José Revueltas Papers, 1906-2010

Biographical Sketch

José Revueltas Sánchez was born on November 20, 1914 in Durango, Mexico to José Revueltas Gutiérrez, a grocery store owner, and Romana Sánchez Arias. He had eleven brothers and sisters including Silvestre, a musician and composer, Fermín, a muralist, and Rosaura, a film and stage actress. At age thirteen, he came into contact with laborers who taught him about Marxism, an ideology that greatly impacted his life and became the focus of much of his writing.

By age fourteen, Revueltas had begun participating in political demonstrations. He increased his involvement in leftist activities, and he was admitted to the Partido Comunista Mexicano (PCM) in 1930. In 1932, he organized a strike at El Buen Tono, a Mexico City factory, and he spent five months in the penal colony, Islas Márias, as a result. He returned to Islas Márias two years later to serve a ten month sentence for organizing another strike. Revueltas returned from jail as a celebrated member of the Communist party, and he was sent as a delegate to the Seventh World Communist Congress in the Soviet Union.

While Revueltas remained committed to political causes, his personal life and his career became his focus in the late 1930s. In 1937, he married his first wife, Olivia Peralta, with whom he had four children. He wrote numerous short stories that appeared in journals, published his first novel, Los muros de agua, in 1941, and worked as columnist and reporter for El Popular. His second novel, El luto humano, was published in 1943 and won the Premio Nacional de Literatura. In 1944, he published his first collection of short stories, Dios en la tierra, and he began his career in the film business as a script writer.

In 1947, he divorced Olivia Peralta to marry María Teresa Retes. From 1948 to 1950, Revueltas had his first play, Israel, debut, he published his third novel, Los días terrenales, and his second play, El cuadrante de la soledad, became the first Mexican play to have one hundred consecutive performances. The novel and his second play received criticism from the left, and in a surprising move, Revueltas denounced both works calling for the novel to be withdrawn and the play to halt performances. From 1956 to 1964, he published three novels, En algún valle de lágrimas, Los motivos de Caín, and Los errores. He published his second collection of short stories, Dormir en tierra. He wrote a number of political works during this time including México: una democracia bárbara and Ensayo sobre un proletariado sin cabeza. In 1967, Revueltas received the Xavier Villaurrutia Literary Prize for Obra literaria.

While his professional life prospered, he grew increasingly dissatisfied with the Communist party throughout the years. Revueltas was expelled from the PCM in 1943 which led him to found an Independent Marxist Group, El Insurgente. He helped to found the Popular party in 1948, but he left to seek readmission to the PCM in 1955. He was expelled again in 1960, and he briefly joined the Mexican Workers-Farmers party before founding the Liga Leninista Espartaco (LLE). The leaders of the LLE expelled him 1963, and this ended his formal involvement with political groups.

While teaching at Mexico?s National University, Revueltas attended and participated in meetings held by politically active student groups. On October 2, 1968 he participated in a student demonstration in the Plaza de Tlatelolco that ended with many demonstrators dead or wounded. He was arrested on November 16th, 1968, and on November 12, 1970, he was sentenced to sixteen years in Lecumberri Prison where he had been held for the past two years. This imprisonment took a toll on him physically, but he wrote a number of short stories and a short novel, El apando, during his sentence.

After his release in 1971, Revueltas was given a position with the National Cinematographic Bank, and in 1972, he was a visiting lecturer at Stanford University. Here, he met and married his third wife, Ema Barrón. He returned to Mexico City where he published his third collection of short stories, Material de los sueños, and had a play he wrote in the 1950s, Pito Pérez en la hoguera, produced in 1975. Revueltas died in Mexico City on April 14, 1976 due to a heart attack.

Work Referenced:

Slick, Sam L. José Revueltas. Twayne's World Author Series. Edited by Luis Dávila. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1983.

