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The President's Corner

One measure of a good educator is his or her participation in activities outside the classroom. Attending professional meetings, for example, is a means of improving one's teaching, because at the sessions we learn about ideas and techniques to apply to our own classes. Exhibits at conferences make us aware of the latest materials available. Interaction with colleagues on the same teaching level as ours can give us solutions to our pedagogical and administrative problems. When these colleagues are from teaching levels other than our own, we benefit in another way -we are promoting articulation. AATSP chapter meetings are a good way of coming together with colleagues from the various levels. By knowing what is being taught at schools above and below ours, we are taking a step towards making our curriculum fit into a logical sequence. Such a sequence makes the most of a student's years of language study.

To articulate best with our feeder schools and with those above the level of our own, we need to work more closely than is generally the case. This can be done effectively in local settings. Any group of schools where foreign languages are taught -elementary, middle and high schools, community and four-year colleges, and universities- can establish a council or consortium. It could fulfill several purposes, the general one being to improve the teaching on all levels. By sending representatives to the council's meetings, all the schools involved will learn what is being taught at the various levels, and how it is implemented. Speakers can be invited to council meetings to deal with topics of common interest, such as:

• foreign language requirements
• placement of students entering with previous foreign language experience
• achieving oral proficiency
• testing oral proficiency
• the teaching of literature and of other types of reading material
• writing activities for all levels and all abilities
• adapting methods from one level to another, i.e., from secondary to college and vice versa
• incorporating career education into programs on all levels.

The composition of a council or consortium can vary according to the geographical situation. In a city, it is comparatively simple for representatives to meet in a central location, but numbers might be a problem. The solution is, in the case of pre-university institutions, to invite a delegate from each school district, rather than from each school. In smaller towns, it might be feasible to have a representative of every institution teaching foreign languages, from FLES* (Foreign Language in the Elementary School, whether an immersion program or, like the upper level schools, one subject among many) through university. Where rural areas are involved, there is an alternative solution -an interactive telecommunications system, also known as distance learning. This comparatively recent technology is being used to conduct in-service courses for teachers as well as classes for students where either a qualified teacher is not available or where there are too few students in a school to form a section. The initial costs, mainly for the computers, television monitors, and microphones, are often paid for by federal, state, county or local grants.

The number of meetings per year will, of necessity, vary greatly from one program to another. Monthly sessions would be ideal, but some aims can be achieved even with two meetings annually. More important is the proper dissemination of the information that has been exchanged at the sessions. Both oral and written reports will be helpful in instituting methods learned at the conferences. The written report can be duplicated by each school for its own faculty and an oral report given at a departmental meeting, so that faculty members have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss the suggested techniques.

An ancillary benefit of a consortium is that participants will learn about each representative's strengths and each school's resources. This information is useful when choosing speakers for conferences, instructors and sites for immersion programs, host schools and directors for contests, adjunct faculty, and cooperating teachers to accept and train student teachers.

Articulation does not require that all the schools on each level of a system teach the same material in the same way. Its aim is for all the levels to mesh so that there are no gaps or overlapping from one curriculum to another. A council or consortium of schools makes its members aware of what is being taught at each institution, how it is presented, and what the foreign language requirements are on each level, so that adjustments can be made, where necessary and feasible, to result in the most effective learning situation possible. It is a goal we should all be able to meet.

Professional News

A Project funded by the U. S. Dept. of Education, Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE), and conducted by the Center for Applied Linguistics in collaboration with the North Carolina Dept. of Public Instruction will attempt to remedy the problem of a need for qualified foreign language teachers in elementary school.

This project will improve the training of elementary school foreign language teachers at institutions of higher education. A creative training model for teacher educators will be implemented based on the successes of current elementary school foreign language teachers. This training will be offered to teacher educators representing public and private universities in all eight educational regions of North Carolina. The shortage of teachers is more pressing in North Carolina than in any other state be cause of a new law that states that by 1993, all public school students in kindergarten and elementary school in North Carolina will be required to study a foreign language. The teacher educators will participate in the following activities: 1) an intensive seminar on FLES methodology, 2) direct observations of local FLES classes, 3) co-teaching with FLES teachers, and 4) collaboration with experienced FLES teachers in the development of a teacher education curriculum. These teacher educators will then be responsible for incorporating the new material and methodologies into their universities' curricula and providing FLES instruction to undergraduate foreign language students preparing to become teachers.

As part of the goal of wider dissemination of FLES teacher training models, this program, after revision, will be replicated with a second group of North Carolina institutions. In addition, through workshops at national conferences, the National Network for Early Language Learning, and other dissemination networks such as the ERIC Clearinghouse on Languages and Linguistics, the teacher education curriculum and training model will be made available to other districts and states interested in increasing and improving their elementary school foreign language programs. Info: Nancy C. Rhodes, Project Director, Center for Applied Linguistics, 1118 22nd St. NW Washington, DC 20037; (212) 429-9292.

Modern Language journal 1990

The MLA is developing a traveling exhibit about languages other than English in the United States. To promote recognition of the social importance of language-education programs, and extend public awareness and understanding of the heritage and current multiplicity of languages and their study in this country.

The exhibit will appeal to young people aged ten to seventeen, as well as to teenage groups and will be displayed in museums and schools across the country. It will show that American English has been greatly influenced by other languages; that learning foreign languages has been bound up with the history of our nation since its beginning, that many famous Americans can attribute a measure of their success to their command of languages other than English; that the multilingualism of the United States has always been problematic as well as enriching; and that new methodologies, many involving advanced technology, are now used in foreign language instruction.

The exhibit has been tentatively organized into five chronological sections: 1492, 1776, 1865, 1920, and 1992. Early sections will point to the language study and learning that took place as European and Native American cultures came together; the importance that the founders of the United States placed on language study; the variety of native, African, and immigrant languages, and the response and fate of these languages in the fact of repression and acculturation; the influence of these languages on American English; and the developing concepts and styles of language learning and teaching. Later sections will point to linguistic traces of settlement patterns and current areas of partial and extended multilingualism, to efforts in language maintenance and study, and to the international cooperation that language study makes possible today. The 1992 section will emphasize the ability of computers, videos, and laser disks to convey

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cultural information and simulations, and there will be opportunities for children to use the equipment at varying levels of difficulty.

As the exhibit travels around the country, special events will be organized to coincide with its appearance. Lectures and study kits will be made available to schools, and local groups will be encouraged to supplement that exhibit with displays that will reflect their communities. The exhibit will, however, have its own geographical sections, focusing on the cities of New York, New Orleans, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Charleston (SC), as well as on the areas of Michigan, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. An interactive map of the United States will electronically depict patterns of linguistic migration, settlement, and influence.

