Víctor Rodríguez-Núñez joined Kenyon College in 2001. He teaches a number of courses on Spanish American literatures and cultures, as well as all levels of Spanish language.
He has published fourteen books of poetry along with numerous editions of his selected poems, the most recent being "La noche mal escrita" (Bogotá, Los Torriones, 2016). His poetry has received major awards throughout the Spanish-speaking world, including the coveted Loewe International Poetry Prize in 2015, and he has read his work in over thirty countries. His publications in English include "thaw" (Arc Publications 2013), "tasks" (co im press 2016) and "the night badly written" (Action Books 2017). As a scholar, Rodríguez-Núñez has published various anthologies, critical editions, introductions, essays on Spanish American writers, and a book on García Marquez's non-fiction works.
Along with his academic endeavors, he has been active as a cultural journalist in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Colombia, and has served as an…
Read More
Víctor Rodríguez-Núñez joined Kenyon College in 2001. He teaches a number of courses on Spanish American literatures and cultures, as well as all levels of Spanish language.
He has published fourteen books of poetry along with numerous editions of his selected poems, the most recent being "La noche mal escrita" (Bogotá, Los Torriones, 2016). His poetry has received major awards throughout the Spanish-speaking world, including the coveted Loewe International Poetry Prize in 2015, and he has read his work in over thirty countries. His publications in English include "thaw" (Arc Publications 2013), "tasks" (co im press 2016) and "the night badly written" (Action Books 2017). As a scholar, Rodríguez-Núñez has published various anthologies, critical editions, introductions, essays on Spanish American writers, and a book on García Marquez's non-fiction works.
Along with his academic endeavors, he has been active as a cultural journalist in Cuba, Nicaragua, and Colombia, and has served as an editor of both cultural magazines and specialized journals, most recently the Mexican literary magazine, La Otra (www.laotrarevista.com).
Rodríguez-Núñez is also an accomplished translator; his latest book-length collection is an anthology of contemporary Welsh poetry. He divides his time between Gambier, Ohio and Havana, Cuba.
Areas of Expertise
Creative writing in Spanish, Spanish American poetry and essays, literature of the Cuban Revolution, Latin American film.
Education
2001 — Doctor of Philosophy from Univ Texas Austin
1997 — Master of Arts from Univ Oregon
1979 — Bachelor of Arts from Universidad de La Habana, Cuba
Courses Recently Taught
SPAN 111Y
Self and Society: Intensive Introductory Spanish
SPAN 111Y
This first half of a yearlong course is focused on the self in a broader social context for students who are beginning the study of Spanish or who have had minimal exposure to the language. The course offers the equivalent of conventional beginning and intermediate language study. The first semester's work comprises an introduction to Spanish as a spoken and written language. The work includes practice in understanding and using the spoken language. Written exercises and reading materials serve to reinforce communicative skills, build vocabulary and enhance discussion of the individual and community. This course includes required practice sessions with an apprentice teacher (AT), which will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Students enrolled in this course will be automatically added to SPAN 112Y for the spring semester. No prerequisite. Offered every year.
SPAN 112Y
Self and Society: Intensive Introductory Spanish
SPAN 112Y
This second half of a yearlong course is a continuation of SPAN 111Y. The second semester consists of and continued study of the fundamentals of Spanish, while incorporating literary and cultural materials to develop techniques of reading, cultural awareness, and mastery of the spoken and written language. The work includes practice in understanding and using the spoken language. Written exercises and reading materials serve to reinforce communicative skills, build vocabulary and enhance discussion of the individual and community. This course includes required practice sessions with an apprentice teacher (AT), which will be scheduled at the beginning of the semester. Prerequisite: SPAN 111Y or equivalent. Offered every year.
