Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 20, 2007|Volume 35, Number 26

In Memoriam: José Juan Arrom

Scholar of Latin American literature

José Juan Arrom, professor emeritus of Spanish and Portuguese, passed away on April 12. He was 97 years old.

A leading authority on Latin American literature, Arrom played an important role in the history of Yale's Department of Spanish and Portuguese, says Rolena Adorno, the Reuben Post Halleck Professor and current chair of the department. "He was one of the true founders of this department, and his contributions to the history of Latin American literature form part of the permanent record of the development of our discipline."

Born in Holguín, Cuba, in 1910, Arrom emigrated to the United States in 1932. He earned three Yale degrees: a B.A., 1937; M.A., 1940; and Ph.D., 1941. He joined the Yale faculty in 1937 as an instructor and was promoted to assistant professor in 1943, associate professor in 1948 and full professor in 1954. In addition to teaching, he served as curator of the Latin American Collection in the Yale University Library, 1942-1962, and as director of graduate studies in Spanish, 1952-1968. He retired in 1976.

His books include "Historia de la literatura dramática cubana" (1944), "Certidumbre de América: Estudios de letras, folklore y cultura" (1959), "Esquema generacional de las letras hispanoamericanas. Estudio de un método" (1963), and "Mitología y artes prehispánicas de las Antillas" (1975).

He is also the editor of classic editions of Hernán Pérez de Oliva's "Historia de la invención de las Indias" (1965), based on the only known manuscript copy of the work, donated to the Yale Library in 1947 and now housed at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library; and of Fray Ramón Pané's account of the Taínos of the Caribbean, from Columbus' second voyage to the Indies, "Relación acerca de las antigüedades de los indios: el primer tratado escrito en América" (1977).

Arrom's most recent publication is a collection of his key essays and his memoirs, titled "De donde crecen las palmas" (2005).

His many honors include the Diploma of Appreciation for contribution to Hispanic scholarship in the humanities in America from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the National Endowment for the Humanities; Premio Ollántay for research on the theater; Profesor Honoris Causa en Letras y Artes, Universidad de la Habana, Cuba; Profesor de Honor and Orden Sol de Carabobo, Grado de Gran Oficial, Universidad de Carabobo, Valencia, Venezuela; and Doctor en Filosofía y Letras Honoris Causa, Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Puerto Rico y el Caribe, San Juan de Puerto Rico.

He is survived by his wife, Silvia; a daughter, Silvia M. Arrom of Acton, Massachusetts; a son, José O. Arrom of Chicago, Illinois; and two grandchildren, Christina and Daniel Oran. He is also survived by his brothers, Roberto Arrom of Caracas, Venezuela, and Rolando Arrom of Miami, Florida.

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