MLA Newsletter, Winter 1989

Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Gabriela Mistral, the Chilean poet and the first Latin American to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature (1945), the University of Pennsylvania sponsored a symposium on November 10-11, 1989.

Participants and their topics included: Peter G. Earle, «Gabriela Mistral en su tiempo y el nuestro»; Jamete Giordano, «La poesía de Gabriela Mistral: 61, ella, ellos, ellas»; Gabriela Mora, «La prosa política de Gabriela Mistral»; Hilda Rojas, «Otra lectura de la niñez en Gabriela Mistral»; Estrella Busto Ogden, «Gonzalo Rojas, mistraliano»; José Miguel Oviedo, «Ludwig Zeller y el surrealismo»; René de Costa, «Las poetas y sus lectores: de la Mistral a lo actual»; and Gonzalo Rojas, «Mi diálogo con Gabriela Mistral».

Founded in May, 1986, in San Antonio, Texas, HACU is a national organization dedicated to bringing together member colleges and universities with potential resource providers in order to improve post-secondary educational opportunities for Hispanic students. Institutions of higher education eligible for HACU membership are regionally accredited, non-profit colleges and universities where Hispanic students constitute a minimum of 25 percent of the total enrollment. The institutions must also express their commitment to the Association's mission and to achieving the goals and objectives established by the membership.

The Chairperson of HACU, Gilbert Sánchez, President of New Mexico Highlands University, Las Vegas, NM, indicates that there are three categories of membership in HACU: Institutional -for colleges and universities that meet the enrollment requirements; Associate -for institutions of higher education that have strong commitment to improving educational opportunities for Hispanics, although they may not meet the enrollment requirements; and Business -for individuals and corporations.

The membership is roughly comprised of: 47 two-year colleges and 31 four-year colleges. Texas, California, New Mexico, New York and Florida are the top five states in terms of number of members. There are 31 institutions where Hispanic enrollment is 45 percent or greater. HACU holds Annual Meetings. Info: Pamela Salazar, HACU, 411 S. W. 24th Street, San Antonio, TX 78207-4617.

La Red/The Net, Fall 1989, Vol. 2: 3

Before suggesting a syllabus for an introduction to translation, I hasten to clarify that the course I will describe is not part of the core language sequence. Those entering the course are, minimally, advanced undergraduate students who have already demonstrated a high level of competency in both Spanish and English. Our translation program is pre-professional training; students taking one or both semesters of the introductory course will learn the fundamental principles of translation, the standards of performance that are expected in the field, and whether or not they personally have the talent or desire to continue¹³².

In the first class, students are asked to fill out the usual questionnaire: name/address/college/ class/major, etc. They are then asked to translate the questionnaire itself. The first stumbling block, of course, is «name». What would be the equivalent in a Spanish-speaking country? Other items on the questionnaire also pose problems of cultural difference. The student impression that the course will not be a snap is reinforced by the syllabus: our courses meet twice a week and there are written homework assignments for every class meeting except the three with in-class translation examinations. Our attrition rate the first week is understandably high. Students who remain, whether or not they intend to become translators, tend to give the course strongly favorable evaluations for the interest of the subject matter and the amount that they learned.

I have made the preceding point for two reasons. In traditional departments of language and literature, translation courses are often viewed as inferior to our basic mission and therefore some thing that will appeal to our less able students and can be taught by our least productive scholars. In fact, if translation is handled correctly, these courses will be among the most challenging and demanding for both students and faculty.

They can also be frustrating. The instructor should evaluate each written assignment both as a translation of the source text and as a text in the target language. Even a reasonably accurate translation in terms of content and lexicon may be covered

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with red marks because of stylistic errors or failure to capture the tone of the original¹³³. Several of the suggestions that follow are designed to alleviate that inevitable sense of frustration.

An ideal introductory translation course will be structured progressively. James K. Child has out lined four levels of language to keep in mind in selecting texts: (1) orientational, (2) instructive, (3) evaluative, and (4) projective. Levels 1 and 2 impart information [e. g., signs, news items], while 3 and 4 [e. g., editorials, literature] are individuated and require the translator to read between or beyond the lines. In Peter Newmark's terms, the former categories will require a communicative approach to translation while the latter will move towards semantic translation. The early emphasis in the course on communicative translation at Level 1 helps break the student away from the pitfall of word-for-word translation. What is the equivalent for «Pasen peatones?» Even the most obstinate student will probably not argue in favor of literal translation here!

Progressive difficulty may also be established by the length of texts. Our daily assignments will range from 150 to 250 words the first semester. The short passages allow us time in class to review problems raised in the previous assignment, analyze together the day's assignment and glance at the next one. We also try to include extra items of interest (e. g., horrible examples of faulty translation or mind-boggling expressions); students often bring these in spontaneously.

Also relevant to planning the course are Albrecht Neubert's observations on «Text-bound Translation Teaching». He points out that one does not translate Language A to Language B but rather text-type A to text-type B. For example, to translate a patent application, one must know what the prototypical patent application is like in the target language. At the introductory level, this concept suggests comparing want ads or business letters from the two languages. In the case of Spanish, it may also involve looking at prototypical texts from several different Spanish-speaking countries. At Rutgers, we combine English-Spanish and Spanish English translation in the same course for two reasons: our students are evently divided between native speakers of each language, and our graduates will likely be called upon to translate in both directions. We therefore structure the course with pairs of parallel texts, but the concept can be incorporated even when students are translating only into their dominant language.

Professional translators are often called upon to prepare abstracts of articles in the source language. An introductory course may profitably include some precis-writing as an exercise in close reading of a complete text. We ask beginning students to prepare a short abstract, in their own words, and then translate it. In class we agree on the main ideas that should have been included and critique a sample abstract. We take advantage of the knowledge gained on language and style of the particular passage by assigning a segment for the next translation exercise.

Today many professional translators use word processors. To the extent possible, we therefore require students to word process their written assignments. Word processing facilitates editing, and we encourage this aspect by incorporating revised translations into the syllabus.

While it is possible to have individual students put their solutions on the board for group comment, xeroxed copies of a sample solution are much easier to read and handle¹³⁴. Moreover, the instructor may receive the translation before class and have time to evaluate it thoroughly before guiding the group analysis. We do, however, use the board for collective solutions. Starting in mid semester, for every second or third assignment we divide the class in groups of three or four. Each group is asked to discuss their respective solutions for a particular segment and then put their «ideal» answer on the board. The entire class can then react to the collective ideal solution.

What all of the above leads to is a syllabus like this for the first fourteen-week course:

Weeks 1-4. Introduction to principles (and pit falls) of translation. Practice in level 1 and level 2 texts, including one or two precis-writing assignments. One revised translation, due the class before the first in-class translation. First examination text, chosen for relationship to previous class work.