SPAN 214Y
Language and Culture: Intermediate Spanish
SPAN 214Y
This second half of the yearlong intermediate-level language course builds on the concepts and skills addressed in the first semester, with a continued focus on language and culture for students who are interested in developing their ability to speak, read, write and understand Spanish. Students will be exposed to more complex Spanish grammar, while also expanding their vocabulary in context, using authentic materials similar to those of the first semester (including short novels, stories, essays, newspaper articles, films, television series, and songs). Students will produce more advanced analytic and creative writing assignments, and will be asked to actively discuss a range of challenging topics in class with increased proficiency (compared to fall semester). Like SPAN 213Y, this course includes required practice sessions with an apprentice teacher (AT), though the days and times for these may be different from the fall semester. Prerequisite: SPAN 213Y or equivalent. Offered every year.
SPAN 340
Latin American Cinema
SPAN 340
This course studies a significant, provocative selection of films from Latin America. This cultural production, despite its lack of international visibility until recently, has a long and complex history that merits consideration. Students will be given the opportunity to see the present-day region and the forces that have shaped it through images generated from within its cultures. They will be exposed to an art that is revolutionary because of its form and the ways in which it challenges the cinematic methods and styles of creation that characterize Hollywood's cultural industry. It uses as a theoretical basis a range of cultural, gender, ethnic, queer and postcolonial perspectives as they apply to cinema. We will consider films directed by "El Indio" Fernandez, Buñuel, Birri, Gutiérrez Alea, Rocha, Sanjinés, Ledouc, Lombardi, Subiela, Gaviria, Bemberg, Salles and Cuarón, among others. This course is recommended for majors in Spanish as well as international studies. Prerequisite: SPAN 321 or equivalent. Generally offered every three years.
SPAN 348
Guerrillas, Drugs, Imagination: Violence and Culture in Contemporary Colombia
SPAN 348
Leech has acknowledged that to perceive Colombia "simply as an exporter of cocaine or a perpetrator of terrorism is to completely misunderstand it." Hence, this course first addresses the economic and political causes of the violence that has plagued the Latin American country since 1948. After establishing this historical perspective, we focus on relevant cultural productions that represent and challenge contemporary Colombian social reality. The course studies narrative, essay, poetry, theater and cinema produced throughout the last 50 years in this intriguing country that has been defined as "the scent of an overripe guava." Prerequisite: SPAN 321 or equivalent. Generally offered every three years.
SPAN 354
Spanish American Poetry Since 1880
SPAN 354
This course is designed to introduce students to the literary trends and the poetics that underlie 20th-century Spanish American poetry, including those labeled "modernism," "avant-garde," "social poetry," "anti-poetry" and "conversationalism." Through close readings of representative works, the course will examine the representation of nation, class, gender, ethnicity and sexuality by the practice of these poetics. Some of the authors included are: Martí, Darío, Mistral, Vallejo, Storni, Girondo, Huidobro, Borges, Guillén, Neruda, Lezama Lima, Burgos, Paz, Parra, Cardenal, Castellanos, Benedetti, Varela, Gelman and Pacheco. Prerequisite: SPAN 321 or equivalent. Generally offered every three years.
SPAN 359
Literature and Film from the Cuban Revolution
SPAN 359
As Burns and Charlip remark, "Perhaps no other event in Latin American history has had the impact of the Cuban Revolution of 1959. It became the model for revolutionary changes throughout Latin America and beyond. It also became a model for U.S. Cold War policy." Naturally, this social process has generated an array of cultural productions during the last five decades, in favor and against, on the island and in the U.S. and other countries, in Spanish and English. This class examines representative works of such cultural production, exploring the representations of different kinds of social subordination in poems, short stories, essays and films. It considers works by well-known poets such as Guillén, García Marruz and Padilla; short story writers such as Piñera, Jorge Cardozo and Benítez Rojo; essayists such as Fernández Retamar, Pérez Firmat, and Campuzano; and filmmakers such as Gutiérrez Alea, Solás and Pérez, among others. The class includes extensive reading on social context and a theoretical perspective informed by postcolonial studies. Prerequisite: SPAN 321 or equivalent. Generally offered every three years.
