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Julian ArribasProfessor of Spanish; Department Chair
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University Hall 3170
(205) 975-5349

Research and Teaching Interests: History of Cultures and Literatures of the Hispanic World, Pre-1800 Hispanic Literature, Beauty and Love in Hispanic Literature

Office Hours: By appointment

Education:
  • BA, University of Salamanca, Spain, Psychology
  • ABD, University of Salamanca, Spain, Social Psychology
  • PhD, Romance Languages and Literatures, University of Michigan

Get to know Julián Arribas.

My educational experience is deeply rooted in the liberal arts. In my college years at the University of Salamanca, Spain, I became interested in learning how the perception of beauty motivates human behavior, and how reading fiction and exercising imagination develop the human mind. Later, by way of a study abroad experience, my intellectual aspirations led me to the University of Michigan, where I developed a passion for the classical and vernacular literatures of Europe. I ended up concentrating on the literatures of the Spanish Golden Age. After receiving my PhD, I spent most of my career teaching not only my native language at American colleges and universities, but also the cultures of the Hispanic world, and, not surprisingly, the topics of beauty and love in pre-1800 Spanish literature.

Love is the most common theme in the literatures of all times. Today, the fictional narratives and films of all genres contain stories of love. The ways in which humans express love are closely related to cultural characteristics in each society. I devoted most of my research efforts focusing on a genre that tells stories of unrequited love. As you know, happy love is not a good material for fiction. And fiction develops our understanding of life, as well as (research demonstrates) cognitive abilities in our brains that make us “smarter.” If you are interested in fiction, beauty, and love, I invite you to get in touch with me to explore how you and I can become intellectual partners.


  • Recent Courses
    • Cervantes and the Quixote, a selective reading and a study of Cervantes' Don Quijote.
    • Don Juan Tenorio, a history of the legend of don Juan from the Medieval poems of "the stone & the skull" through modern versions of El convidado de piedra in literature and the arts.
    • Spanish Civilization and Culture, a general survey of significant historical events and cultural achievements in the history of the Iberian peninsula.
    • Advanced Grammar & Composition, an advanced survey of language structures and progressive development of student’s written skills.
  • Select Publications
    • Gálvez de Montalvo, Luis, El pastor de Fílida. Edición crítica, introducción y notas de Julián Arribas Rebollo. Albatros-Hispanófila Siglo XXI, No. 63, Valencia, 2006.  Print. Funded by a 2003-04 Research Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
    • Arribas Rebollo, Julián, et al., Temas de retórica hispana renacentista. Prólogo de Tomás Albadalejo. México: UNAM, 2000. Print.
    • Montemayor, Jorge de, Los siete libros de la Diana. Edición crítica e introducción de Julián Arribas. London: Tamesis, 1996. Print.
    Articles:
    • “Alegoría y deseo en La Diana de Montemayor.” Published in Romance Notes, Vol. 61.1 (2021), pp. 3–13. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
    • «“Amor sin celos”: un debate académico en el Persiles. Apuntes sobre una idea cristiana.» / «“Love without Jealousy:” An Academic Debate in the Persiles. Notes on a Christian Idea.» Hipogrifo. Revista de literatura y cultura del Siglo de Oro, vol. 17.1, 2019, pp. 13-24.
    • “Análisis de un soneto de Luis Gálvez de Montalvo” pp. 223-244. In Anna Bognolo (ed.), Serenísima palabra. Actas del X Congreso de la Asociación Internacional Siglo de Oro (Venecia, 14-18 de julio de 2014). Biblioteca di Rassegna iberistica 5. Univerzità Ca’Foscari Edizioni, Venezia 2017.
    • Arribas Rebollo, Julián. “‘Hermosa sobre la humana belleza...’ Cervantes y la tradición de la mujer bella.” Encuentros en Catay, 28 (2014): 292-308.
    • Arribas Rebollo, Julián. "La sententia en la preceptiva española del siglo XVI." Eds. Helena Beristain & Gerardo Ramírez Vidal. Los ejes de la retórica, Bitácora de Retórica 20 (2005): 193-207.
    • Arribas Rebollo, Julián. “Una elegía funeral inserta en El pastor de Fílida.” Calíope 9.1 (2003): 35-66.
    • Arribas Rebollo, Julián. "Lexical Notes of Amor, Tiempo and Fortuna in the Poems of the Spanish Pastoral Romances." Romance Notes XXXVII.1 (1996): 75-88.
  • Academic Distinctions and Professional Societies
    • FOLGER Institute: “The Spanish Connection, A Late-Spring Seminar.” Participant in the seminar at the Folger Institute and develop associated research at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC; May and June 2007.
    • NEH. 2003-04 Research Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a book-length project titled “A Critical Edition of Luis Gálvez de Montalvo’s El pastor de Fílida."
    • NYU. New York University. Faculty Resource Network at New York University. (SIR) Scholar-in-Residence Program. Research Fellowship for a Project Titled “A Funeral Elegy in Montalvo’s El pastor de Fílida."
    • AIH: Asociación Internacional de Hispanistas
    • AISO: Asociación Internacional “Siglo de Oro”
    • MLA: Modern Language Association of America
    • SRBHP: Society for Renaissance & Baroque Hispanic Poetry