Elena Martínez

courses

• Latin American Literature;
• Latin American Women's Literature;
• Latino/Latina Literature.

Elena M. Martínez (Ph.D., New York University) is Professor of Spanish and Latin American literature at Baruch College and The Graduate Center (City University of New York). She has served as Chair of the Department of Modern Languages at Baruch since 2001, and coordinated the Latin American and Caribbean program since 1996.

Professor Martínez also serves on the Ph.D. Executive Committee and the Examination Committee of the Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Program. In addition, Elena M. Martínez serves on numerous Ph.D Thesis Committees including directing several thesis. From 1994-1999, she was a member of the Board of Directors for the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies of the CUNY Graduate Center.

A specialist in Latin American literature, Martínez has authored three books: El discurso dialógico en La era imaginaria (Madrid: Betania, 1991), Onetti: estrategias textuales y operaciones del lector (Madrid: Verbum, 1992), and Lesbian Voices from Latin America: Breaking Ground (New York: Garland, 1996). Her articles have appeared in such literary journals as Revista Iberoamericana, Michigan Quarterly Review, Inti: Revista de Literatura Hispánica, Confluencia: Revista Hispánica de Cultura y Literatura, Chasqui: Revista de Literatura Latinoamericana, Letras Hispanas, and Encuentro de la Cultura Cubana, among others. She has contributed chapters to numerous books and encyclopedias of Latin American literature.

Her essays have appeared in journals in the United States, Spain and Latin America. Among these publications are Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History (Routledge, 2001), Spanish Writers on Gay and Lesbian Themes. A Bio-Critical Sourcebook (Greenwood Press), and Gay and Lesbian Themes in Latin American Literature (Greenwood Press). Martínez has also published numerous book reviews.

The Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Día has published her essays and reviews in their Sunday Literary section. Professor Martínez has reviewed manuscripts for several leading presses including University of Texas Press, Center for Latin American Studies Press of Arizona University and Garland publishers. She serves on the editorial board of Chasqui: Revista de Literatura Latinoamericana and on the board of Letras Hispanas.

Currently, Elena M. Martínez is at work on several essays on 20th and 21st century Puerto Rican and Cuban fiction.

Selected Publications from 2005-2008:

• “Asedios a la masculinidad hegemónica: a propósito de la obra de Luis Rafael Sánchez". Letras Hispanas: Revista de Literatura, Vol. 5, No. 1, Spring 2008, Pages 10-19.

• “La imaginación erótica en las novelas de Mayra Montero y Cristina Peri Rossi.” La Revista del Vigía, número 29, año 18. August 2007. Ediciones Vigía, Cuba, pages 83-104.

• “Espacio homosocial en “Bienvenido Bob, “Presencia” y Cuando entonces.”in Letras Hispanas ( wwwletrashisp@nas.com ), January 2007.

• “Género y posmodernismo: Intención paródica en El amor es una droga dura de Cristina Peri Rossi” en Desde aceras opuestas: Literatura/cultura gay y lesbiana en Latinoamérica. Editor Dieter Ingenschay. Madrid/Frankfurt: Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2006, pages 209-223.

• “In Memoriam: Guillermo Cabrera Infante.” Revista Iberoamericana. University of Pittsburg. April-June 2005, Vol. LXXI, Num. 211, pages 593-595.

• “Luis Cruz Azaceta.” The Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States. Oxford University Press, 2005, pages 135-136.

• “Sheila Ortiz-Taylor.” The Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States. Oxford University Press, 2005, pages 195-196.

• “Iván Acosta.” The Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States. Oxford University Press, 2005, pages 4- 5.

• “Oscar Hijuelos.” The Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States. Oxford University Press, 2005, pages 293-295.

• “The Literature of Luz María Umpierre.” The Encyclopedia of Latinos and Latinas in the United States. Oxford University Press, 2005, pages 254-256.

• "Writing Against the Grain: Lesbian Latin American Literature." Latin American Literary History: A Revision. Editors Mario Valdés and Linda Hutcheon. Oxford University Press, 2005, pages 341-348.

Recent Lectures and Panel Presentations

• Chair of the panel “Cuban, Dominican and Puerto Rican Women Writers.” Northeast Modern Language Association, April 12, 2008.

• “Identidad y nación en Nuestra señora de la noche.” Northeast Modern Language Association, April 12, 2008.

• Panel Moderator, March 13, 2008, Panel on Non-Heteronormative Cuba,” March 13, 2008.

• “A Changing Cuba/In a Changing World, Graduate Center, CUNY.

• ”“Masculinidad en la obra de Guillermo Cabrera Infante.” Cuban Research Institute. Florida International University, February 21-22, 2008.