Robert Lima (poet)

Robert Lima is an American, poet, literary critic, bibliographer, playwright, editor, biographer, and translator. He is a professor emeritus of Spanish and Comparative Literatures at Pennsylvania State University, as well as fellow emeritus of the Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies. Lima is an academician of the Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Española and a corresponding member of the Real Academia Española. Honored as a distinguished alumnus by Villanova University, he was inducted into the Enxebre Orden da Vieira in Spain and dubbed Knight Commander in the Order of Queen Isabel of Spain by King Juan Carlos I. His 40-year career as a university professor and writer was heralded in A Confluence of Words. Studies in Honor of Robert Lima, published by Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Monographs in 2011

Background

Lima received a BA in English, Philosophy and History (1957) and MA in Theatre and Drama (1961) from Villanova University, and a Ph.D. in Romance Literatures from New York University (1968). After active duty in the United States Army Reserve, he worked in New York City in publishing and film, as well as in broadcasting for Voice of America before starting his teaching career at Hunter College of the City University of New York (1962–1965). Thereafter, he taught at Pennsylvania State University (1965–2002), with stints abroad in Peru (U. de San Marcos and U. Católica) as a Senior Fulbright Scholar and in Cameroon (U. of Yaoundé) with grants from the United States Information Agency. He has published over 150 articles in a variety of fields, including on the works of Lorca, Valle-Inclán, Borges, Afro-American religions and facets of esoterica in world drama. Over 400 of his poems have appeared throughout the U.S. and abroad in periodicals, anthologies, and in his poetry collections. In the 1960s he read poetry in many Greenwich Village venues, co-editing the anthology Seventh Street: Poems from 'Les Deux Megots' (1961) and the second Judson Review. In 1974, he created Surrealism—A Celebration, a multi-media event at Penn State in honor of the 50th anniversary of the surrealist movement. From March through August 2004, Pennsylvania State University libraries exhibited The Poetic World of Robert Lima, a retrospective of his poetry career from 1955 to the present. His poem Astrals won first prize in the Phi Kappa Phi poetry competition for 2009 and was published in the society's journal, Forum (spring 2009).

Lima's biography appears in Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the East, Who's Who in American Education and creative writing directories in the U.S. and abroad.

Bibliography

• Herzberg, Max J. The Readers Encyclopedia of American Literature. New York: T.Y. Crowell, 1962.
• The Theatre of García Lorca. New York: Las Américas, 1963.
• Barrenechea, A. M. Borges: the Labyrinth Maker. New York: New York University Press, 1965.
• del Valle-Inclán, Ramón. Autobiography, Aesthetics, Aphorisms. Monaca, PA: Limited Centennial Edition, 1966.
• Ramón del Valle-Inclán: an annotated bibliography: Volume 1. University Park, PA: Penn State University Libraries, 1972.
• Surrealism. A Celebration. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1973.
• Recuerda, J. Martín. The Inmates of the Convent of St. Mary Egyptian. New York: Performing Arts Journal Publications, 1985.
• Fathoms. State College, PA: The Carnation Press, 1981.
• Dos ensayos sobre teatro español de los veinte. Murcia, Spain: U. de Murcia, 1984.
• The Olde Ground. Waltham, MA: Society for Inter-Celtic Arts and Culture, 1985.
• del Valle-Inclán, Ramón. The Lamp of Marvels. W. Stockbridge, MA: Lindisfarne Press, 1986.
• Valle-Inclán. The Theatre of His Life. Columbia, MO: Missouri UP, 1988.
• Mayaland. Madrid, Spain: Editorial Betania, 1992.
• Savage Acts: Four Plays by Ramón del Valle-Inclán. New Brunswick, NJ: Estreno Spanish Plays, 1993.
• Borges and the Esoteric. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1993.
• Dark Prisms. Occultism in Hispanic Drama. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 1995.
• Valle-Inclán. El teatro de su vida. Vigo—Santiago de Compostela, Spain: Editorial Nigra, Spain, 1995.
• Ramón del Valle-Inclán: An Annotated Bibliography. London, UK: Grant & Cutler, 1999.
• Sardinia / Sardegna. Lafayette, IN: Bordighera, 2000.
• The Alchemical Art of Leonora Carrington. Pullman, WA: Washington State University, 2000.
• The Dramatic World of Valle-Inclán. London, UK: Boydell & Brewer, 2003.
• Tracking the Minotaur. Indianapolis, IN: AuthorHouse, 2003.
• Stages of Evil. Occultism in Western Theatre and Drama. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2005.
• The Pointing Bone. Philadelphia, PA: XLibris—A Random House Venture, 2008.
• The International Bibliography of Studies on the Life and Works of Ramón del Valle-Inclán 2 Vols. State College, PA: The Orlando Press, 2009.
• Prismas oscuros. Ocultismo en el teatro hispánico. Madrid, Spain: Editorial Fundamentos—RESAD, 2010.
• ¡Some People! Anecdotes, Images and Letters of Persons of Interest. State College, PA: The Orlando Press, 2015.
• Words of Power. Adages, Axioms & Aphorisms. Edited and Translated from the Works of Ramón del Valle-Inclán. Los Angeles, CA: Floricanto Press, 2015.