Weeks 5-9. Texts on a variety of topics, chosen from levels 2 and 3. Introduction of group work in class. Continued use of precis-writing and revision assignment. In-class translation on topic previously covered.

Weeks 10-13. Texts at levels 3 and 4, with introduction to literary translation (essay and narrative). Continued group work in class and revised translation as final assignment before in-class test. (At this level of difficulty, the examination always allows student to translate into the dominant language).

Final week. Review of last in-class test and additional assignments chosen for «fun»: i. e., humorous passages or examples of highly metaphorical or colloquial language.

The second semester starts at a higher level of difficulty than the first did and emphasizes kinds of non-literary language that students may expect to confront in their professional work (commercial and legal, in our case). Again we include a component of literary translation at the end of the semester, perhaps adding drama to the other genres.

In class students are encouraged to correct their own translations, but the copies they turn in will reflect their original work (typed double spaced) and the penciled revisions. In general, we do not accept late work, but in the final average we drop the bottom four grades from the 24 written

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assignments. For in-class translation tests, following procedures for the American Translator Association examinations, students are allowed to bring all the dictionaries they wish. In grading, however, we do not adhere to the ATA pass/fail norm: more than one major error or a combination of one major error and seven or so minor ones is a failure. Students are made aware of these standards and are informed that they must reach them to make an A in the course¹³⁵.

Perhaps potential students and faculty should also be warned that translation is addictive. It is by far the most difficult and demanding course I have taught, but it is also the one that is hardest to put out of one's mind. I am still working on last semester's puzzler: «Divers comb Boston Harbor for artifacts from Tea Party»¹³⁶.

Child, James K. «Language Proficiency and Translation», Translation Excellence: Assessment, Achievement, Maintenance. Ed. Marilyn Gaddis Rose. American Translators Association Series 1. Binghamton, NY University Center at Binghamton (SUNY), 1987.

Neubert, Albrecht. «Text-bound Translation Teaching». Die Theorie der Übersetzungs und Dolmetschdidaktik / Translation Theory and Its Implementation in the Teaching of Translating and Interpreting. Ed. Wolfram Wilss and Gisela Thome. Tübingen: Gunter Narr Verlag, 1984.

Newmark, Peter. Approaches to Translation. Oxford and New York: Pergamon Press, 1981.

Vázquez-Ayora, Gerardo. Introducción a la traductología. Curso básico de traducción. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 1977.

Phillis Zatlin

Rutgers, The State University

Immigrant rights advocates in Los Angeles applauded a federal district judge's Nov. 6 ruling that all portions of U. S. Immigration and Naturalization Service deportation proceedings be translated into the defendants' language.

The ruling stemmed from a complaint filed last year by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the Legal Aid Foundation and others on behalf of El Rescate Legal Services. Attorneys charged that the plaintiffs' Fifth Amendment rights to due process were being violated because only the litigants' discourse with the judge was required by law to be translated. Before U. S. District Judge William Gray's ruling, attorney objections, arguments, statements made by witnesses and some statements by the judges, were not translated for non-English-speaking litigants.

Francisco García, national director of MALDEF's immigrants' rights program, said he was «very pleased» with Gray's ruling and that «it will have a tremendous impact on the largest immigration court in the country». The ruling will take effect immediately in Los Angeles, San Diego and El Centro. The Justice Department has 30 days in which to file an appeal.

Charles Wheeler, director of the National Center for Immigrants' Rights, called Judge Gray's decision a «kick in the tail» for the INS. He said it may very well have an impact on proceedings nationwide.

Hispanic Link. Weekly Report

November 20, 1989

Deanna Hammond, head of the Language Service Section of the Library of Congress, after serving for two years as President-Elect of the American Translators Association and organizing two annual conferences, is the current president.

Since 1977 she has held her present position in the Library of Congress and is responsible for the foreign language translation this section provides the U. S. Congress: editing all translations, translating most of the Spanish requests as well as arranging outside contracts for this work, and reviewing and ordering glossaries. In 1988 Hammond served on the advisory committee for the establishment of the National Translation Center for the Library of Congress.

A Ph. D. in Spanish linguistics from Georgetown University, she has taught courses on Spanish translation and English as a second language. Her

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publications include numerous translations reprinted in the Congressional Record and Committee prints, articles and book reviews in the Modern Language Journal, ATA Chronicle and the Journal of the Society of Technical Communications. Editor of the Proceedings of the 29th and 30th Annual Conferences of the American Translations Association, she has a 20-page article forthcoming in Annals dealing with the need for and use of translation in the U. S.

As a member for over twenty years in the AATSP, Hammond coordinated workshops on translation and interpretation at the annual meetings in Madrid and Los Angeles.

For the second year the Rassias Foundation at Dartmouth College announces the James A. Perkins Award for the best scholarly essay evaluating the Rassias Method for teaching languages. The $1,000 prize honors the former Chairman of the Presidential Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies and one of the foremost leaders in the field of International Education. To enter the competition, scholars should submit an essay, of not more than 3,000 words, describing their teaching experience using the Rassias Method, (also called the Dartmouth Intensive Language Model, or DILM) and evaluating quantifiable results (for example, oral and written test scores using an established rating system; attitudinal changes toward language learning and cultures; data on changes in student enrollment patterns in levels beyond introductory classes; the effect of the DILM experience on the learning and teaching of the assistant teachers; studies of variants and adaptations of the model; and similar projects). Previously published manuscripts are eligible and may be submitted for this prize. Info: Chairman of the Selection Committee, Professor James F. Jones, Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, Box 1077, One Brookings Dr., Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130-4899.

Dr. Kenneth Chastain, Professor of Spanish at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, was presented the Florence Steiner Award for Leadership in Postsecondary Foreign Language Education. He received a commemorative plaque, and the wide range of contribution he has made -and continues to make- to foreign language education were cited.

Dr. Chastain began his career teaching Spanish and English in high schools in Indiana. He then moved on the postsecondary level and taught Spanish at Purdue University for eight years and Asbury College for one year before assuming his present position. He has spent summers as a visiting professor at the University of California in Los Angeles and at McGill University in Montreal and was a visiting professor for a semester at the University of Arizona. He has also conducted week- and month-long workshops and lecture tours on methods for English-as-a-Second-Language teachers in Colombia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Spain, and Yugoslavia.

Dr. Chastain did his undergraduate work at Indiana University and received his M. A. in Spanish from Ball State University. He completed his Ph. D. at Purdue University where he majored in foreign language education with minors in Spanish and experimental design. Over the years, he has made many presentations at professional meetings and has served as a consultant to numerous publishers.

