Tributes

Elias L. Rivers (d. December 21, 2013, at age 89)

The field of Renaissance and Baroque Hispanic literature lost a brilliant scholar and generous mentor with the death of Elias L. Rivers, known for his illuminating research on poetry and theater. A cofounder of the Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas, he took on leading roles for nearly three decades, as Secretary General (1962-1980), Vice President (1980-1986), and President (1986-1989). He was awarded the Universidad de Salamanca’s Nebrija Prize in 1992 and was elected miembro correspondiente of the Real Academia Española in 2009. Elias’s authority in the field was established by his critical edition of Garcilaso de la Vega’s Obras completas (1974). An influential collection of essays, Things Done with Words (1984), resulted from his NEH seminar on speech acts in the comedia. His bilingual edition of Renaissance and Baroque Poetry of Spain, in print since 1966, and his critical essays highlight his concern with changing valuations and practices of literary genre including the sonnet in the comedia. Central to his approach to poetry was the intersection of writing and orality, an interest that drew upon his childhood fluency in English and Gullah and his study of Mandarin during the Second World War, and led him to welcome Derridean literary theory in the 1970s. He completed his Ph.D. at Yale University in 1952 and taught at Dartmouth (1952-1962), Ohio State University (1962-1964), Johns Hopkins (1964-1978), and the State University of New York at Stony Brook (1978-1992). In retirement, Elias and his wife, the distinguished sorjuanista Georgina Sabat-Rivers (1924-2008), continued to publish valuable work on Garcilaso, Boscán, Quevedo, and Sor Juana.

Emilie L. Bergmann

Julián Valbuena (m. 5 de febrero de 2014 a los 86 años)

Todos los comediantes no habrán conocido a Julián Valbuena, pero muchos de los calderonistas llegamos a conocerlo primero por su nom de plume, Ángel Valbuena Briones, editor de esos dos tomos Aguilar de dramas y comedias de Calderón que aun hoy día—cuando los proyectos editoriales se han perfeccionado tanto—permanecen un punto de partida e incluso la forma más asequible para textos poco estudiados. Sus prólogos a y estudios sobre las comedias mitológicas, enfatizando el simbolismo filosófico, abren brecha en la revalorización inicial de este teatro, sobre todo por sus ilustrativas referencias a antecedentes italianos. Igualmente con las comedias “novelescas” o de caballerías—a medida que se van estudiando más, se reconoce la contribución especial de Valbuena Briones por la agrupación de estos textos calderonianos con útiles referencias a la literatura fantástica que recogen. Valbuena Briones además fue probablemente el primer gran especialista de teatro clásico español que dedica atención al teatro de Sor Juana, empezando a relacionarlo con el de Calderón.

Para mí, Julián Valbuena fue además un gran amigo que tuve el privilegio de conocer para el simposio internacional que organizamos Michael McGaha y yo en mi alma mater, UCLA, para el IIIer centenario de la muerte de Calderón, en marzo de 1981. Los encuentros se repitieron a través de los años, en particular en el Coloquio Anglogermano sobre Calderón. Además de aprender mucho de sus vastos conocimientos, tuve el placer de disfrutar su finísimo sentido del humor. Gracias, Julián, por tu constante caballerosidad y gentileza, además de tu generoso apoyo profesional.

Susana Hernández Araico

Thomas A. Lathrop (d. February 17, 2012, at age 72)

Tom Lathrop: Personal Recollections

Looking back over a forty-year acquaintance, working relationship, and friendship with Tom Lathrop, certain moments come to the fore: one in particular when I learned of his passing. During a Cervantes conference at UCLA, some years back, he and I were walking together across campus when we reached a modest incline. He paused during that ascent to catch his breath and mentioned some “minor chest pains.” I took this to be a bad omen, and indeed it probably was.

It was at...