SPAN 375
Spanish American Essay and the Quest for Decolonization
SPAN 375
This course examines the modern and contemporary Spanish American essay in its defiance of colonialism and neocolonialism. It considers, among others, texts by Bolívar, Bello, Sarmiento, Gómez de Avellaneda, Martí, Rodó, Henríquez Ureña, Mariátegui, Reyes, Ortiz, Paz, Castellanos, Fernández Retamar and García Márquéez. These works are placed in their social and cultural context by concise and interpretative readings on Latin American history. A theoretical perspective informed by postcolonial studies is used extensively. However, a critique of this perspective as a metropolitan representation that does not accurately mirror the periphery's social reality is also incorporated. The course is especially recommended for Spanish and international studies majors. Prerequisite: SPAN 321 or equivalent. Generally offered every three years.
SPAN 395
Creative Writing in Spanish
SPAN 395
This course has the goal of cultivating a theory and practice of creative writing in Spanish. Its foundation is contemporary Spanish American writing in Spanish, specifically, essays, short stories and poetry. The class includes discussion of texts on the art of writing as well as of works that could be considered models for writing. In order to offer students the possibility of developing their craft, part of the course is taught using a workshop format. In addition to writing assignments and the sharing and critiquing of peer work, students complete an extensive creative writing project. This is not a composition course and requires a mature approach to offering and receiving criticism as well as an advanced proficiency in the language. Permission of instructor required. No prerequisite. Generally offered every two years.
Academic & Scholarly Achievements
2013
Cuarto de desahogo: Antología Poética. Intro. Arturo Arango. Havana: Letras Cubanas.
2013
Every Good Heart Is a Telescope: Early Poems. Trans. Katherine Hedeen. Claremont [CA]: Toad Press.
2013
thaw/deshielos. Trans. Katherine Hedeen. Todmorden: Arc Publications.
2011
Reversos. Guadalajara: Mantis Editores.
2011
2011
Tareas. Seville: Renacimiento.
2011
Une étrange odeur de monde/ Con raro olor a mundo. Trans. Jean Portante. Paris: L’Oreille du Loup, French.
2011
L’ultimo alla fiera: Antologia poetica, 1975-2000/El último a la feria. Trans. Emilio Coco. Foggia, Italy: Sentieri Meridiani. Italian.
2011
Världen ryms i en alexandrin/ El mundo cabe en un alejandrino. Ed. and Trans. Lasse Söderberg. Intro. Ángela García. Malmö: Aura Latina. Swedish.
2010
Intervenciones: Antología poética. Ed. and intro. Juan Carlos Abril. Santader, Spain: La Mirada Creadora.
2010
Todo buen corazón es un prismático: Antología personal, 1975-2005. Intro. Juan Gelman. Mexico: La Cabra Ediciones-UANL.
2009
Actas de medianoche. Caracas: Monte Ávila.
2008
The Infinite’s Ash. Trans. and Intro. Katherine Hedeen. Todmorden: Arc, 2008.
2008
Actas de medianoche. Havana: Letras Cubanas.
2008
Actas de medianoche y otros poemas. Intro. Reina María Rodríguez. La Habana: Torre de Letras.
2007
Con raro olor a mundo: Tercera antología. San José de Costa Rica: Casa de Poesía.
2007
Actas de medianoche/ II. Soria: Diputación Provincial de Soria.
2006
Actas de medianoche/ I. Valladolid: Junta de Castilla y León.
2004
Con raro olor a mundo: Primera antología. Havana: Unión.
2000
Oración inconclusa. Seville: Renacimiento.
1995
El último a la feria. San José de Costa Rica: EDUCA.
1994
Los poemas de nadie y otros poemas. Medellín: Tecnológico de Antioquia.
1993
Cuarto de desahogo. Havana: Unión.
1987
Noticiario del solo. Havana: Letras Cubanas.
1981
Con raro olor a mundo. Havana: Unión.
1979
Cayama. Santiago de Cuba: Uvero.