Manuel Ricardo Palma Soriano , creator of the “tradition” genre, was born in Lima on February 7, 1833 . His parents were Pedro Palma and Dominga Soriano, middle-class merchants. He continued his primary studies at the Antonio Orengo school and at the Clemente Noel school. In August 1848, El Comercio publishes the first verses of Ricardo Palma, who is already director of a political and satirical newspaper called El Diablo . He entered the San Carlos Convictory in 1849 and, two years later, in 1851, he made his debut as a playwright, with The Executioner's Sister . That same year he published Rodil , a drama in three acts (which he would later disavow), and Consolation , work of romantic poetry. In 1852 he obtained an appointment as an officer in the Navy and collaborated in El Burro , satirical sheet. He posts Patriotic Crown (1853) and the work brought him complications, being forced to interrupt his studies and get a job as an accountant on the schooner Libertad . He then goes on to serve on the ship Rímac (1854), which would be shipwrecked the following year. His first book of verses is published: Poetry (1855). Ricardo Palma and his generation stirred up the literary and political environment, which he would later talk about in La bohemia de mi tiempo (1899). In 1860 a great political agitation took place, led by José Gálvez, of whom Ricardo Palma is a supporter. On November 23 of the same year he took part in the assault on the house of President Ramón Castilla, leading to his exile to Chile .
Exile of Ricardo Palma to Chile
In 1862 he continues an intense activity in exile. He prepares The American lyre , a compilation of poetry from the continent, and the Annals of the Inquisition of Lima , historical study. In 1863 an amnesty law was enacted and Palma returned to Peru. He participated in the combat of May 2, 1866. In 1868 the Balta revolution triumphed and Ricardo Palma became his private secretary. In 1872 the first series of the Peruvian Traditions was published. and a book of criticism and compilation:Juan del Valle Caviedes, el poeta de la ribera . In 1876 Cristina Román married; the couple would have six children. In collaboration with Asisclo Villarán and Manuel Atanasio Fuentes, he founded La Broma , satirical period, and appointed corresponding member of the Royal Spanish Academy. In 1881 the Chileans entered Lima and burned Palma's house in Miradores, with his personal library. The manuscripts of an unfinished novel, Los marañones, are lost , and his memories of the Balta government.
The National Library
General Miguel Iglesias commissions Ricardo Palma to rebuild the National Library , which had been burned and looted by the enemy. To this end, Palma began a crusade between writers and friends from various countries, asking for books for the new library, which earned him the nickname "beggar librarian". In July 1884 the new National Library was inaugurated, of which Palma was appointed director. He prints Poems (1887), volume headed by literary confidences about "the bohemia from 1848 to 1860". The Peruvian Academy of Language is also founded in 1887 , of which he is one of the first members. In 1888 the writer Manuel González Prada attacked Palma and the Academy in a well-known speech at the Politeama theatre. A controversy arose between the supporters of both writers, although they never came to confront each other personally.
Ricardo Palma has lived since 1909 on the second floor of the National Library. In 1910 the municipality of Lima decides to crown him in a public ceremony, but Palma declines the homage. His son Clemente -notable writer of fantastic fiction- attacks Varigerias in the magazine (1912) to the Leguía government, which cost him his position as curator of the National Library.
In solidarity, and after 28 years of work, Don Ricardo leaves the library, succeeded by his greatest antagonist:Manuel González Prada. On March 11, a group of intellectuals and friends offers him a great tribute, as a national atonement, at the Municipal theater . González Prada reacts by printing an informative Note on the National Library of Lima, in which he criticizes the management of his predecessor. Ricardo Palma responds with Notes for the history of the Lima library (1912). In 1914 General Benavides staged a coup and named Palma honorary director of the Library. The position of director is conferred on Luis Ulloa, González Prada being dismissed. This one recovers the position of him in 1916 and Palma definitively resigns as honorary director. On October 6, 1919 he died in his house in Miraflores , at 86 years old. His funerals are massive and funeral honors corresponding to a Minister of State are paid to him.