Edited by

ISBN: 978-1-937030-14-8

 2012

KEITH ELLIS

A JAMAICAN SCHOLAR,

DOCTOR HONORIS CAUSA

FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF HAVANA,

CUBA

ABOUT KEITH ELLIS

     The core of Professor Ellis’s contribution lies in his scholarship.  He is internationally noted for his many years of dedication to scholarly research.  His twenty books and close to a hundred articles, particularly on Latin American literature, have brought honour to himself and to his profession.  He has been a guest speaker at forty-three universities in Canada and abroad, and at numerous national and international academic gatherings.  Several of his research projects and publications have been funded by the Canada Council and by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Retired since 2000 as Professor Emeritus, he is continuing his productivity at an exceptional rate commensurate with the genuine dedication and devotion that have characterized his career.  He has published six books since retiring and has two others in press. His articles continue to appear in the top journals in his field on both sides of the Atlantic; and his outstanding translations of Spanish American and Caribbean poetry are playing an important role in removing barriers between the English- and Spanish-speaking peoples of the Americas.

Prof. Ellis has received many honours and distinctions throughout his career. To mention only a few, in 1980, he received the Medal of the City of Poitiers, France, for contributions to studies of Spanish American Poetry.  In 1985, his book Cuba's Nicolás Guillén: Poetry and Ideology received the Canadian Association of Hispanists Prize for the best academic book on Hispanic Literature 1981-85.  In 1989, he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.  In 1992, he was named Honorary Member of the Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, and in 1993, he became an Honorary Member of the Nicolás Guillén Foundation.  In 1998 he was given the title Doctor Honoris Causa by University of Havana.  In 2006 he was Elected Corresponding Member of the Cuban Academy of the (Spanish) Language.  In 2010 he was awarded the Dulce María Loynaz International Prize, the Medal of the University of Havana and Venezuela’s Andrés Bello Medal.  

Prof. Ellis has relayed this spirit of achievement to others by being, in the opinion of many of his former students, the professor who during his years of university teaching did most to mentor and supervise students in Canada who have become distinguished professors of Hispanic literature, quickly rising to the top of their professions in this country, in the United States, and in Spanish America. The overarching lesson derived from his classes was that poetry and literature in general, properly approached and taught, were eminently worth studying and would reward assiduous application because they could suggest a way to a better world. This included an appreciation of how poets make their creations work, thereby revealing the value of selecting writers whose works demonstrate the attractiveness and strength of the humanist impulse.  The feeling that our work is broadly constructive—which is exemplified by him—is perhaps the principal sentiment underlying the ongoing productivity of all his PhD students. 

Prof. Ellis was a founding and long-term serving member of the editorial board of the first Canadian journal of Hispanic studies.  He further supported Canadian international scholarship by serving for several years on the editorial committee of the University of Toronto Press’s Romance Series.  While carrying out this intense scholarly activity, Prof. Ellis has all along found ways to extend the benefits of his knowledge beyond the academy.  He has organized numerous events involving films, music, dance, art exhibitions, and public lectures that have brought high-level Latin American culture to Canada.  His scope of activities has also included the field of science in which he has created possibilities for collaboration especially between Canadian and Cuban scientists.  In the area of creative writing,  Prof. Ellis has made important contributions with the publication of his own poetry and short stories.  He has also become a public person, well known in Canada, the Caribbean and Spain for his frequent presence on radio and TV programmes.

Prof. Ellis’s academic endeavours have placed him among the top scholars in his field and among the greatest contributors to the broad community of the Americas.

Como resultado de la iniciativa de sus editoras, la Dra. María del Carmen Sillato y la Dra. Patricia Varas, catorce críticos de Canadá, Estados Unidos, Sudamérica, el Caribe y Europa se reúnen en este volumen para rendir homenaje al Dr. Keith Ellis en reconocimiento a su intensa actividad en las áreas de la enseñanza y de la investigación, y a sus innumerables contribuciones más allá de la academia para la promoción de la literatura, la cultura y el arte de Latinoamérica y el Caribe, especialmente Cuba.

La variedad de temas, puntos de vista y metodologías presentes en esta colección destaca la riqueza de las identidades americanas y su arte transnacional, enfatizando una fluidez cultural, social e imaginativa. Estos ensayos permiten hacer conexiones con la tradición occidental a la vez que señalan marcados rompimientos que demuestran lo visionario de los autores tratados allí y su continua búsqueda de expansión de las fronteras “nacionales.” Hay en todos ellos una sed de universalismo, un visionarismo profético que abarca a las artes y sus practicantes, un verdadero deseo de imbricarse en tradiciones no solo europeas, como es común, sino de lograr un transnacionalismo que recupere formas de todas partes del mundo así como propias americanas de todos los tiempos.

MARIA DEL CARMEN SILLATO

          Maria del Carmen Sillato Licenciada en Letras de la Universidad Nacional de Rosario, Argentina, realizó estudios de Maestría y Doctorado en la Universidad de Toronto. Desde 1992 es profesora y Directora del Programa de Traducción en el Departamento de Español y Estudios Latinoamericanos de la Universidad de Waterloo en Canada. Es autora de los libros Juan Gelman: Las estrategias de la otredad (Rosario: Beatriz Viterbo, 1996);  Diálogos de amor contra el silencio (Córdoba: Alción 2006), y Huellas. Memorias de resistencia (Argentina 1974-1983) (San Luis: Nueva Editorial Universitaria, UN de San Luis, 2008). Ha publicado además numerosos artículos en revistas especializadas sobre la poesía de Juan Gelman, el género testimonial y la presencia de Eva Perón en la literatura. 

PATRICIA VARAS

          Patricia Varas nació en Guayaquil, Ecuador. Recibió su Doctorado en Literatura Latinoamericana de la Universidad de Toronto. Es profesora en el Departamento de Español y en el Programa de Estudios Latinoamericanos de Willamette University en Oregón, Estados Unidos. Es autora de Las máscaras de Delmira Agustini (Montevideo: Vintén Editor, 2003) y Narrativa y cultura nacional (Quito: Abrapalabra, 1993). Ha publicado artículos sobre modernidad, cine y literatura femenina en numerosas colecciones críticas y revistas. Ha viajado y vivido en varios países de América del Sur, Centroamérica y el Caribe. En la actualidad reside entre Portland, Oregón, y Ginestas, Francia.
 

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