Rufino Blanco Fombona

Blanco Fombona, Rufino (rūfē'nō bläng'kō fōmbō'nä), 1874-1944, Venezuelan poet, essayist, and novelist, one of the leaders of modernismo. Active in Venezuelan political affairs, he was several times imprisoned. He lived in exile in France and Spain for a quarter of a century and contributed much toward spreading the knowledge of Spanish American literature abroad. A prolific writer, Blanco Fombona satirized politicians, the clergy, and Yankee imperialism. His poems, such as the collection Cantos de la prisión y del destierro [songs of prison and exile] (1911), are superior to his novels. The novels include El hombre de hierro [the man of iron] (1905) and El hombre de oro (1916, tr., Man of Gold, 1920). Blanco Fombona was most distinguished in the field of the essay. Well known are "La evolución política y social de Hispanomérica" (1911) and "El modernismo y los poetas modernistas" (1929).