Sylvia Molloy (19 August 1938 – 14 July 2022) was an Argentine professor, author, editor and essayist based in New York.

Biography

Molloy was born to an Irish father and a French mother on 19 August 1938 in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

and raised in Argentina, where she grew up speaking English, French and Spanish. She moved to Paris in 1958 and graduated with her PhD in Comparative Literature from

the Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in 1967. Molloy then became a Fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation, the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

, the

Social Science Research Council The Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is a US-based, independent, international nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research in the social sciences and related disciplines. Established in Manhattan in 1923, it today maintains a he ...

, and the

Civitella Ranieri Foundation The Civitella Ranieri Foundation is an American artists’ community located at a 15th-century castle in the Umbria region of Italy. The Foundation provides four sessions of six-week long unstructured residencies every year to visual artists, ...

. She was chair of the

Modern Language Association of America The Modern Language Association of America, often referred to as the Modern Language Association (MLA), is widely considered the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature. The MLA aims to "st ...

in 2001 and the International

Institute of Latin American Studies The Institute of Latin American Studies (ILAS) was one of nine research institutes that comprised the School of Advanced Study at the University of London. It was located in the landmarked Senate House building in Bloomsbury, central London. F ...

. Molloy was awarded title of Doctor Honoris Causa from

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

. She has taught at both

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

and

Princeton Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the nine ...

universities. In 1974 she became the first woman to gain tenure at Princeton University. In 2007, she created the first Master of Fine Arts degree in the United States in creative Spanish writing at New York University where she held the

Albert Schweitzer Ludwig Philipp Albert Schweitzer (; 14 January 1875 – 4 September 1965) was an Alsatian-German/French polymath. He was a theologian, organist, musicologist, writer, humanitarian, philosopher, and physician. A Lutheran minister, Schwei ...

chair of Humanities. Molloy died from cancer in

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

on 14 July 2022, at the age of 83.

Bibliography

Essays

*La Diffusion de la littérature hispano-américaine en France au XXe siècle (1972) *Las letras de Borges (1979) *At Face Value: Autobiographical Writing in Spanish America (1991) *Acto de presencia: la literatura autobiográfica en Hispanoamérica (1997) *Poses de fin de siglo. Desbordes del género en la modernidad (2013) *Citas de lectura (2017)

Fiction

*En breve cárcel (1981) *El común olvido (2002) *Varia imaginación (2003) *Desarticulaciones. (2010) *Vivir entre lenguas (2016)

With others

*Hispanisms and Homosexualities (1998, with Robert McKee Irwin) *Poéticas de la distancia. Adentro y afuera de la literatura argentina (2006, with Mariano Siskind)

Awards

*2014 Konex Award for Literary Essay *1994 Konex Award for Literary Essay

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Molloy, Sylvia 1938 births 2022 deaths People from Buenos Aires 20th-century Argentine women writers Argentine non-fiction writers Argentine people of Irish descent Argentine people of French descent Paris-Sorbonne University alumni Yale University faculty Princeton University faculty New York University faculty 21st-century Argentine women writers Presidents of the Modern Language Association Fulbright alumni