Dr. Chastain's article, «Native Speaker Reaction to Instructor-Identified Student Second Language Errors», published in the Modern Language journal, was cited by that publication as its best article in 1980. The second edition of his book, Developing Second Language Skills: Theory to Practice (Rand McNally) was translated into Japanese. His most recent major work is the third edition of Developing Second Language Skills: Theory and Practice published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

ACTFL, November 1989

The recently elected officers of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) were announced at the opening session of the Council's Annual Meeting in Boston on Friday, November 17. President-Elect: Dr. Lynn A. Sandstedt, Chairperson of the Department of Hispanic Studies and Professor of Spanish at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley; Members of the Executive New Publications

Our editorial board welcomes monographs dedicated to the works of women writers from Spain and Latin America. We strive to provide a forum that allows scholars to explore the contributions of these writers in a series that transcends traditional boundaries in order to promote a greater understanding of their artistry. Studies that incorporate current theoretical models are especially

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encouraged. We accept works on writers from all periods including:

I. Critical Studies (including comparative studies incorporating other traditions)
II. Theoretical works, especially those dealing with aspects of gender
III. Critical editions
IV. Translations into English
V. Bibliographies

Info: Amy R. Williamsen, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721.

Hispanic Theater in the United States and Puerto Rico. Con el auspicio de la Fundación Ford se ha publicado este año un informe presentado por Joanne Pottlitzer y preparado para su publicación por la escritora, editora e historiadora Nina Dressner Cobb, sobre el teatro hispánico en Estados Unidos y Puerto Rico. Joanne Pottlitzer, productora y directora de representaciones teatrales, ha logrado realizar dicho informe como resultado de sus investigaciones en 150 instituciones y entrevistas con más de 200 personas conectadas al asunto considerado. El teatro hispánico es tratado dentro de su complejo contexto cultural y está dividido en cinco capítulos y dos apéndices que desarrollan los siguientes aspectos: la diversidad de culturas, la historia del teatro hispánico en EEUU y Puerto Rico (1865-1965), movimiento contemporáneo del teatro hispánico (1965-85), actividades actuales e información general, con el interés de fomentar el desarrollo y la estabilidad de dicho teatro. Se puede obtener esta publicación sin costo alguno dirigiéndose a: Hispanic Theater, Ford Foundation, Office of Reports, 320 East 43rd St., New York, NY 10017. Para mayor información, dirigirse a Oona Sullivan (212) 573-5150.

Margarita E. Galarza

University of Southern California

Le invito a formar parte de los lectores de Nuevo Texto Crítico, revista de la nueva crítica literaria latinoamericana, que comenzamos a publicar en 1988. Nuestro objetivo es ayudar a crear un espacio de discusión crítica, análisis y difusión informativa sobre la literatura latinoamericana, Deseamos que el ámbito de esta tarea colectiva sea el universitario o, en términos más generales, el de la enseñanza, o el del simple (pero complejo) afán de conocimiento de lectores no especializados. Sólo podremos lograr este objetivo con su apoyo activo, a través de su lectura y su suscripción, de su participación en un amplio grupo de lectores interesados y orientados por intereses compartidos. Nuevo Texto Crítico tiene un antecedente en Texto crítico, la revista fundada en 1975 in México. Durante once años publicamos inéditos de Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez y otros escritores, junto con decenas de estudios de los mejores críticos latinoamericanistas. La nueva revista, Nuevo Texto Crítico, ha iniciado su vida estadounidense publicando ya excelentes trabajos de escritores y críticos, y proyectamos presentar próximos números monográficos dedicados a temas como: Mujer y Literatura en America Latina; America Latina y la postmodernidad; La novela latinoamericana a las puertas del siglo XXI. Info: Nuevo Texto Crítico, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, Bldg. 260, Room 282, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.

World Wide Product Directory is a new periodical dedicated to product feedback, reviews, and articles on computer related language teaching and learning. Editor, Seth Thomas Schneider offers a free copy of the first issue of all who contact him. Product feedback reviews, and articles for future issues and solicited. Info: P. O. Box 895, Stanford, CA 94309; (415) 493-8800; COMPUSERV 72310, 3611.

Curriculum guides for Teaching Foreign Languages in Elementary and Middle Schools (FLEAMS) are now available in Japanese as well as German, Spanish and French, from the University of Denver. The curriculum guides contain 6 units of text and support activities. For more information contact Eleanor R. Hoffman, FLEAMS Project Director, Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Univ. of Denver, University Park, Denver, CO 80208; (303) 871-2185.

Newsletter of the Japanese Teachers Network

October 1989, p. 6

Ecuadorian Literature of the Last 30 Years, 5-10 June, Ecuador. Info: Michael Handelsman, Dept. of Romance Languages, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville 37996, or C. Michael Waag, Comision Fulbright, Casilla. 826-A, Quito, Ecuador.

International Congress on Latin American Theater, 6-9 June, Washington, DC. Info: Mario Rojas, Dept. of Modern Languages and Literatures, The Catholic Univ. of America, Washington, DC 20064.

Association of Departments of Foreign Languages Seminar East, 7-9 June, State College, PA. Info: ADFL, 10 Astor Pl., New York, NY 10003-6981.

International Institute on Iberoamerican Literature, 18-21 June, Providence, RI. Info: Julio Ortega, Dept. of Hispanic Studies, Box 1961, Brown Univ., Providence, RI 02912.

Association of Departments of Foreign Languages Seminar West, 21-23 June, Tucson.

Info: ADFL, 10 Astor PI., New York, NY 20003-6981

Computers and Teaching in the Humanities, 23-25 June, Fordham Univ. Info: Craig B. Brush, Modern Languages Dept., Fordham Univ., Bronx, NY 10458.

MLA Institute: Current Issues in Foreign Language Teaching, 8-20 July, Middlebury. Info: - Foreign Language Summer Institute, MLA, 10 Astor Pl., New York, NY 10003-6981; (212) 475-9500.

Summer Session for Language Teachers, 9 July-3 August, W Lafayette, IN. Info: Alan Garfinkel, Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Stanley Coulter Hall, Purdue Univ., W. Lafayette 47907; (317) 494-0397.

International Society for Humor Studies, 29 July-4 August, Sheffield. Info: Mark Glazer, Coll. of Arts and Sciences, Univ. of Texas at Pan American, Edinburgh, TX 78539.

Linguistic Association of Canada and the U. S., 7-11 August, Fullerton. Info: Valerie B. Makkai, LACUS, P. O. Box 101, Lake Bluff, IL 60044; (312) 234-3997.

American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, 10-14 August, Miami Beach. Info: AATSP, P. O. Box 6349, Mississippi State, MS 39762-6349.

