Fernando Báez (writer)

Fernando Báez (born San Félix, Ciudad Guayana, Venezuela) is a Venezuelan writer, poet, essayist and "El Director de la Biblioteca Nacional de Venezuela".^[1] He is known for his work on the destruction of Iraqi books and art caused by the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Career

Báez has a degree in education and a doctorate in library science, and worked for several years at the University of the Andes in Mérida, Venezuela, where he studied Greek and Latin under José Manuel Briceño Guerrero.^[2] He was declared a persona non-grata by the United States authorities, after the publication of his book on Iraq.^[3][4]

Works

• Historia de la Antigua Biblioteca de Alejandría (2003)
• Historia Universal de la Destrucción de Libros (2004)^[5]
• La Destrucción Cultural de Iraq (2004)
• A Universal History of the Destruction of Books: From Ancient Sumer to Modern Iraq. Translated by Mac Adam, Alfred J. New York: Atlas & Company. 2008. ISBN 978-1-934633-01-4.^[6][7]
• Las maravillas perdidas del mundo: Breve historia de las grandes catástrofes culturales de la civilización (in Spanish). Océano. 25 June 2013. ISBN 978-607-400-851-7.
• El saqueo cultural de América Latina: de la conquista a la globalización (in Spanish). Debate. 2009. ISBN 978-84-8306-835-9.
• Los primeros libros de la humanidad: El mundo antes de la imprenta y el libro electrónico (in Spanish). Océano. 1 July 2015. ISBN 978-607-735-491-8.

Novels

• El traductor de Cambridge (in Spanish). Lengua de Trapo. 2005. ISBN 978-84-96080-46-1.

Translations

• Los Fragmentos de Aristóteles (in Spanish). Universidad de los Andes, Ediciones del Vicerrectorado Académico. 2002.
• Poética de Aristóteles (in Spanish). Universidad de los Andes, Ediciones del Vicerrectorado Académico. 2002.

See also

• Destruction of libraries
• Book burning

References

1. "El traductor de Cambridge, de Fernando Báez". 365 dias de libros (in Spanish). Charles III University of Madrid. 2 March 2009. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
2. Rattia, Rafael (4 July 2003). "Fernando Báez y Los fragmentos de Aristóteles". Analitica.com (in Spanish). Caracas, Venezuela. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
3. Becerra, Mauricio (13 December 2010). "Fernando Báez, autor de la Historia de la Destrucción de Libros: "En Latinoamérica tenemos una visión de progreso decimonónica"". es:El Ciudadano (Chile) (in Spanish). Santiago, Chile. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
4. "Fernando Baez: "Sin destruir libros no se gana la guerra"". La Nación (in Spanish). 10 April 2005. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
5. Báez, Fernando (2005). "Historia universal de la destrucción de los libros : De las tablillas sumerias a la guerra de Irak". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Buenos Aires: Sudamericana. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
6. Baez, Fernando (2008). A Universal History of the Destruction of Books. New York: Atlas and Company. pp. 58–60. ISBN 978-1-934633-01-4.
7. Garrett, Jeffrey (October 2009). "Why Burn a Library? Books on Fire: The Destruction of Libraries throughout History . By Lucien X. Polastron. Translated from the French by, Jon E. Graham. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions, 2007. Pp. xii+371. $24.95 (cloth). ISBN 978‐159477167‐5. Originally published as Livres en feu (Paris: Editions Denoël, 2004). Burning Books and Leveling Libraries: Extremist Violence and Cultural Destruction . By Rebecca Knuth. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006. Pp. xiv+233. $39.95 (cloth). ISBN 0‐275‐99007–9. A Universal History of the Destruction of Books: From Ancient Sumer to Modern Iraq . By Fernando Báez. Translated from the Spanish by, Alfred MacAdam. New York: Atlas, 2008. Pp. xii+355. $25.00 (cloth). ISBN 1‐934633‐01‐4. Originally published as De las tablillas sumerias a la Guerra de Irak (Barcelona: Ediciones Destino, 2004)". The Library Quarterly. 79 (4): 489–493. doi:10.1086/605386. Retrieved 27 August 2022.

External links

• https://web.archive.org/web/20120331102541/http://www.fernandobaez.galeon.com/
• https://independent.academia.edu/FernandoBaez