Meléndez, Concha 1895–1983

(Concha Meléndez Ramirez, Conchita Melendez)

PERSONAL: Born Concha Meéndez y Ramirez, January 21, 1895, in Caguas, Puerto Rico; died June 26, 1983, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Education: University of Puerto Rico, B.A., 1924; Columbia University, M.A., 1926; University of Mexico, Ph.D., 1932.

CAREER: High school teacher in Puerto Rico, c. 1920–24; University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, professor of Hispanic studies, beginning 1932, head of department, 1940–59, became professor emerita, 1959. Institute of Puerto Rican Culture, consultant; Middle-bury College, visiting professor, 1964.

AWARDS, HONORS: Institute of Puerto Rican Literature prize, 1936, for Signos de Iberoamérica, 1943, for Asomante, 1946, for La inquietud sosegada poética de Evaristo Ribera Chevvremont, 1961, for El arte del cuento en Puerto Rico, and 1973, for Moradas de poesía en Alfonso Reyes; Eugenio Maria de Hostos Medal, 1939; Royal Mexican Academy of Spanish Language, honorary degree, 1940; Rockefeller grant, 1948; Gold Medal, Puerto Rican Cultural Institute, 1955; annual prize of Ladies' Civic Club of Puerto Rico, 1961, 1966; honorary diploma, State Department of the Freely Associated State of Puerto Rico, 1963; Society of the Family of Man Medal, 1966; Certificate of Merit, Royal Mexican Academy of the Spanish Language, 1970; named to Order of Andrés Bello (Venezuela), 1971; Woman of Puerto Rico nomination, Union of Women of the Americas, 1971; honorary doctorate, Dowling College, 1977; Concha Meléndez lecture hall created at Bayamon Central University, 1978.

WRITINGS:

Psiquis doliente (poems; title means "Bereaved Psychic"), privately published (San Juan, PR), 1923.

Amado Nervo (criticism), Hispanic Institute in the United States (New York, NY), 1926, reprinted, Cordillera (San Juan, PR), 1971.

La novela indianista en Hispanoamérica (1832–1889) (thesis), Universidad Nacional Autónoma (Mexico City, Mexico), 1932.

Signos de Iberoamérica, Sánchez (Mexico City, Mexico), 1936, reprinted, Cordillera (San Juan, PR), 1970.

Entrada en el Perú (travel), Verónica (Havana, Cuba), 1941, reprinted, Cordillera (San Juan, PR), 1970.

Asomante, 1943, reprinted, Cordillera (San Juan, PR), 1970.

La inquietud sosegada poética de Evaristo Ribera Chevvremont (criticism), Junta (San Juan, PR), 1946, 3rd edition, Cordillera (San Juan, PR), 1970.

Figuración de Puerto Rico y otros ensayos (essays), Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, 1958, reprinted, Cordillera (San Juan, PR), 1970.

De frente al sol, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (San Juan, PR), 1960.

El arte del cuento en Puerto Rico (title means "The Art of the Short Story in Puerto Rico"), Las Américas (New York, NY), 1961, reprinted, Cordillera (San Juan, PR), 1970.

José de Diego en mi memoria (title means "José Diego as I Remember Him"), Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (San Juan, PR), 1966.

Literatura hispanoamericana, Cordillera (San Juan, Puerto Rico), 1967.

Personas y libros (title means "People and Books"), Cordillera (San Juan, Puerto Rico), 1970.

Palabras para oyentes: conferencias, presentaciones de escritores, exposiciones de pintura, Cordillera (San Juan, Puerto Rico), 1971.

Poetas hispanoamericanos diversos, Cordillera (San Juan, Puerto Rico), 1971.

Literatura de ficción en Puerto Rico: cuento y novel, Cordillera (San Juan, Puerto Rico), 1971.

Moradas de poesía en Alfonso Reyes (criticism), Cordillera (San Juan, Puerto Rico), 1973.

(Author of introduction) José de Diego, Cantos de pitirre, Cordillera (San Juan, Puerto Rico), 1975.

(Editor) Cuentos hispanoamericanos, Orion (Mexico City, Mexico), 1978.

Contributor of essays to academic journals.

SIDELIGHTS: Concha Meléndez was part of the past, present, and future of Latin-American literature. In addition to her work as a scholar and literary historian, she drew the public's attention to that region's literature through her work both as a biographer of some of the Latin America's most well-known writers and as an educator. Meléndez also enhanced the literature through her own well-respected body of work, and many of her books remain in print, aiding new generations of scholars. As a literary critic who was known for being generous toward those about whom she wrote, Meléndez nurtured the literature of her time. Daisy Caraballo Abreau, writing in Sin Nombre, noted that the critic looked for "the most valuable critique, that which is essential in the work, and then she would find a new universe of symbols to evoke, interpret, and transmit it."

As a writer, Meléndez's first inclination was toward poetry, and her verse collection Psiquis doliente was published in 1923 when she was twenty-eight years old. However, she soon abandoned that path to dedicate herself to prose essays and literary criticism. Meléndez continued to write without any lengthy interruptions for over fifty years. The major body of her work—some 200 essays—was published in newspapers and magazines in Puerto Rico and abroad before being collected in book form.

Meléndez's essays represent the confluence of imagination and poetry. In addition, her work is enriched by waves of intuition. Her literary work, according to Abreau, shows "a poetic sensitivity honed both by study and by a sense of order. The essay form was her most effective prose vehicle. One cannot forget that she gave up poetry. Almost all of her work conformed to the brief and concentrated mode, to the synthesis of the essay form."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Fabre, Mariano Feliciano, Antología y cartas de sus amigos (letters), Cordillera (San Juan, Puerto Rico), 1995.

Notable Hispanic Women, Volume 1, Thomson Gale (Detroit, MI), 1993.

PERIODICALS

Sin Nombre, January-March, 1984, Nieves Padilla de Garcia, "Una obra, un editor y un archivo," pp. 9-30; Maria Teresa Babin, "Concha Meléndez y Alfonso Reyes," pp. 31-37; Luis de Arrigoitia, "'Entrada en el Perú,' de Concha Meléndez," pp. 52-77; Daisy Caraballo Abreau, "El ensayo de Concha Meléndez," pp. 78-83; Rafael Arévalo Martinez, "Concha Meléndez y Rafael Arévalo Martinez" pp. 105-112.

ONLINE

Zonai.com, http://www.zonai.com/promociones/biografias/ (September 20, 2005), profile of Concha Meléndez.