Second Caribbean Language Conference, 21-24 August, Port-Of-Spain, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Info: Frank W. Medley, Jr., Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Univ. of South Carolina, Columbia 29208 or Caribbean Language Conference, School of Languages, 6 Alcázar St., Port-Of-Spain, Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, W. I.

Fédération Internationale des Langues et Littératures Modernes: The Impact of Language and Literature on Contacts between Peoples, 21-29 August, Novi Sad. Info: Miodrag Radovic, Universitet Novi Sad, Filozofski Fakultet, Stevana Musica bb/III, 21000 Novi Sad, Yugoslavia.

Word and Image Studies, 27-31 August, Zurich. Info: P. J. de Voogd, Letteren, P. O. Box 7161, Vrije Universiteit, 1007 MC Amsterdam, Netherlands.

International Society for the Study of European Ideas: Comparative History of European Nationalism, 3-8 September, Catholic Univ. of Louvain Info: Ezra Talmor, ISSEI Conference, Kibbutz Nachshonim, D. N. Mercaz 73 190, Israel.

Southeastern Medieval Association, 27 29 September, Raleigh. Info: Brent A. Pitts, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Meredith College, Raleigh NC 27607-5298.

Iowa Foreign Language Association, 5-6 October, Sioux City. Info: Dave McAlpine, Morningside College, Sioux City, LA 51106.

European Studies Conference, 11-13 October, Omaha. Info: Bernard Kolasa, Political Studies, Univ. of Nebraska at Omaha, NE 68182; (402) 554-3617.

Purdue University Conference on Romance Languages, Literatures and Film, 11-13 October, W. Lafayette. Info: Anthony Tamburri, Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures, Stanley Coulter Hall, Purdue Univ., W. Lafayette, IN 47907; (317) 494-3827.

American Translators Association, 11-14 October, New Orleans. Info: American Translators Association, 109 Croton Ave., Ossining, NY 10562,

Foreign Language Association of North Carolina, 19-20 October, Durham. Info: Wayne Figart, 204 N. 16th St., Wilmington, NC 28401.

Illinois Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 19-20 October, Chicago. Info: ICTFL, P. O. Box 5633, Springfield, IL 62705; (217) 782-2826.

Sixteenth-Century Studies Conference, 25-27 October, St. Louis. Info: Elisabeth Gleason, History Dept., Univ. of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94117.

Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 26-27 October, Youngstown Info: Foreign Language Conference, Dept. of Foreign Languages, Youngstown State Univ., Youngstown, OH 44555; (216) 742-3461.

Midwest Modern Language Association, 1-3 November, Kansas City. Info: María A. Duarte, 302 English and Philosophy Bldg., Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City 52242-1408.

Massachusetts Foreign Language Association, 2-3 November, Burlington, MA. Info: Robert E. Courchesne, Conference Coordinator, 56 Stagecoach Dr., Marshfield, MA 02050.

Fourteenth Southeast Regional Conference of the International Reading Association, 7-9 November, Louisville. Info: International Reading Association, P. O., Box 8139, Newark, DE 19714.

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 22-24 November, New Orleans. Pre-Conference Workshops, 19-21 November. Info: ACTFL, 6 Executive Plaza, Yonkers, NY; (914) 963-8830.

Modern Language Association, 27-30 December, Chicago. Info: MLA, 10 Astor Pl., New York, NY 10003-6981.

Symposium on Spanish and Portuguese Bilingualism, 24-26 January, Coral Gables. Info: Ana Roca, Dept. of Modern Languages, Florida International Univ., Miami, FL 33199; (305) 554 2851.

Australasian Universities Language and

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Literature Association, 4-8 February, Australia. Info: R. White, Dept. of French, Univ. of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, 9-13 March, New York. Info: TESOL, 1118 22nd St., Ste. 205, Washington, DC 20037.

Central States Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, 21-24 March, Indianapolis. Info: Jody Thrush, Madison Area Technical College, 3550 Anderson St., Madison, WI 53704; (608) 246-6573.

Fallecimiento de dos españoles destacados en 1990, El 25 de enero de 1990 falleció D. Dámaso Alonso (1898-1990), distinguido poeta y crítico, autor del famoso libro Hijos de la ira, director por muchos años de la Real Academia Española. Falleció en su domicilio en su Madrid nativo.

El 20 de febrero de 1990 falleció en su domicilio madrileño D. Joaquín Casalduero (1903-1990), destacado crítico y escritor.

National Association for Foreign Student Affairs, 24-27 May, Boston, Info: Sherie L. Voland-Koob, NAFSA, 1860 19th St. NW, Washington, DC 20009.

Seventeenth World Congress of the FIPLV, Theme: Foreign Language Learning and Lifelong Education, 10-14 August, Pécs, Hungary. Info: P. Basel, National Center for Foreign Language Teaching of T. I. T, XI., Bocskai ut 37, H-1113 Budapest, Hungary.

International Comparative Literature Association, 23-28 August, Tokyo. Info: Dept. of Comparative Literature and Culture, Univ. of Tokyo, 3-8-1 Komaba, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153, Japan.

Midwest Modern Language Association, 14-16 November, Chicago. Info: Maria A. Duarte, 302 English and Philosophy Bldg., Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City 52242-1408.

Charles Blake, an employee of the New Rochelle Board of Education for 35 years and a prominent educator, died November 9 of cancer in Wilmington, Del. He was 78.

While working for the New Rochelle schools, he held several positions, including supervisor of foreign-language instruction from 1964 to 1978 and chairman of adult education for 20 years. He also taught at the old Lincoln elementary school and Isaac E. Young Junior High School.

While teaching, he won the Distinguished Teacher Award of New York state from the Association of Foreign Language Teachers.

He spoke French, Spanish, German, Italian, Russian, Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Swahili with varying degrees of fluency, according to his relatives.

Mr. Blake was born August 3, 1911 in New York City to Charles and Nellie Blake. He grew up in White Plains, where he attended schools.

In 1933, Mr. Blake graduated from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., where he was Phi Beta Kappa. At the time, he was one of only three blacks to receive the honor.

In 1934, he attended the New York School of Social Services, part of Columbia University, on a National Urban League scholarship.

In 1946, he graduated with a master's degree in administration and organization from Columbia University.

Before becoming an educator, Mr. Blake worked as an Italian-speaking social worker and county probation officer from 1934 to 1943.

After working for the New Rochelle schools, he moved to Wilmington in 1978 and founded the Academy of Lifelong Learning at the University of Delaware. He received a merit award from the university for his work.

In 1952, he married Anne Viola Henderson in New York City.

Mr. Blake was former president of the New Rochelle YMCA, a lifelong member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and an elder of the Presbyterian Church of New Rochelle and of Newark, DE. He was also a founding member and officer of the Association of Supervisors and Administrators of Weschester County.

