Lois Parkinson Zamora
Moores Professor
- Phone: (713) 743-2959
- Email: lzamora@uh.edu
- Office: 227C
- Website
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Lois Parkinson Zamora is a leader in the comparative study of literature of the Americas. Her most recent book, The Inordinate Eye: New World Baroque and Latin American Fiction (University ofChicago Press, 2006), is a comparative study of New World Baroque art, architecture and literature. This book was awarded The Harry Levin Prize by the American Comparative Literature Association for the best book in comparative literary studies published during 2006 and 2007. Her previous books include Writing the Apocalypse (Cambridge UP, 1989) and The Usable Past(Cambridge UP 1997), both of which examine the nature of historical imagination and its representations in contemporary U.S. and Latin American fiction. Both books have been translated into Spanish and published by the Fondo de Cultura Económica. She has also edited collections of essays, including Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community, with Wendy B. Faris (Duke UP, 1995), Contemporary American Women Writers: Gender, Class, Ethnicity (Longman, 1998), and Image and Memory: Photography from Latin America 1866-1994, with Wendy Watriss (University of Texas Press, 1998). Image and Memory was recognized as the best new art book of 1998 by the Association of American Publishers. Her most recent publication is an edited anthology of essays on the New World Baroque, co-edited with Monika Kaup, titled Baroque New Worlds: Representation, Transculturation, Counterconquest (Duke UP, 2010).
Professor Zamora was Dean of the College from 1996 to 1999. During her administrative tenure, she encouraged the creation of The Forum on Law and Humanities, The Institute for Family, Health, and Human Values, The Women's Resource Center, The Junior Faculty Forum, and The Writing Center, as well as several study abroad programs. She was awarded the Moores Professorship in 2007.
Education
- Ph.D., Berkeley, Comparative Literature
- M.A., Berkeley, Comparative Literature
- B.A., Stanford, English Literature
- Certificate, Institute de Touraine, French Language
Research Interests
Magical Realism, Contemporary U.S. and Latin American Fiction, The New World Baroque in Art and Literature, Mexican Literature and Culture
Selected Publications
Books
- Baroque New Worlds: Representation, Transculturation, Counterconquest. Editor, with Monika Kaup. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010. 671 pages. Introduction: “Baroque, New World Baroque, Neobaroque: Categories and Concepts.” Pp. 1-35.
- The Americas, Otherwise. Editor with Silvia Spitta. Special issue of Comparative Literature. Vol. 61, No. 3 (2009), edited at the University of Oregon; published by Duke University Press. Introduction: “The Americas, Otherwise.” Pp. 186-208.
- The Inordinate Eye: New World Baroque and Latin American Fiction. University of Chicago Press, 2006
Translated into Spanish: La mirada exuberante: Barroco novomundista y literatura latinoamericana. Iberoamericana Editorial Vervuert. Madrid/Frankfurt/UNAM Mexico City, 2011. - Writing the Apocalypse: Historical Vision in Contemporary U.S. and Latin American Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Translated into Spanish: Narrar el apocalipsis: La visión histórica en la literatura estadunidense y latinoamericana contemporánea. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1994. - The Usable Past: The Imagination of History in Recent Fiction of the Americas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, l997.
Translated into Spanish: La construcción del pasado: La imaginación histórica en la literatura americana reciente. Mexico City: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2004. - Image and Memory: Photography from Latin America l866-l994. Editor, with Wendy Watriss. Austin: University of Texas Press, l998.
- Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community. Editor, with Wendy B. Faris. Duke University Press, l995. Translated into Korean, 2001.
- Contemporary American Women Writers: Gender, Class, Ethnicity. Editor. London: Longman Publishers, 1998.
Teaching
Recent Courses
- ARTH 3394, Baroque and New World Baroque.
- ENGL 3322, The Contemporary Novel: Magical Realism.
- ENGL 4384, HIST 4366, Latin American History Through the Novel.
- ENGL 8394, SPAN 7391, The New World Baroque and Contemporary Latin American Fiction.
- LAST 3330, Latin America: Hemispheric and Global Perspectives.
Affiliations
- American Comparative Literature Association
- International American Studies Association
- Modern Language Association
- Southern Comparative Literature Association