Professional Background:

Leticia Iliana Underwood-Holbrook is Professor of Latin American Literature and Culture at California State University, East Bay. She is interested in all topics linked to Latin-America: language, literature, culture, anthropology, politics, history and the arts. The courses she teaches at California State University, East Bay, have an interdisciplinary and cross-cultural focus. Dr. Holbrook is one of the faculty members affiliated to Latin American Studies at California State University, East Bay. Her research orientations are varied: Mexican Literature and Culture, Contemporary and Colonial Latin-American literature, the works of Octavio Paz, Mythology, Women Authors, Comparative literature, and Psycholinguistics. She is currently working on a book: Women Writers in the New World: Anne Bradstreet and Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and editing her second book on the Poetry of Octavio Paz.

Dr. Holbrook has lectured extensively in the United States and in Mexico where she has collaborated with lectures and projects with numerous institutions: National Art Palace in Mexico City, University of Hidalgo in Mexico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros, El Colegio de México and La Casa del Poeta. She has also actively contributed to cultural projects and events with the Mexican Cultural Center and the Mexican Consulate in San Francisco.

Publications:

Book(s):

Octavio Paz and the Language of Poetry: A Psycholinguistic Approach, American University Studies series XXII: Latin American Studies, Vol. 6, New York, Peter Lang (November 1992).

Essays in literary journals:

2001

"Homage to Roman Jakobson: 'Entre lo que veo y digo'" in Árbol Adentro by Octavio Paz. The American Journal of Semiotics, Vol.17, No.1 (Spring 2001), 163-182.

1997-1998

"Confluencia de textos y voces en la poesía de Francisco X. Alarcón: Poemas Serpiente: una invocación azteca." Explicación de textos literarios, Vol. XXVI-2, pp.20-42.

"Escritoras mexicanas contemporáneas: Ascensión Tun de Silvia Molina." Explicación de textos literarios, Vol. XXVI-1, pp. 80-90.

1996

"Poesía de convergencias: mitología cosmogónica en 'Movimiento' de Octavio Paz." University of California Riverside, Commemorative Series, Otras voces: ensayos sobre la poesía y prosa de Octavio Paz, Vol. 11, pp.55-67.

1993

"The Legacy of Simone de Beauvoir in Mexico: Rosario Castellanos." Simone de Beauvoir Studies, Vol. 10, 165-173.

1991-1992

"Homenaje a Roman Jakobson: Árbol adentro, 'decir hacer' de Octavio Paz". Explicación de textos literarios, Número especial, Camilo José Cela y Octavio Paz: Premios Nobel, Vol. XX-2, pp.75-87.

1991

"Automorphic Structures in the Grammatical Space of 'Custodia'." Dispositio, Vol. XV, No.40, 28-51.

1990

"Poetry as Spatial Art: 'Topoemas' by Octavio Paz," The American Journal of Semiotics, Vol.7, No.1/2, 125-143.

Courses taught at CSU East Bay:

In addition to all courses in Elementary Spanish, Individual and Independent Studies, Dr. Holbrook has taught the following upper division MLL courses at CSU East Bay:

3400 - Introduction to Literary Analysis
3401 - Advanced Spanish Composition and Syntax, I
3402 - Advanced Spanish Composition and Syntax, II
3403 - Advanced Spanish Composition and Syntax, III

3461 - Introduction to Spanish-American Literature: 1492 to 1900
3463 - Introduction to Spanish-American Literature from 1900 to the Present
3495 - Latin-American Culture and Civilization
4495a - Novel of the Mexican Revolution: Spanish-American Literature
4495b - Octavio Paz: Spanish-American Literature
4495c - Latin American Novel: Spanish-American Literature
4495d - Latin American Drama: Spanish-American Literature
4495e - Contemporary Latin American Women Writers
4495f - Mexican Culture and Civilization
4495g - 1492: The Encounter--the Old World and the New.
4495h - El cuento hispanoamericano
4455 - Poetry of the Golden Age: Literature of Spain