María Rosa Menocal (April 9, 1953 – October 15, 2012) was a Cuban-born scholar of

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

culture and history and

Sterling Professor Sterling Professor, the highest academic rank at Yale University, is awarded to a Academic tenure in North America, tenured faculty member considered the best in their field. It is akin to the rank of distinguished professor at other universities. ...

of Humanities at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. She later went on to win the Mellon and Guggenheim Fellowship for Humanities for her work in medieval history.

Education

Menocal earned a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in Romance Philology from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

, working under Samuel G. Armistead, himself a student of Américo Castro. Her 1979 dissertation was entitled "The Singers of Love:

Al-Andalus Al-Andalus () was the Muslim-ruled area of the Iberian Peninsula. The name refers to the different Muslim states that controlled these territories at various times between 711 and 1492. At its greatest geographical extent, it occupied most o ...

and the Origins of

Troubadour A troubadour (, ; ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female equivalent is usually called a ''trobairitz''. The tr ...

Poetry." Before joining the Yale faculty in 1986, she taught Romance

philology Philology () is the study of language in Oral tradition, oral and writing, written historical sources. It is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics with strong ties to etymology. Philology is also de ...

at the

Career

María Rosa Menocal's 1987 book ''The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History'' challenged the assumption that medieval European culture developed without influence from Arabic and Hebrew literature. This challenge continued throughout her work, and had a lasting impact on the treatment of Arabic texts in medieval literary study. In 2002, Menocal published ''The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain'', which has been translated into 11 languages and later made into a documentary. The book includes an introduction by fellow Yale

in the Humanities

Harold Bloom Harold Bloom (July 11, 1930 – October 14, 2019) was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world". Af ...

. Menocal focuses on tolerance in

Medieval Spain Spain in the Middle Ages is a period in the history of Spain that began in the 5th century following the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ended with the beginning of the early modern period in 1492. The history of Spain is marked by waves o ...

within the Muslim and Christian kingdoms through examples, or "

case studies A case study is an in-depth, detailed examination of a particular case (or cases) within a real-world context. For example, case studies in medicine may focus on an individual patient or ailment; case studies in business might cover a particular fi ...

" political as well as cultural. Menocal was director of the Yale Whitney Humanities Center for several years and was the co-editor of ''The Literature of Al-Andalus'' in the ''Cambridge History of Arabic Literature'' series. She focused her research on literary traditions of the Middle Ages and the interaction of various religions and cultural groups of medieval Spain. A memorial notice at Yale suggested Menocal sought to undo how severe misrepresentations of the Middle Ages typically tended to be. She was the mentor of numerous scholars of medieval

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, compri ...

, including H. D. Miller, Maria Willstedt, Lourdes Maria Alvarez, Ryan Szpiech, Nadia Altschul, Abigail Balbale, Camilo Gómez-Rivas, Hussein Fancy, Anita Savo, and the author Carolina Sanín. She was elected a Fellow of the

Medieval Academy of America The Medieval Academy of America (MAA; spelled Mediaeval until ) is the largest organization in the United States promoting the field of medieval studies. It was founded in 1925 and is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The academy publishes the q ...

in 2011 and inducted in March 2012. Menocal died of

melanoma Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it develops from the melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes. It typically occurs in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye (uveal melanoma). In very rare case ...

on October 15, 2012.Obituario: María Rosa Menocal, estudiosa de la cultura medieval hispana
, ''

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

'' Cultural, 28 October 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2019.

Publications

*''The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History: A Forgotten Heritage'' (1987, 2004) *''Writing in

Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

's Cult of Truth: From Borges to

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio ( , ; ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so well known as a writer that he was s ...

'' (1991) *''Shards of Love: Exile and the Origins of the Lyric'' (1994) *"Culture in the Time of Tolerance: Al-Andalus as a Model for Our Time" (2000) *Co-editor, ''The Literature of Al-Andalus'' (2000), Cambridge History of Arabic Literature series *''The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain'' (2002) *''The Arts of Intimacy: Christians, Jews, and Muslims in the Making of Castilian Culture'' (2008) *''The Song of the Cid'' (Penguin Books), translation by Burton Raffel; introduction and notes by María Rosa Menocal (2009)

References

External links

*
The Culture of TranslationThe Ornament of the World
documentary {{DEFAULTSORT:Menocal, Maria Rosa 1953 births 2012 deaths Cuban emigrants to the United States University of Pennsylvania alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty Yale University faculty Yale Sterling Professors Fellows of the Medieval Academy of America