From the 1950s until his death, he was a member of the Knights of the Round Table, a group of black intellectuals who presented scholarly works at monthly meetings.

Gannett Westchester Newspaper

November 17, 1989

The Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian World

The Oct. 8, 1989 issue of The New York Times Book Review features a front-page review of Federico García Lorca: A Life, by Ian Gibson. Excerpts of Allen Josephs's review follow.

The story of García Lorca's brief life (1898-1936) seems forever fated to begin with his death: «Federico García Lorca was thirty-eight when anti-Republican rebels in Granada assassinated him at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War in 1936». So begins, almost ineluctably, the introduction to Ian Gibson's rich biography of the great Spanish poet.

Mr. Gibson has captured the chiaroscuro of García Lorca's life as no one before him has done. Unlike previous biographers, he has allowed access to the Lorca archives, specifically to «many unpublished manuscripts, his letters to his family, and a wide range of correspondence received». He was also given encouragement, cooperation and «much useful information» by Isabel García Lorca, the poet's younger sister. Armed with that privileged information, twenty years of research, a scrupulous sense of honesty and the wise decision to limit himself to Lorca's life and not to include elaborate critical consideration of his works, Mr. Gibson has written a distinguished biography that never falters on the tightrope between readability and credibility.

To say that Ian Gibson -Irish by birth and a Spanish citizen since 1984- is the authority on García Lorca's life is probably to understate the case. Mr. Gibson understands Spanish culture from the inside, and he paints the complex historical and geographical background of Lorca's native region of Andalusia perfectly. He has accomplished an original critical triangulation -one that is essential for fully understanding García Lorca's life, his art and his death. He has told us those parts of the poet's life he has actually been able to verify and has not indulged in surmises. His disarming candor about the impossibility of always knowing the truth and the lack of any overriding thesis lend this very believable account the air of a classic.

George R. McMurray

Colorado State University

In awarding the 1989 Nobel Prize in Literature to Camilo José Cela, the Spanish author of 10 novels and many works of nonfiction, the Swedish Academy said that his 1942 novel, The Family of Pascual Duarte, was the most popular work of fiction in Spanish since Don Quijote, published in 1605.

«But Pascual Duarte has not been available in English for several years, nor have Mr. Cela's other novels. But two of his novels are being brought back into print. Little, Brown, which published Pascual Duarte in 1964, said yesterday (Oct. 31) that it would reissue it in hard cover and paperback this year. And Farrar, Straus & Giroux will do the same with The Hive (La Colmena), a Cela novel that it published in 1953 and later licensed to Ecco Press...»

Ediciones del Norte, Hanover, NH, has two Cela novels in print: La Colmena and Mazurca Para Dos Muertos, and dealers in foreign language books, of course, keep his novels in stock. And a couple of his nonfiction works are available from a university press and an academic publisher. But, despite his fame in the Hispanic world and Europe, Cela is no exception to the tradition among U. S. publishers of being reluctant to consider translations of foreign works and, when they do publish them, to print very limited editions. Let us hope that Cela's Nobel Prize in Literature will improve his fortunes among our publishers and bring him a substantial number of readers for his works in English. [The New York Times, Nov. 1, 1989]

Robert G. Mead, Jr.

University of Connecticut, Emeritus

Los arqueólogos de las localidades de la Marina alicantina Jávea y Denia, Josep Antoni Casabó y Josep Gisbert, respectivamente, presentaron el miércoles 20 de septiembre, en el castillo de Denia, el reciente descubrimiento de dos grandes conjuntos de arte rupestre levantino. A juicio del profesor Mauro Hernández, catedrático de Prehistoria de la universidad de Alicante, estas pinturas pueden datar de la segunda mitad del cuarto milenio antes de Cristo, o sea, finales del Neolítico Antiguo y principios del Medio. El excepcional descubrimiento fue calificado por el mismo Hernández como el yacimiento más importante de toda la Comunidad Valenciana. Todos los expertos destacaron el excelente estado de conservación de las pinturas descubiertas. [El País, 21 de septiembre de 1989]

John E Gabriele

The College of Wooster

The October 29, 1989 issue of The New York Times Book Review presents a long frontpage

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review of Vargas Llosa's The Storyteller. The following paragraphs are excerpts from the review by Ursula K. LeGuin.

We human beings long to get the world under our control and to make other people act just like us. In the last few centuries, some of us found out how to do it. The result is that now many of us all over the world are eating hamburgers at McDonald's. Man's control of the world is debatable, but his success in making other people act just like him is not. No culture that has come in contact with Western industrial culture has been unchanged by it, and most have been assimilated or annihilated, surviving only as vestigial variations in dress, cooking or ethics.

To make this tremendous process of acculturation the central subject of a novel is a tremendous undertaking. Mario Vargas Llosa is not a tremendous novelist, but he is a wise and canny one, and very skilled. His fascinating new book opens this subject, the impact of «civilization» on the «primitive», to intellectual consideration in the novelistic mode of passionate emotional and moral involvement.

Translated into beautifully easygoing English by Helen Lane, The Storyteller is science fiction at its best. Accurately following the investigations of a science -anthropology, in this case- as far as they have gone, it then asks: what if? What if there were a remote Amazonian tribe that had kept itself unacculturated, so far by moving away from the Incas, the conquistadors, the Jesuits, the evangelists, the rubber planters, the tree cutters and the anthropologists, by keeping on the move, not running but walking? «The men who walk», the Machiguengas call themselves. And what if a young Jew at the University of San Marcos became intrigued by these people and began to follow them farther and farther into the jungle and into the spirit, until he became himself a man who walks?

More than one voice tells this story. The first is that of a thoughtful, amiably cynical Peruvian who sees in a gallery in Florence the photograph of a storyteller of the eastern Peruvian Amazon amid a circle of women and men. At the heart of the circle of Machiguengas is the silhouette of a man the narrator recognizes as his old college friend Saúl Zuratas. And so he began to tell the story of the storyteller for this is a book of and about stories, the stories that history silences, the stories of the obscure, the private, the prehistoric; and it all centers on that point, the person at the heart of a circle of people, speaking.

Certainly the concerns of The Storyteller are intellectual, ethical and artistic, all at once and brilliantly so. To me this is Mr. Vargas Llosa's most engaging and accessible book, for the urgency of its subject purifies and illuminates the writing. I was spellbound, as if by the voice of that storyteller in the circle of listeners; his voice is many voices; his voice is the tribal voice. The author, in a masterly interweaving of actual myth and novelistic imagination, takes us directly and immediately into the Machiguenga world, yet never presumes to speak as one of them. There is no observer and observed here, only participation -which is what storytelling is all about. To hear the Machiguenga stories, to participate in that life, is an experience of horror, exhilaration, beauty, great strangeness and deep concern. Encircled by their fierce cosmogony and the fearful legends of their past, we begin to walk with them; we begin to understand why they must walk, must never cease moving on: so that the sun will rise, so that the world will be in order, so that the obligation will be fulfilled.

