Jose Monleon, vice chair of Romance
Languages and Literatures for the past
three years and a well-known critic and
historian on modern Spanish literature,
died on Aug. 11. The cause was
cancer. He was 55.
Stephen G. Nichols, James M. Beall
Professor of French and Humanities and
chair of Romance Languages and Literatures,
said that Monleon brought a
special blend of vision and optimism not
only to the Spanish section but to the
department as a whole.
Nichols said that under Monleon’s
leadership, the department initiated
a successful foreign study program in
Madrid and that the undergraduate
programs in Romance Languages have
been “immeasurably strengthened thanks
largely to suggestions put forward—with
his signature modesty and quiet humor—by Jose.”
A professor of 19th- and 20th-century
Spanish literature as well as of literary
theory, Monleon completed his
last book, Literature and Dictatorship: The
Novel under Franco, shortly before his
illness. Monleon published some six editions
of modern Spanish authors such
as Gustavo Becquer, Juan Valera and
Benito Perez Galdos. He also wrote a
well-known study of the literature of the
fantastic in Spanish: Specter Is Haunting
Europe: A Sociohistorical Approach to the
Fantastic.
“As a critic, Jose had a unique talent
for exploring the interface of history and
literature—a talent he communicated
brilliantly in his seminars,” Nichols said.
“Jose was not simply a good teacher; he
was a gifted one.”
Born in Spain, Monleon came to the
United States for his university training.
He received both his bachelor’s and
doctoral degrees from the University of
California, San Diego. Before joining
Johns Hopkins in 2002, he taught at
Dartmouth College and at UCLA.
Monleon is survived by his wife, Barbara
Zecchi, a visiting associate professor
in Romance Languages, and their
son, Michael.