series. Ed. Adam Versaenyi. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol.
305. Detroit: Gale, 2005. From Literature Resource Center.
Access and Use
Access Restrictions
The collection is open for research.
Use Restrictions
Single photocopies may be made for research purposes. No further photoduplication
of copies of material in the collection can be made when Princeton University
Library does not own the original. Permission to publish material from the
collection must be requested from the Associate University Librarian for Rare
Books and Special Collections. The library has no information on the status of
literary rights in the collection and researchers are responsible for
determining any questions of copyright.
Preferred Citation
Vicente Leñero Papers; 1954-2011, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.
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