José Rumazo González (Latacunga, August 28, 1904 – February 26, 1995) was an Ecuadorian writer, philosopher, historian, and poet. He is the author of the celebrated poem “Parusia,” an epic poem that he began writing in 1956 that spans 5,600 pages in 7 volumes. It is one of the longest epic poems in recorded history, with nearly 220,000 verses. It is longer than the Mahabharata by Vyasa, the Ramayana by Valmiki, the Iliad and Odyssey by Homer, and the Aeneid by Virgil. He served as Ecuador’s ambassador to Honduras, Argentina, Uruguay, and Panama, in addition to serving as consul in Seville, Cadiz, Lisbon, and Barcelona. He taught History and Castilian at the Eloy Alfaro Military School, and History and Superior Grammar at the Catholic University of Quito. He was a member of the Ecuadorian Academy of Language, the Ecuadorian Academy of History, the Academies of History of Bogota and Madrid, the Ecuadorian House of Culture, the Bolivarian Society, and other organizations and institutions. From 1975 to 1984, he was the director of the Ecuadorian Academy of Language.
Parents
José Rumazo González’ father was José Rumazo González, a chemist educated in Quito and Guayaquil, who since 1880 co-owned the only printing press in Ambato with his partner Salvador Porras Garcés, which published works by Pedro Fermín Ceballos and the first liberals of that population: Anacarsis and Luis A. Martínez, Telmo Viteri, Juan Benigno Vela, etc. under the seal “Encuadernación de Porras y Rumazo González.” Later he owned a pharmacy in Latacunga called “Popular.” José Rumazo’s mother, Carmen Moya Puyol, was also from Latacunga. She died of heart failure caused by excessive blood loss during childbirth only four days after he was born.
Literary family
José Rumazo González’ older brother (by 1 year) was Alfonso Rumazo González (1903-2002), a writer, historian, and literary critic. Alfonso lived mainly in Venezuela where he had an illustrious teaching career at universities.
José Rumazo‘s niece (through his brother Alfonso) is Lupe Rumazo, a novelist, short story writer, and literary critic. Born in Quito in 1933, Lupe Romazo has lived in Venezuela since 1973.
Marriage
In 1938, Romuzo married his second cousin Eugenia Arcos Proaño (from his mother’s side). they remained happily married for 56 years.
Parusia
José Rumazo is the author of the celebrated poem “Parusia,” an epic poem that he wrote between 1956-1985 and that spans 5,600 pages in 7 volumes. With nearly 220,000 verses, it is one of the longest epic poems in human history. It is longer than the Mahabharata by Vyasa, the Ramayana by Valmiki, the Iliad and Odyssey by Homer, and the Aeneid by Virgil.
Death
In mid-February 1995, at the age of 90, he began feeling very weak and began suffocating and was taken to the Quito Metropolitan Hospital where he remained in isolation for two weeks before succumbing to various cardiac and respiratory complications on February 26, 1995.
Awards
- In 1976, he was awarded the National Order of Merit (Orden Nacional al Mérito)
- In 1987, he was awarded the National Prize in Literature “Premio Eugenio Espejo,” Ecuador’s highest literary award.
Works
- Proa, Altamar, Raudal (1949)
- Soledades de la sangre (1950)
- El amor soñado en la muerte (1950)
- Ecos del Silencio (1987)
- La región Amazónica en el siglo XVI (1946)
- Documentos para la historia de la Audiencia de Quito (eight volumes, 1948-1949)
- Andariegos (1956) a novel
- Sevilla de Oro and Leyenda del Cacique Dorado (1948)
- Sendas y encuentros
- Parusía