Jean Franco (March 31, 1924 – December 14, 2022) was a British-born American academic and literary critic known for her pioneering work on

Latin American literature Latin American literature consists of the oral and written literature of Latin America in several languages, particularly in Spanish, Portuguese, and the indigenous languages of Latin America. Latin American literature rose to particular pro ...

.Risen, Clay
"Jean Franco, 98, Pioneering Scholar of Latin American Literature, Dies."
''New York Times'', December 31, 2022, retrieved January 31, 2023. Educated at

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, she taught at London,

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

(where she was the university's first professor of Latin American literature),"Jean Franco."
''Institute for Research on Women and Gender at Columbia University'', retrieved March 31, 2013. and

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

, and was latterly professor emerita at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

Research

Jean Franco's research was wide-ranging and voluminous. She was among the first English-speaking Latin Americanists to write seriously about Latin American literature. She particularly focused on women and women's writing and was a pioneer of Latin American

cultural studies Cultural studies is an academic field that explores the dynamics of contemporary culture (including the politics of popular culture) and its social and historical foundations. Cultural studies researchers investigate how cultural practices rel ...

Personal life and death

Franco died on December 14, 2022, at the age of 98.

Awards

* In 1992 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Essex. * In 1996 she won a

PEN PEN may refer to: * (National Ecological Party), former name of the Brazilian political party Patriota (PATRI) * PEN International, a worldwide association of writers ** English PEN, the founding centre of PEN International ** PEN America, located ...

award for lifetime contribution to the dissemination of Latin American literature in English. * In 2000 the

Latin American Studies Association The Latin American Studies Association (LASA) is the largest association for scholars of Latin American studies. Founded in 1966, it has over 12,000 members, 45 percent of whom reside outside the United States (36 percent in Latin America and the ...

awarded her the Kalman Silvert Award for her contributions to

Latin American Studies Latin American studies (LAS) is an academic and research field associated with the study of Latin America. The interdisciplinary study is a subfield of area studies, and can be composed of numerous disciplines such as economics, sociology, histor ...

.Ewell, Judith
"''Critical Passions: Selected Essays'' (review)."
''The Americas'' 57.3 (2001): 422-24. Retrieved March 31, 2013. * In 2002 she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Manchester. * Her book ''The Decline and Fall of the Lettered City'' was awarded the Bolton-Johnson Prize by the Conference of Latin American Historians for the best work in English on the History of Latin America published in 2003.

Selected publications

* ''The Modern Culture of Latin America'' (1967) * ''An Introduction to Latin American Literature'' (1969) * ''Spanish American Literature Since Independence'' (1973) * ''César Vallejo. The Dialectics of Poetry and Silence'' (1976) * ''Plotting Women. Gender and Representation in Mexico'' (1989) * ''Marcar diferencias, cruzar fronteras: ensayos'' (1996) * ''Critical Passions: Selected Essays'', edited by

Mary Louise Pratt Mary Louise Pratt (born 1948) is a Silver Professor and Professor of Spanish and Portuguese Languages and Literatures at New York University. About She received her B.A. in Modern Languages and Literatures from the University of Toronto in 1970, ...

and Kathleen Newman (1999) * ''The Decline and Fall of the Lettered City: Latin America in the Cold War'' (2002) * ''Cruel Modernity'' (2013)

References

External links

* Biograph

from Columbia University * Jean Franco
"The Second Coming: Religion as Entertainment"
text of a lecture {{DEFAULTSORT:Franco, Jean 1924 births 2022 deaths British emigrants to the United States British literary critics Latin Americanists Literary critics of Spanish British women literary critics Academics of the University of London Academics of the University of Essex Columbia University faculty Stanford University faculty