Book TAMIU Regents Professor José Cardona-López Co-Edited Published by National Autonomous University of México

A book on the theory of the short novel form or nouvelle co-edited by Texas A&M International University (TAMIU) Regents Professor of Spanish American Literature Dr. José Cardona-López has been recently published by the Philological Research Institute, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (National Autonomous University of México) (UNAM).

Titled, Una selva tan infinita. Teoría de la novela corta: deslindes y reflexiones (Such an infinite jungle. Short novel theory: boundaries and reflections), the book's publication has been coordinated by Dr. Gustavo Jiménez Aguirre and Dr. Gabriel M. Enrique Hernández and edited by both Dr. Cardona-López and Dr. Elsa R. Brondo. The book is part of a large project devoted to the study of the Spanish-American novella supported by the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) of México, Cardona-López explained. 

"To contribute to a historical and critical reflection on the novella or nouvelle in Hispanic letters, this volume dedicates its pages to the theoretical and essential investigation that has taken place during the 20th and 21st centuries in Spanish America," Dr. Cardona-López said, " It also contains studies from the United States and European traditions accompanying these same reflections.” 

He continued, "This volume brings together critically recognized and unpublished theoretical approaches to the novella."

He was invited to edit the book in 2015. The coordinators as well as CONACYT approved his proposal for content, authors, scholars invited, and themes.

Dr. Cardona-López has been working actively on the main subject of his scholarly agenda, the Hispanic novella or nouvelle. From 2016 to 2019, he co-organized Escrituras plurales: teoría y praxis de la novela corta, an international Inter-University Seminar about the Spanish American novella or nouvelle, in conjunction with scholars from Séminaire Amérique Latine at Sorbonne Université and Center of Literary Studies at UNAM.

Dr. Cardona-López has presented papers on this subject in several international conferences, and published articles on it. In 2014, during the III International Colloquium on Mexican Novella (UNAM), he delivered an open class on how to talk about a novella or nouvelle.

Originally from Palmira, Colombia, Cardona-López has been a member of the TAMIU faculty since 1997. He earned his Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Kentucky and an M.A. in Spanish from the University of Louisville in Louisville, Ky. His B.S. in Agricultural Engineering was earned at the National University in Palmira.

Author of the internationally renowned novel, Sueños para una siesta (Dreams for a Nap) and several short story books, he received the prestigious Laurel Trilce de Oro (Golden Laurel Trilce), a Peruvian Award for his Lifelong Contribution to Literature and Culture, in 2015.

His book, Teoría y práctica de la nouvelle (Theory and Practice of the Nouvelle), is devoted to the study and discussion of the most important theoretical approaches to the "short novel," novella or nouvelle, a narrative genre that presently is having a revival in the United States and several Hispanic countries. His articles and essays on the Spanish American literature have appeared in prestigious academic journals.  

His short story books include  Al otro lado del acaso (The Other Side of Perhaps), La puerta del espejo (The Door of the Mirror),  Todo es adrede (Everything is Deliberate), and Siete y tres nueve (Seven and Three Nine). In 2014, he published his short novel, entitled, Mercedes, in the form of an e-book.

Two stories from Siete y tres nueve and Al otro lado del acaso have appeared in university texts for the teaching of Spanish and literature in the United States.

Some of his short stories have been included in anthologies published in Canada, Colombia, Spain, the United States and Perú. Short stories and micro-fictions of him have appeared in printed and electronic magazines from Colombia and abroad.

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