B.A. Vanderbilt M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D. Yale

Fields of Interest:

 19th, 20th and 21st centuries Latin American Literatures and Cutures, Modern Poetry, Critical Theory and Cultural Studies. Cuban and Caribbean Culture, Post-colonial studies, intellectual history, modern painting.

Santí became in 2000 the first William T. Bryan Endowed Chair in Hispanic Studies. Before coming to UK, he taught at Duke, Cornell and Georgetown. In addition to his work on Neruda, and Paz, Santí has devoted books to José Martí and Fernando Ortiz. Bienes del siglo. Sobre cultura cubana (2002) gathers together thirty years´ worth of his essays on Cuban topics. Santí serves on editorial boards of over a a dozen scholarly journals, and his research has been supported over the years by a number of grants, including a Guggenheim Fellowship.For years he was one of the four rotating editors of the journal Cuban Studies and produced a number of issues devoted to literature and culture. In 1996, Santí was named the youngest holder of the Emilio Bacardí Moreau Visiting Professorship of Cuban Studies at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, where he taught a seminar on "Literature and Film of the Cuban Republic". In 1998 the Southern California Institute of Cuban-American Culture awarded him its highest award: the "Palma Espinada" Prize for life and career achievement. Santí is also a published poet and a frequent art critic. 

Two of his major publications appeared recently: an edition of Reinaldo Arenas´ El mundo alucinante. Una novela de aventuras (Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra, 2008), and Luz espejeante: Octavio Paz ante la crítica (Mexico City: Ediciones Era, 2009). The latter book, which collects 42 essays by various hands, was launched at a major event in July 2009 in Mexico City and carried by several major newspapers which interviewed Santí. An essay on classical music, “Golden Compass,” has recently appeared as the CD brochure to Aurelio de la Vega’s Orchestral Works, under the North/South label. Santí’s edition of Guillermo Cabrera Infante’s Tres tristes tigres, co-edited with Nivia Montenegro, has just appeared with Madrid’s Cátedra.

Awards and Grants:

 Santí became in 2000 the first William T. Bryan Endowed Chair in Hispanic Studies, where until 2002 he served as Director of Graduate Studies. In addition to his work on Neruda, and Paz, Santí has devoted books to José Martí and Fernando Ortiz. Bienes del siglo. Sobre cultura cubana (Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2002) gathers together thirty years´ worth of his essays on Cuban topics. Santí serves on editorial boards of a dozen scholarly journals, among them Hispanic Review, the flagship of the field, and on the Research Council of the Center for a Free Cuba, a Washington, D.C. think tank. In addition to a Guggenheim, Santí´s research has been supported over the years by fellowships from The Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars, the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the American Philosophical Society. For years he was one of the four rotating editors of the journal Cuban Studies and produced a number of issues devoted to literature and culture. In 1996, Santí was named the youngest holder of the Emilio Bacardí Moreau Visiting Professorship of Cuban Studies at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, where he taught a seminar on "Literature and Film of the Cuban Republic". In 1998 the Southern California Institute of Cuba American Culture awarded him its highest award: the "Palma Espinada" Prize for life and career achievement. Santí is also a published poet, author of Son peregrino (1995), and a frequent art critic. 

Santí gave recently one of the keynote addresses at the Virgilio Piñera Centennial conference ("Celebrando a Virgilio") at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, January 12, 2012. His talk has appeared as http://www.diariodecuba.com/cultura/9102-triana-el-duende-fragil  

FAll 2014 

On leave until January 2015, Santí has been busy during this, the centennial of Octavio Paz´s birth. In November 2013 he gave the keynote address at a Paz conference at El Colegio de Puebla, in Puebla, Mexico. During this year he has given or will give additional lectures on his work in Cuernavaca, Morelos; Chihuahua; Rio de Janeiro and New Delhi. Santí has three books in press: Conversaciones con Octavio Paz (Editorial Confluencias), Cuarenta años de escribir poesía: Octavio Paz en El Colegio Nacional (Ediciones del Equilibrista) and the second, revised edition of his classic El acto de las palabras: Estudios y diálogos con Octavio Paz (Fondo de Cultura Económica). Libertad bajo palabra (1935-1957), in its second revised edition, has just appeared in Madrid’s Ediciones Cátedra, as well as the revised edition of Paz´s El laberinto de la soledad. Two essays, “Siete tesis para recordar a Octavio Paz,” in the latest issue of UNI (El Colegio de Puebla), and “Octavio Paz, o la modernidad” in Crítica (Benemérita Universidad de Puebla) have also been published. Finally, co-edited with Nivia Montenegro was Libro de Arenas, Prosa dispersa 1965-1991 (Mexico City, Ediciones del Equilibrista), an edited volume of Reinaldo Arenas’ uncollected prose.