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Scope and Contents Note

This collection contains personal and biographical materials, correspondence, written works, photographs, audiovisual materials, scrapbooks, clippings, and publications documenting the life and career of writer, teacher, and political activist José Revueltas. The materials date from 1906-2010 and measures 46 linear feet plus 5 oversized boxes. The collection is arranged into ten series: Personal and Biographical, Correspondence, Written Works, Activities and Organizations, Contact Information and Calendars, Photographs and Audiovisual Materials, Collected Materials, Olivia Peralta Revueltas Papers, Andrea Revueltas Papers, and Oversized Materials. While the majority of the collection contains materials created and collected by José Revueltas during his lifetime, his daughter, Andrea, continued to add to his papers after his death in 1976.

The first series, Personal and Biographical (1917-1977), is a small series containing biographies, materials Revueltas collected about his family members, financial and legal documents, materials related to the condition of his health after his release from Lecumberri prison, and honors and awards received by Revueltas.

The second series, Correspondence (1920-1989), contains letters written and received by Revueltas. The series is divided into 2 subseries: Alphabetical Correspondence (1936-1989) and Correspondence by Date (1920-1976). The majority of the correspondents are his family members with the bulk of the letters coming from fourteen years of correspondence with Olivia Peralta from 1936-1950. Correspondents also include publishers and professional and political organizations Revueltas was associated with during his lifetime.

The third series, Written Works (1929-1996), comprises the bulk of the collection at 22 linear feet and includes manuscripts, scripts, writing notes, outlines, and clippings. The series is divided into 18 subseries, the titles and arrangement of which are based on Revueltas' original labels and groupings. Andrea Revueltas and her husband, Philippe Cheron, released new editions of Revueltas' works after his death. Their work and notes can be found mixed in with Revueltas' original work.

The fourth series, Activities and Organizations (1934-1975), includes materials created and collected by Revueltas in relation to his political activities, his involvement with a number of professional organizations, his teaching career, and his work for the Secretary of Public Education.

The fifth series, Contact Information and Calendars (1939-1975), is comprised of business cards, address books, agenda books, and calendars.

The sixth series, Photographs and Audiovisual Material (1920s-2010), contains both professional photographs and family photographs of Revueltas from the 1920s-1976 as well as photographs of family members, various individuals, and various locations. Audiotapes include recording readings of Revueltas' written works, lectures given by Revueltas at Berkeley in 1974, and an interview with Olivia Peralta.

The seventh series, Collected Materials (1906-2004), consists of clippings and publications both by Revueltas and others. 8 scrapbooks contain newspaper articles written by Revueltas from 1937-1947. The majority of the clippings and publications were collected by Revueltas about various subjects of interest. The rest of the series consists of various materials collected by Revueltas.

The eighth series, Olivia Peralta Revueltas Papers (1934-1985), consists of the personal papers of Revueltas' first wife, Olivia Peralta. The series consists of diaries written by Peralta from 1944-1985, correspondence, photographs, and various materials.

The ninth series, Andrea Revueltas (1916-2010), includes materials created and collected by Revueltas' daughter, Andrea Revueltas. The first subseries, Personal and Biographical, consists of materials Andrea Revueltas collected about her family members including her father and her uncle, Silvestre Revueltas. The second subseries, Correspondence, includes personal and professional correspondence. Her correspondents include her father, his third wife, Ema Barrón, her mother, Olivia Peralta, and a number of her siblings. The third series, Written Works, consists of materials related to works by and about José Revueltas generated and collected by Andrea Revueltas and her husband. Collected materials includes works written about José Revueltas, materials from events honoring him, and articles written about him from 1976-2010.

The tenth series, Oversized Material (1938-2010), consists of oversized materials including posters, photographs, scrapbooks, and clippings.

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Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Unrestricted.

Use Restrictions

Standard copyright restrictions apply.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Cite as: José Revueltas Papers, Benson Latin American Collection, University of Texas Libraries, the University of Texas at Austin.

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Box and Folder Inventory

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