Jack Himelblau

Jack J. Himelblau is an author and a professor of Spanish literature at The University of Texas at San Antonio. He received his doctorate in 1965 from the University of Michigan with a thesis on "The aesthetic ideas of Alejandro O. Deustua".^[1]

Works

His studies of the work by Miguel Ángel Asturias, Hombres de maíz (Men of Maize) led him to a series of articles on Popol Vuh^[2] which adopted Munro Edmonson's theory of multiple manuscripts, and a book Quiché Worlds in Creation: The Popol Vuh As a Narrative Work of Art.^[3] (Culver City, Calif: Labyrinthos, 1989.) It was reviewed in Hispania ^[4] and in American Indian Quarterly.^[5]

His other publications include "The Argentine Avant-Garde Theatre", "The Cantar de Mio Cid: A Morphological-Syntagmatic Analysis of the Exile of the Cid", "El Señor Presidente: Antecedents, Sources and Reality."

Himelblau authored a book, The Morphology of the Cantar de Mio Cid, in 2010. In an issue of Hispanófila, reviewer Grant Gearhart commented that the work "is an excellent resource for students new to the Cantar. Additionally, the author includes English translations of the original Old Castilian, making the work appealing to a wide-range of literary scholars interested in studying narratives through a Proppian lens. The reader, though, would be greatly served by a background in Proppian jargon, as the book abounds with specific terminology."^[6]

He edited The Indian in Spanish America: Centuries of Removal, Survival, and Integration. In Latin American Research Review, Richard N. Adams wrote, "Were its title to be the guide, editor Jack Himelblau's The Indian in Spanish America: Centuries of Removal, Survival, and Integration would be a perfect introduction to the issues of ethnic resistance and survival... Unfortunately, the collection as finally published reveals no basis for the choice of selections, no guidance as to what the reader is expected to find, and no review of the larger literature that would place them within a historical context. As a reviewer who lacks both the competence and the time to contextualize them, I must limit my review to little more than indicating the principal authors."^[7] It was also reviewed in Revista Canadiense De Estudios Hispánicos,^[8] in The Hispanic American Historical Review,^[9] Latin American Antiquity.^[10] and in Hispania ^[11]

Himelblau also serves on the advisory board for The Paisano, the independent student newspaper of UTSA.^[12]

Bibliography

• Himelblau, Jack J. Morphology of the Cantar De Mio Cid. Potomac, Md: Scripta Humanistica, 2010.
• Himelblau, Jack J. The Indian in Spanish America: Centuries of Removal, Survival, and Integration : a Critical Anthology. Lancaster, Calif: Labyrinthos, 1994.
• Himelblau, Jack J. Quiché Worlds in Creation: The Popol Vuh As a Narrative Work of Art. Culver City, Calif: Labyrinthos, 1989.
• Himelblau, Jack J. Alejandro O. Deústua: Philosophy in Defense of Man. (Latin American Monographs) Gainesville: University Presses of Florida, 1979. According to WorldCat, the book is held in 263 libraries ^[13]

References