          Santí´s Cuban versions of poems by Wallace Stevens and Hart Crane have appeared twice in recent months in Diariodecuba.com, a digital magazine.      

FALL 2012 and Spring 2013

Santí curated the first poetry digital app (for IPad and IPhone) on Octavio Paz's Blanco for Mexico's Fondo de Cultura Económica. The app can be obtained through

https://itunes.apple.com/mx/app/octavio-paz-blanco/id484285852?mt=8

His book Mano a mano: Ensayos de circunstancia (Valencia: Aduana Vieja) was published in January 2013. It includes essays on literature, music, painting and popular culture. The book is available through 

http://www.publiberia.com/libros/p/385-mano_a_mano_ensayos_de_circunsta…

During Fall 2012 Santí taught a graduate course on "Modern Latin American Novel" and currently, Spring 2013, is directing his popular "Ghost Studies" seminar on spectral theory and culture.

FALL 2011:Santí returned this Fall from a year-long sabbatical during which he did research, in California, New York, New Orleans, Paris and Mexico City on his major project on Octavio Paz’s intellectual biography. In October 2010, he gave the closing keynote address at the Lezama Lima Centennial Conference at the Benémerita Universidad de Puebla, in Puebla, México. In May he gave a series of invited lectures in Santiago de Chile at Chile´s Pontificia Universidad Católica and at Universidad Finisterre, where he was sponsored by the Cátedra Roberto Ampuero. After Chile, Santí traveled to Buenos Aires where he was interviewed for an upcoming video documentary on the 1960´s Boom of the Latin American novel. A transcript of portions of that interview appeared in June in La Gaceta Literaria, Tucumán [http://www.lagaceta.com.ar/nota/441233/LA_GACETA_Literaria/Quienes-son-felices-normalmente-no-producen-grandes-obras.html . This Fall Santí is teaching, besides his popular undergraduate Latin American Literature survey course, a new graduate course on the 20^thand 21^stcenturies Spanish American Essay. Upcoming lectures and appearances include, in November, an invited lecture at Guadalajara´s Feria Internacional del Libro; a keynote address at the Transcolonial Caribbean Conferenceat the University of Potsdam, Germany, in December; and an invited paper for a special session on literary biography on biography and narrative at the MLA annual convention in Seattle in January 2012. “Aurelio de la Vega encuentra su compás”, a long poem celebrating the 85^th birthday of the Cuban classical composer, appeared this past year in the Mexican journal Crítica. This Fall revised versions of his Cátedra editions of Neruda´s Canto general and Paz´s Libertad bajo palabra have appeared in Madrid. Among Santí´s many ongoing projects is his work as curator for a digital project on Octavio Paz´s poem Blanco for Mexico´s Fondo de Cultura Económica.     

Este poema surrealista fue creado por el seminario de posgrado "Octavio Paz: Poetry, Politics and the Intellectual" que se ofrece actualmente en el Departamento de Estudios Hispánicos bajo la dirección de E.M. Santí. Gracias a: Sarah Finley, Dan Anderson, Megan O'Neil, Naiara Porras Rentero, Constantin Icleanu, Whit Jordan. y, desde luego, a Octavio Paz.  

YO TENGO UNA ESPOSA MUY BONITA...

yo tengo una esposa muy bonita que es enfermera.

la fuga va y viene en la mente

el niño comía caramelos rojos y el pájaro lo observaba

ahora nos vamos a ahorrar pucheros

me vengo del pasado con ira y furor

por qué escribo tan lento, !caramba!