Dolores Mercedes Koch (née Gonzalez, 1928 - 11 June 2009) was a Cuban American literary critic and translator who was a pioneer in the area of

microfiction Flash fiction is a fictional work of extreme brevity that still offers character and plot development. Identified varieties, many of them defined by word count, include the six-word story; the 280-character story (also known as " twitterature"); ...

Biography

Koch was born in

Havana, Cuba Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.

in 1928. Koch completed her higher education at the

Graduate Center of the City University of New York The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and post-graduate university in New York City. Serving as the principal doctorate-granting institution of the ...

. She received her PhD in Latin American Literature in 1986, and in addition to her work on microfiction, translated to English several important Spanish-language works, including those of

Laura Restrepo Laura Restrepo (born 1950 in Bogotá, Colombia) is a Colombian author who began writing what were mainly political columns in her mid-twenties. Her first novel, ''Isle of Passion'', is based on historical deeds that occurred on Clipperton Islan ...

Jorge Bucay Jorge Bucay (born October 30, 1949) is an Argentine gestalt psychotherapist, psychodramatist and writer. His books have sold more than 2 million copies around the world, and have been translated into more than seventeen languages. Biogra ...

Alina Fernández Alina Fernández Revuelta (born 19 March 1956, Cuba) is a Cuban anti-communist activist. She is the daughter of Fidel Castro and Natalia Revuelta Clews. She is one of the best known Cuban critics of the government of Cuba and her father's a ...

, Emily Schindler, Enrique Joven, and her compatriot

Reinaldo Arenas Reinaldo Arenas (July 16, 1943 – December 7, 1990) was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright known as a vocal critic of Fidel Castro, the Cuban Revolution, and the Cuban government. His memoir of the Cuban dissident movement and of being a ...

, whose work ''

Before Night Falls ''Before Night Falls'' ( es, Antes que anochezca: autobiografía) is the 1992 autobiography of Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas, describing his early life in Cuba, his time in prison, and his escape to the United States in the Mariel Boatlift of 1 ...

'' was adapted to a film of the same name. Her article (in Spanish) "El micro-relato en México: Torri, Arreola, Monterroso y Avilés Fabila", published in 1981, is the first critical work on

in the Spanish-speaking world. Koch died at her home in New York on 11 June 2009.

References

External links

Dolores Koch collection of Reinaldo Arenas
a
Princeton University Library Special Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Koch, Dolores M. 1928 births 2009 deaths 20th-century Cuban women writers 20th-century translators 20th-century American writers 20th-century Cuban writers 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women Writers from Havana Cuban emigrants to the United States Spanish–English translators American literary critics American women literary critics CUNY Graduate Center alumni American writers of Cuban descent

Biography

References

Further reading

External links