George R. McMurray

Colorado State University

El afamado escritor y político peruano fue invitado por el Teatro de Cámara Abril para el estreno de la puesta en escena de su novela Pantaleón y las visitadoras. La obra tiene una duración de dos horas. [Revista de Libros de El Mercurio, 20 de agosto de 1989, 7].

José Donoso y Carlos Cerda trabajan desde hace algunos meses en la versión teatral de Este Domingo, que ICTUS estrenará a comienzos del próximo año. Esta es la segunda obra de Donoso que ICTUS pone en escena. Sueños de Mala Muerte, estrenada en 1983, fue no sólo aplaudida en Santiago, sino también en los escenarios de Caracas y Buenos Aires. [ICTUS informa, julio-agosto-septiembre de 1989, 2].

Publicada por la Editorial Sudamericana en Buenos Aires (1989), en la novela Skármeta muestra sus cualidades como avezado narrador y hábil aprovechador de la técnica cinematográfica. [Revista de Libros de El Mercurio, 17 de septiembre de 1989, 2].

Se trata de Gabriela Mistral y Joaquín García Monge: una correspondencia inédita de Marga Arce (Santiago: Editorial Andrés Bello, 1989) y Epistolario de Gabriela Mistral y Eduardo Barrios de Luis Vargas Saavedra (Santiago: Universidad Católica de Chile, 1988). [Revista de Libros de El Mercurio, 18 de junio de 1989, 2]. Los otros dos ensayos son: Gabriela Mistral, guardiana de la vida de Dolores Pincheira (Santiago: Editorial Andrés Bello, 1989) y El último viaje de Gabriela Mistral de Santiago Daydí-Tolson (Santiago: Editorial Aconcagua, 1989). [Revista de Libros de El Mercurio, 17 de septiembre, 5 y 8].

La revista Apuntes de Teatro de la Universidad Católica de Chile, está haciendo una labor importante, en cada uno de sus números ofrece el texto completo de una obra de teatro. En el último número otoño-invierno

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aparece el libreto, hasta ahora inédito, de la obra de Roberto Parra, La Negra Ester. Además se incluyen artículos sobre este verdadero hito en la vida cultural del país. Esta publicación es un esfuerzo intelectual que intenta abordar el arte teatral chileno y la realidad de nuestros autores desde diversos ángulos. [Revista de Libros de El Mercurio, 22 de octubre de 1989, 7].

El Teatro-Circo, con La Negra Ester, de Roberto Parra, dirigida por Andrés Pérez, participa actualmente en el Festival de Montreal, Canadá. Luego asistirá al Festival de Londres, y de allí realizará una gira por el resto de Europa. (ICTUS informa, mayo-junio, 1989].

Tiene contemplado para los próximos meses el lanzamiento de importantes autores, entre los cuales se destacan Marco Antonio de la Parra con La secreta Guerra Santa de Santiago de Chile; Fernando Alegría con Allende, y la obra galardonada con el Premio de Poesía de El Mercurio 1989, Género Femenino de Teresa Calderón. Seix-Barral, también del grupo Planeta, por su parte, editará próximamente el último libro de José Donoso, Taratuta, y Planeta Internacional sacará El Conocimiento Inútil de Jean-Francois Revel. [Revista de Libros de El Mercurio, 1 de octubre de 1989, 7].

Inés Dölz-Blackburn

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

Este es el nombre que en Colombia se le ha dado recientemente a una serie de textos literarios e históricos que tienen como tema los procesos sociales y políticos que ha vivido el país en los últimos años. Estos procesos, se comenta, irónicamente han estado marcados por una ausencia casi total de la paz que ahora le da nombre a esa literatura. Algunos analistas en la prensa colombiana han establecido coincidencias significativas entre esta literatura social y aquella producida en los años cincuentas y comienzo de los sesentas, que corresponden a la época llamada simplemente La Violencia. Entre estas similitudes se menciona el carácter testimonial de los relatos, que muchas veces tienden a ser autobiográficos, buscando dejar constancia escrita de lo que los participantes vieron y sufrieron durante los conflictos en que participaron.

Un artículo en el número de marzo de la Gaceta de Colcultura, al comparar esos dos períodos, indicaba que «en los dos casos encontramos un tipo de relato que lleva de la mano al lector por los recodos más íntimos de la 'historia' y que, incluso pretende sobrepasarla, basándose para ello en lo que constituye su fuerza y al mismo tiempo su mayor limitación los protagonistas y los hechos». Otra semejanza, según lo observado por la prensa nacional, es la substracción progresiva de elementos teorizantes en esa literatura, es decir, la renuncia más o menos explícita a encontrar razones o dar respuestas. El mismo artículo de Gaceta indica que «la saturación del tema no sólo produjo esta consecuencia» y agrega que «mucho más preocupante puede resultar... la responsabilidad que pueda caber a este desordenado y profuso volumen de información, en el hastío en que ha derivado el propio proceso de paz... dada la confusión a la que pudieron contribuir algunos de estos trabajos y... la equívoca y peligrosa sensación de haber agotado el tema». No menos de dos docenas de títulos recientes de obras identificables como «literatura del proceso de paz» se venden actualmente en las librerías colombianas, algunas de ellas promocionadas por amplias campañas publicitarias.

Gilberto Gómez Ocampo

Universdad Javeriana, Bogotá

La Fundación Jorge Luis Borges cuya creación fue anunciada por María Kodama, viuda del escritor, en Ginebra en 19 86, y presentada el pasado 24 de agosto en Buenos Aires, día del cumpleaños de Borges, será un centro de investigación y documentación sobre la obra del célebre escritor argentino. La sede de la fundación será Ginebra, ciudad en que Borges vivió parte de su juventud, lugar en que se sitúa su último libro Los conjurados y a cuya sombra nació la idea de la fundación, y sitio en que murió el escritor. Según Kodama, la fundación creará un premio Borges de literatura que se pretende sea de gran prestigio, destinado de forma alternativa a cuento y poesía, los dos géneros que el mismo Borges practicó. [El País, 14 de noviembre de 1989]

John E. Gabriele

The College of Wooster

La escritora y periodista española de 42 años, Soledad Puértolas, ganó el Premio Planeta de Novela 1989 por su obra titulada Queda la noche. Este galardón, que se ha concedido 38 veces, tiene un monto de 168 mil dólares, el más alto de España. El jurado, compuesto por cinco catedráticos de literatura y el Presidente de la Editorial Planeta, José Manuel Lara, eligió la obra entre 23 finalistas de un total de 320 postulantes. Es la quinta obra que ha escrito la autora. El premio lo ganó el año pasado Gonzalo Torrente Ballester por su novela Filomeno a mi pesar. [Revista de Libros de El Mercurio, 22 de octubre de 1989, 4]

