Linda Metzler

Linda Metzler came to Kenyon College in 1979 from Rutgers University, where she held a visiting position in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. At the core of her teaching endeavors and her intellectual inquiries lies the Spanish language and the literature, art and music of the Hispanic world — particularly of Spain.

She teaches courses in all levels of language and offers classes in Spanish poetry, novel, film, short story and drama. She has recently devised and taught two new courses focused on works that explore ideas of the nation: "Spain's 'Generation of 1898' and the Quest for a National Identity" and "Family and Nation in Francoist and Post-Francoist Spanish Film." She has served as chair of the Department of Modern Languages and Literatures; director of the Kenyon Intensive Language Model; and director of the Poetry Circuit of Ohio. In 1993, she received the Kenyon College Trustee Award for Excellence in Teaching in the Senior Faculty category.

As a scholarly specialist in the poetry of Spain, she has written essays on Ángel Crespo, María Victoria Atencia, Carlos Edmundo D'Ory, José Hierro, José Ángel Valente and on the "Congresos de Poesía" held in Spain in the early 1950s. Scholarly issues that continue to engage her are: the ways in which apostrophe and dialogue help to constitute the lyric self by bringing into focus the linguistic, cultural and ontological other; the ethical and aesthetic thrust of rhythm and musicality in contemporary Spanish poetry; the intersection of the poetic word, the human voice and history; and the impact on current Spanish cultural production of the evolving relationship among Spanish autonomous communities, the central government, the European Community and the global economy.