Dr. Ralph DiFranco is sort of an archaeologist. He excavates libraries and literary collections in the U.S. and abroad, digging for forgotten poetry and ballads from Spain’s Golden Age.
For the University of Denver professor of Spanish—the recent recipient of the José Vasconcelos International Award, given to such notables as Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges—there is deep satisfaction in seeing these works properly identified, edited and maybe even appreciated.
Spain enjoyed a robust artistic period in the 16th and 17th centuries that yielded not only classic works by Miguel de Cervantes, who wrote the satirical novel Don Quixote, but also sonnets, poems and plays by playwright Lope de Vega.
The Golden Age also produced tens of thousands of poems and ballads by lesser-known individuals.
“I had thought that this is one area that needs work,” says DiFranco, 59, who received the 2011 José Vasconcelos award on Oct. 8 from Frente de Afirmación Hispanista. Frente, a Mexican organization that promotes Hispanic culture and literature, has issued the award to literary figures from around the world annually since 1968.
“The big names in literature—there are [already] people trying to do gymnastics to find something new about these people,” he says.
DiFranco’s quest for the lesser known has led him to aging manuscripts eroded by hungry bugs and bookworms. He’s squinted at wrinkled, soiled filing cards and been asked to don white gloves to touch pages. He’s seen poems run together or with lines missing, thanks to distracted scribes.
