David Unger papers

Elementos de identidad

Nombre y localización del repositorio

Nivel de descripción

Colección

Título

David Unger papers

Fecha(s)

  • circa 1960s-2023 (Creación)

Extensión

6.50 linear feet (11 document cases, 1 flat archival box)

Nombre del productor

(1950-)

Historia biográfica

David Unger (1950-) is a NYC-based writer and translator from Guatemala. In 2014, he received the Miguel Angel Asturias National Literature Prize for lifetime achievement from Guatemala. He authored the novels The Price of Escape; Para Mi, Eres Divina; Ni chicha, ni limonada; and Life in the Damn Tropics, which have been translated in multiple languages. For example, his 2016 novel called The Mastermind was translated in Italian, Turkish, Polish, and Arabic.

In addition to novels, he wrote many short stories featured in literary journals and anthologies in the United States and other countries. His stories were also published in magazines, such as Playboy Mexico, Guernica Magazine, and The Paris Review. In 2020, Unger published a children’s book entitled Sleeping with the Light On in homage to his parents, who had emigrated with him in 1955 – a year after a coup d’état overthrew Guatemala’s president Jacobo Arbenz. The book narrates how Luis and Fortuna protected young David from the harsh days of political turmoil and migration, envisioning how children could find a safe space in their families during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unger has developed a vast oeuvre as a translator for other work, such as those of Teresa Cárdenas, Rigoberta Menchú, Ana Maria Machado, Silvia Molina Elena Garro, Bárbara Jacobs, Nicanor Parra, and even the Popol Vuh, a mythological creation account from pre-Columbian Guatemala.

Unger currently teaches translation in the MFA Program of The City College of New York CUNY and lives in Brooklyn.

–Vanessa Rodrigues Barcelos da Silva
Graduate Student Assistant for Manuscripts and Archives Management, Summer 2024

Área de contenido y estructura

Alcance y contenido

This collection contains manuscripts, drafts, notes, poems, short stories, translations, and unpublished works by the award-winning Guatemalan author and translator, David Unger (1950-). Also featured within the collection are his correspondence (both personal and work-related), photographs, his education files from elementary school to university, book contracts, book reviews, article clippings, and artwork and prints by the artist, Walter Mosley.

Sistema de arreglo

Condiciones de acceso y uso de los elementos

Condiciones de acceso

This collection is unprocessed but open for research.

Acceso físico

This collection is kept in an off-campus storage facility. Please contact Special Collections at asc.library@miami.edu with the boxes you are interested in prior to your visit, and allow up to 1 week for delivery of materials.

Acceso técnico

Condiciones

Requests to reproduce or publish materials from this collection should be directed to asc.library@miami.edu.

Idiomas del material

  • chino
  • inglés
  • español

Escritura(s) de los documentos

  • han
  • latín

Notas sobre las lenguas y escrituras

Instrumentos de descripción

Elementos de adquisición y valoración

Historial de custodia

Origen del ingreso

Gift of David Unger, 05-13-24.

Valoración, selección y eliminación

Acumulaciones

Elementos de material relacionado

Existencia y localización de originales

Existencia y localización de copias

Unidades de descripción relacionadas.

Books that arrived with the collection were separated out to be added into the online catalog: https://www.library.miami.edu/specialcollections/index.html.

Descripciones relacionadas

Elemento notas

Notas especializadas

Identificador/es alternativo(os)

Área de control de la descripción

Reglas o convenciones

Fuentes

Nota del archivista

Finding aid created by Yvette Yurubi, Processing Archivist, 06-12-24.

Puntos de acceso

Puntos de acceso por lugar

Puntos de acceso por autoridad

Área de Ingreso