Roberto González Echevarría (born 1943) is a Cuban-born critic of

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 ...

and culture. He is the

Sterling Professor Sterling Professor, the highest academic rank at Yale University, is awarded to a Academic tenure in North America, tenured faculty member considered the best in their field. It is akin to the rank of distinguished professor at other universities. ...

of Hispanic and Comparative Literature at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

Early life, education, and career

González Echevarría was born in Sagua La Grande in 1943; his family moved to

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Cuban Revolution The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...

, his family emigrated to

Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

in the US, where relatives on his father's side had already moved. His mother was a PhD and teacher of philosophy. González Echevarría received his bachelor's from the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a Public university, public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, Tampa, Florida, United States, and other campuses in St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg and Sarasota, ...

in 1964, his master's from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a state university system, system of Public university, public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. The system has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration o ...

in 1966, and a second master's and doctorate from

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

in 1970. After receiving his doctorate with a thesis titled '' 'Aproximación estructuralista a 'La vida es sueno,' ensayo de un método' '', González Echevarría taught at Yale and then at

Cornell Cornell University is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since ...

(1971-1977). Since 1977, he has taught at Yale, where he was awarded the first endowed chair in Spanish (R. Selden Rose) in 1985. In 1991, he was named Bass Professor of Hispanic and Comparative Literature, and in 1995, Sterling Professor, the highest-ranking university chair at Yale.

Awards and honors

His ''Myth and Archive'' won the 1989–90 MLA's

Katherine Singer Kovács Katherine Singer Kovács (July 26, 1946–May 12,1989) was an American film studies academicGottesman, Ron. ''Homage to Kitty Singer Kovacs.'' Cinema Journal 30, no. 3 (1991): 3–5. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1224926. remembered for two long-sta ...

Prize and the Latin American Studies Association's 1992 Bryce Wood Book Award, and ''The Pride of Havana'' received the Dave Moore Award for the Best Baseball Book of 2002. His ''Lecturas y relecturas'' won the 2013 Premio Annual de la Crítica (Book Prize in Criticism) in Cuba. González Echevarría holds honorary doctorates from

Colgate University Colgate University is a Private university, private college in Hamilton, New York, United States. The Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York ...

(1987), the

(2000), and

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 ...

(2002). An international symposium was held in his honor at the Universidad de Puerto Rico, Arecibo in 2002, and an issue of ''Encuentro de la Cultura Cubana'' was published in his honor. He was elected a member of the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

in 1999. In March 2011, he was awarded the

National Humanities Medal The National Humanities Medal is an American award that annually recognizes several individuals, groups, or institutions for work that has "deepened the nation's understanding of the humanities, broadened our citizens' engagement with the humani ...

of 2010 by President

Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. Ob ...

Selected works

* González Echevarría, Roberto "Memorias del archivo: una vida." (2022). * González Echevarría, Roberto "Mito y archivo. Una teoría de la narrativa latinoamericana." (2019). * González Echevarría, Roberto. The voice of the masters: writing and authority in modern latin american literature.

University of Texas Press The University of Texas Press (or UT Press) is the university press of the University of Texas at Austin. Established in 1950, the Press publishes scholarly and trade books in several areas, including Latin American studies, Caribbean, Caribbea ...

, 2010. * González Echevarría, Roberto. Myth and archive: a theory of Latin American narrative.

Duke University Press Duke University Press is an academic publisher and university press affiliated with Duke University. It was founded in 1921 by William T. Laprade as The Trinity College Press. (Duke University was initially called Trinity College). In 1926 ...

, 1998. * González Echevarría, Roberto. The pride of Havana: A history of Cuban baseball.

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, USA, 1999. * González Echevarría, Roberto.

Alejo Carpentier Alejo Carpentier y Valmont (, ; December 26, 1904 – April 24, 1980) was a Cuban novelist, essayist, and musicologist who greatly influenced Latin American literature during its famous "boom" period. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, of French ...

: The Pilgrim at Home.

, 1990. * González Echevarría, Roberto. Love and the Law in

Cervantes Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra ( ; ; 29 September 1547 (assumed) – 22 April 1616 NS) was a Spanish writer widely regarded as the greatest writer in the Spanish language and one of the world's pre-eminent novelists. He is best known for his no ...

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...

, 2008.

References

External links

* at Yale University {{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez Echevarria, Roberto Latin Americanists Cuban literary critics Living people Yale University faculty Cornell University faculty Cuban male writers National Humanities Medal recipients Yale Sterling Professors 1943 births University of South Florida alumni Indiana University alumni Yale University alumni Cuban emigrants to the United States Literary critics of Spanish