Inés Dölz-Blackburn

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

Al novelista y cuentista yucateco, Joaquín Bestard Vásquez, le fue otorgado, por segunda vez, el premio nacional de la novela en noviembre de 1989 por Trazar un sueño en el espejo. Hasta el momento, Bestard es el autor de seis novelas y cuatro colecciones de cuentos. Los temas que Bestard elabora más son

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los de la vida de la gente común en México, D. F. y Yucatán ejemplificados en la novela La calle todos olvidan y la colección de cuentos, Los tiempo dorados de Tránsito. Sin embargo, su novela de próxima aparición, La obsesión de Germán Ortega, no es como las novelas anteriores porque tiene lugar en México, Centro América y Sud América y emplea el lenguaje y costumbrismo de los tres lugares. Mayormente, la novela es una obra antiguerrera. En una entrevista reciente conmigo Bestard hizo la pregunta, «¿qué pasaría si vuelve una dictadura en un país latinoamericano con todo el adelanto tecnológico, electrónico que poseemos los seres humanos ahorita? El momento en que todo esto caiga en manos de un dictador o de una junta militar, ¿a dónde nos va a llevar?»

Lee A. Daniel

Texas Christian University

«Este año (1989), ...el premio se le otorgó al colombiano Manuel Mejía Vallejo. Viejo combatiente por la dignidad y libertad humanas, la obra del autor La casa de las dos palmas ofrece algunos méritos, ya evidentes en El día señalado. Su indeclinable devoción por los temas propios de su tierra es tan fuerte que incluso su narrativa ha renunciado a la renovación formal, aunque su oficio literario alcanza su verdadera definición en la disciplina y en su insobornable comportamiento ético... Se premiaron casi cincuenta años de oficio literario y, sobre todo, una actitud moral que no admite la menor duda». [Quimera (Edición Latinoamericana), No. 1]

Los ganadores anteriores del premio «Rómulo Gallegos» incluyen nombres tales como Mario Vargas Llosa (1967), Gabriel García Márquez (1972), Carlos Fuentes (1977), Fernando del Paso (1982), Abel Posee (1987).

Kurt L. Levy

University of Toronto

Various literary and artistic prizes and awards have recently been announced. The following, listed by country, are some of the many:

SPAIN:

Premio Herralde de Novela to Miguel Sánchez Ortiz for his La gran ilusión.

Premio Octubre de Novela de Catalán to María de la Pau Janer for her L'hora del eclipsis.

Premio Azorín de Literatura to José Vicente Pascual González for his La montaña de Taishan.

Premio Cervantes de Literatura 1989 to Paraguayan writer Augusto Roa Bastos.

Premio Euroamericana de Grabado 1989 to Mexican artist Miguel Conde.

MEXICO:

Premios Narrativa (Colima-INBA) to Fernando Curiel (biography) and Carlos Montemayor (translation).

Premio Nacional de Poesía «Jaime Sabines Guetiérrez» to Guatemalan poet Otto Raúl González.

Premio Nacional de Teatro para Niños to Hugo a Salcedo.

Premio Nacional de Poesía «Ramón López Velarde» to José Jaime Ruiz.

Premios Sor Juana Inés; poetry -to Margarita Zendejas, Iliana Godoy, and Enrique Ramos Valdés; essay -to Cuban Alejandro González Acosta and Colombian Adolfo León Caixedo.

NICARAGUA:

Premio de Novela Policíaca y de Espionaje Latinoamericano to Paco Ignacio Taibo II.

ITALY

Premio «Etruria di Litteratura Città di Volterra» to Brazilian writer Jorge Amado.

FRANCE:

Médici literary prize for foreigners to Colombian writer Álvaro Mutis.

Sam L. Slick

University of Southern Mississippi

The deaths of the following prominent figures in Hispanic arts and letters are to be noted:

Enrique Pezzoni, 69, Argentina literary critic and translator, November 1, in Buenos Aires.

Inés Arredondo, 61, Mexican writer, November 2, in Mexico City.

Juan Bernie, 78, Spanish poet, November 9, in Córdoba.

Dolores Ibárruri (La Pasionaria), Spanish poetical and artistic symbol and inspiration, November 12, in Madrid.

Eduardo García Maroto, pioneer of Spanish cinema, November 16, in Madrid.

Ángel Curotto, 86, Uruguayan theatrical director, December 3, in Montevideo.

Sam L. Slick

University of Southern Mississippi

The following update on feminism in Spain is based primarily on an interview I had with sociologist María Ángeles Durán on June 30, 1989. Formerly a professor at the University of Zaragoza, María Ángeles Durán holds the rank of «Profesora de Investigación» at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. In addition, she founded the women's studies program at the Universidad Autónoma of Madrid and organizes the yearly wnference on women held there each Spring. For some time she has been involved with WHO since her specialty within sociology is health. She is currently working on a study to determine how people spend their

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time so that it can be factored into the sums spent on public health projects. An author of many books, María Ángeles Durán has lectured in many different places, including the United States.

Women's Studies in Spain

About eleven schools in Spain have women's studies programs. Although no degrees are given, certificates are issued for classes taken. María Angeles Durán directs the Seminario de Estudios de la Mujer de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid which sponsors a yearly monographic conference on women and topics such as the Middle Ages, law, literature, and art. Almost every year for the last nine years the proceedings of these conferences have been published and are still readily available. Unlike in the United States, little feminist scholarship is done in literature, most being under taken instead in sociology and history. Like in the United States women specializing in women's studies are told they lack formal preparation in their disciplines. On the advice of a female American professor, María Angeles Durán did what many women have done to reconcile personal desire and societal bias: she got her tenure before she began to work on the women's issues that interested her.

Feminism in Spain

As a visit to the Librería de Mujeres will confirm, more and more books on women in Spain are being published by Spaniards, although foreign feminism is certainly not unknown. What is missing is «literatura gris», the literature published by small presses, conference proceedings, and collections of unpublished works. Some networking, like the Asociación de Juristas, exists, but not on a large scale. According to Durán, feminism is growing in Spain, and, on the whole, a feeling of hope for the future predominates. Other Spaniards are more restrained in their optimism. Pilar Folguera observes that despite the great strides made by feminism in Spain since 1975, in recent years, the feminist movement in Spain has dissipated and even declined, in part, because the fervor of feminism has diminished on the international level. Yet, Folguera sees a positive sign in an emerging counter-trend -the institut