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"Department of Spanish and Portuguese"

Agnes Moncy

PhD, University of Texas-Austin
Professor of Spanish

Research interests          
  In 19th and 20th Century Spanish Peninsular Literature, I have worked mostly on the novel, and some on literary theory.  In essays I have written on Galdos and Clarin, and in books I have written on   Unamuno and Delibes. Complementing my research, I have worked as a literary translator, greatly enjoying creating English versions of Spanish novels. Fortunata and Jacinta (4 volumes by Benito Perez Galdos) is my major contribution to 19th Century Spanish Literature in English.  I have also translated two contemporary Spanish novels: The Wars of Our Ancestors (author, Miguel Delibes) and A Time of Your Own (Carlos Blanco Aguinaga).  My most recent project in translation of a book is not yet published; it is a monograph on El Greco, by Manuel B. Cossio (1908). Currently I am starting a new translation, of a biography (in French) on the Lithuanian sculptor Antanas Moncys.

Most recent publications:  

Books:
Versiones inglesas de poemas de Hierro . Translation of selected poetry of Jose Hierro (49 pp). Santander, Spain, BEDIA, 2000.

Certificate in Translation (Spanish/English, English/Spanish). The written proposal for this graduate program (70 pp.) is synthesized in the official brochure, published by La Salle University (2005). Co-authored with Luis A. Gomez (Program Director) and Hiram Aldarondo.

Articles:
"Las traducciones de Delibes al ingles y mi experiencia como traductora de  Las guerras de nuestros antepasados ", pp. 149-157, in Miguel Delibes.
Mi mundo y el mundo .  Fundacion Instituto Castellano y Leones de la Lengua, 2003.

"Comentario del libro USA y yo" , pp 195-206 in Miguel Delibes. Mi mundo y el mundo .  Fundacion Instituto Castellano y Leones de la Lengua, 2003.

"Elegant Havana", translation of short story by Arturo Arango. In anthology Cuba on the Edge , ed. Mary Berg (London, 2006).

Teaching:
Depending on the class size, level and subject, my views and methods as a professor vary widely.  If the class is undergraduate and language-skills based, the departmental guidelines are followed.  If the undergraduates are students of non-literary translation, I compose the course materials every semester from current newspapers so as to teach "real" community language in the target language, using standard journalistic models in English (New York Times or Philadelphia Inquirer) to guide development of translation skills. If the course taught is advanced undergraduate, "The Art of Translation," I emphasize style in literary works that form part of the canon.  Excerpts in anthologies with some background material, together with a chronological approach (medieval to contemporary samples) serve to orient students before undertaking their translations. The third of the four undergraduate areas I teach, medical Spanish, concentrates on technical vocabulary, cultural differences and oral skills. Students become able to write a 10 page skit on a medical situation in a hospital and then perform it (and be filmed).   The fourth area is Spanish film.  Again, approach varies. In Temple's summer program for 2004 and 2005, selected auteurs and studies were feasible; in 2007, a very large class made a monographic study on Pedro Almodovar easier.   

In graduate teaching, similarly, my approach varies.  In 19th century seminars, I use a combination of textual analysis, lecture, student oral reports in Spanish and preparation for independent study of topic in the term paper (15-20 pages). My approach is fairly classic. With the contemporary Spanish novel, always shifting, it is necessary to select genres, authors and periods and even special topics quite differently: as they arise. Literary criticism (used, reused and updated in 19th century seminars) is sometimes not even written yet, so students have to be guided very carefully. I have not received any teaching awards.

 

Department of Spanish and Portuguese
Anderson Hall 4th Floor 1114 West Berks Street Philadelphia, PA 19122-6090
Phone: (215) 204-8285 Fax: (215) 204-3731
http://www.temple.edu/spanpor/