Lois Parkinson Zamora
John and Rebecca Moores
Distinguished
Professor
- Phone: (713) 743-2959
- Email: lzamora@uh.edu
- Office: 227C
- personal webpage
Lois Parkinson Zamora is a leader in the comparative study of literature of the Americas. Her 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 book, The Inordinate Eye: New World Baroque and Latin American Fiction (University of Chicago 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 current project is an edited anthology of essays on the New World Baroque, co-edited with Monika Kaup, forthcoming with Duke University Press to be titled Baroque New Worlds: Representation, Transculturation, Counterconquest.
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 John and Rebecca Moores Distinguished 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
Current Projects
Baroque New Worlds: Representation, Transculturation, Counterconquest. Editor, with Monika Kaup: A collection of historical and contemporary essays on the European Baroque and its ramifications in Latin America and other post-colonial contexts. (Duke University Press; forthcoming 2007.)
Selected Publications
Books
- The Inordinate Eye: New World Baroque and Latin American Fiction. University of Chicago Press, 2006
- 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. Spring 2006 Syllabus
- ENGL 3322, The Contemporary Novel: Magical Realism, Spring 2006 Syllabus
- ENGL 3396, HIST 4394, Novels and History: Latin American History in Contemporary Fiction. Fall 2005 Syllabus
- The New World Baroque and Contemporary Latin American Fiction, ENGL 8394, SPAN 7391, Spring 2005 Syllabus
- ENGL 8394, SPAN 6303, Apples and Oranges: Comparisons across Media and Genres. Spring 2003 Syllabus
Affiliations
- American Comparative Literature Association
- International American Studies Association
- Modern Language Association
- Southern Comparative Literature Association
