Dialogue with the Americas


With Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Sergio Ramirez and Carlos Fuentes,
Mexico City, 1992

Professor Williams has been engaged in a dialogue of over three decades with the writers and scholars of Latin America. During this period, he has interviewed numerous writers, been invited to symposia in Latin America and the U.S., and has organized several symposia himself. In the mid-1080s, he founded the Association of North American Colombianists, creating a setting in two symposia (one in Colombia and one in the U.S. at his former institution Washington University in St. Louis) for Colombian writers and scholars to enter in dialogue with scholars based in the U.S. President Belisario Betancur of Colombia opened the symposium in organized in Colombia. In the early 1990s, he organized a series of "Novel of the Americas" symposia at the University of Colorado, including writers such as Carlos Fuentes, Mario Vargas Llosa, Elena Poniatowska, Sergio Ramirez, Toni Morrison, and William H. Gass, as well as two special guests from Europe with strong interests in the Americas: Salman Rushdie and Juan Goytisolo.


Professor John Kronik & Writer Edmundo Paz-Soldan, 2001

 


With Carmen Boullosa (Mexican writer) at UCR





Interview with Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Interview with Mario Vargas Llosa
Interview with Women Writers in Colombia
Invited Lectures
Symposia organized


Invited Lectures
"Memoria y desplazamientos" Writing in the Americas, February, 2000, Boston University.

"Latin American Literature in the Humanities and Socia Science Classroom" invited plenary speaker, Conference on teaching Latin American studies in the Humanities and Social Science Classroom, Wabash College, Wabash, Indiana, November, 1999.

"La narrativa posmoderna y la violencia en Colombia," Gobernaci¨án del Valle del Cauca, Cali, Colombia, June, 1998 (invited by Governor of Valle del Cauca).

"The Postmodern Novel in Latin America," University of Kentucky, February, 1997.

"Is There a Postmodern Novel in Latin America?" Princeton University, April, 1995.

"Tres Observaciones sobre la posmodernidad latinoamericana," Universidad Central, Bogot¨¢,
June, 1995.

"Introducci¨án a la novela posmoderna en Am¨¦rica Latina," Instituto de Cultura Caldense, Manizales, Colombia, June, 1995.

"Posmodernidades andinas," Biblioteca Luis Angel Arango, August, 1994.

"Recent Trends in the Latin American Novel," Plenary Lecture, Latin American Library Association, Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, May, 1994.

"Terra Nostra y El Escorial: Una Lectura," University of Kansas, April, 1993.

"The Postmodern Novel in Latin America," Colorado State University, March, 1993.

"Observaciones sobre la arquitectura de Terra Nostra y de El Escorial," Universidad Sim¨án Bol¨ªvar, Caracas, January, 1993.

"Introducci¨án al mundo de Gabriel Garc¨ªa M¨¢rquez," Summer Language Institute, University of Northern Colorado, July, 1992.

"Mario Vargas Llosa and El hablador," Willamette University, May, 1992.

"Truth Claims, Postmodernism and the Latin American Novel," Opening Forum (with Hayden White, Linda Hutcheon) Annual Meeting of Modern Language Association, San Francisco, December 27, 1991.

"The World of Gabriel Garc¨ªa M¨¢rquez," Brunswick College, Brunswick, Georgia, April, 1991.

"Ideology and the Twentieth Century Colombian Novel," Colorado State University, March 1991.

"Existe la novela posmoderna en Am¨¦rica Latina?" University of New Mexico, November, 1990.

"Ideology and the Colombian Novel," Plenary Lecture, "Symposium: Colombia Today," Dickenson College, November, 1989.

"La novela colombiana finisecular," Plenary Session, Tercer Congreso de la Asociaci¨án de Colombianistas Norteamericanos, Universidad Javeriana, Bogot¨¢, June, 1986.

"Garc¨ªa M¨¢rquez y la novela colombiana finisecular," Banco de la Rep¨¡blica, Barranquilla, Colombia, June, 1986.

"The World of Garc¨ªa M¨¢rquez in One Hundred Years of Solitude," All-campus Humanities Lecture, Central Methodist College, March, 1986.

"Recent Trends in the Spanish-American Novel, 1975-1985," Plenary Session, Mountain Interstate Conference on Foreign Languages, Furman College, October, 1985.

"Observaciones sobre los cuentos de Aristiz¨¢bal, Ruiz y Alvarez Gardeaz¨¢bal," Plenary Session, Simposio Literatura Latinoamericana, Universidad Javeriana, Bogot¨¢, June, 1984.

"La novela colombiana de los setenta en el contexto hispanoamericano," Plenary Session, Simposio de Literatura, Cali, Colombia, June, 1984.

"La novela colombiana de los setenta: la superaci¨án del mito de Macondo," Centro Colombo-Americano, Bogot¨¢, July,1981.

"La novela colombiana: m¨¦todos de an¨¢lisis," Centro Colombo-Americano, Bogot¨¢, July, 1981.

"La recepci¨án de la novela colombiana en los Estados Unidos," Centro Colombo-Americano, Bogot¨¢, July, 1981.

"La novela colombiana de los setenta," Centro Colombo-Americano, Barranquilla, Colombia, July, 1981.

"La novela colombiana contempor¨¢nea," Universidad de San Buenaventura, Cali, Colombia, March 1976.


of North American Colombianists, Colombia, August, 1991.

"Ricoeur y la posmodernidad," Simposio Semiosis, University of Veracruz, Mexico, July, 1991.

Symposia organized

  1. Organizer, "Cultural Borders of Latin America and Spain," University of California, Riverside,
    February, 1999.
  2. Co-organizer, "Andean Summit" University of Colorado, March, 1996.
  3. Organizer, 1992 Novel of the Americas Symposium, University of Colorado (Carlos Fuentes, Juan Goytisolo, Mario Vargas Llosa, Toni Morrison, William Styron, Salman Rushdie, 140 others), September 8-25, 1992.
  4. Co-organizer, Novel of the Americas Symposium, "The Caribbean and the Novel of the Americas," University of Colorado, October, 1991. (Severo Sarduy and 15 others).
  5. Co-organizer, Novel of the Americas Symposium, "Women Novelists of the Americas," April, 1990. (Elena Poniatowska and 15 others).
  6. Co-organizer, Novel of the Americas Symposium, "The Novel of the Americas Today", University of Colorado, September, 1989 (with Carlos Fuentes and 15 others).
  7. Co-organizer, "Literature and History in Twentieth-Century Colombia," Washington
    University in St. Louis, March, 1985
  8. Organizer, "Primer Congreso de Colombianistas" Medell¨ªn, Colombia, June, 1984
    Co-organizer, "Literature and History in Twentieth Century Latin America, Washington
    University in St. Louis, March, 1983