Iris M. Zavala
Zavala (27 December 1936 – 10 April 2020) was a Puerto Rican author, scholar, and poet, who later lived in Barcelona, Spain. She had over 50 works to her name, plus hundreds of articles, dissertations, and conferences and many of her writings, including "Nocturna, mas no funesta", build on and express this belief. She died from COVID-19 in Madrid during COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, at the age of 83.
Also recorded as Iris Milagro Zavala Zapata
Iris M. Zavala

Elisa Cabot · CC BY-SA 2.0
- Name
- Iris M.
- Born
- 27 December 1936
- Birthplace
- Ponce, Puerto Rico
- Died
- 10 April 2020
- Place of death
- Madrid, Spain
- Occupation
- scholar, writer, and poet
- Awards
- * Decorated by King Juan Carlos I of Spain. "Encomienda, Lazo de Dama de la Orden de Mérito Civil." 1988
- Nationality
- United States.
- Fields
- essay.
- Education
- University of Salamanca and University of Puerto Rico.
- Honours
- Guggenheim Fellowship.
- Languages
- Spanish and English.
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Zavala (27 December 1936 – 10 April 2020) was a Puerto Rican author, scholar, and poet, who later lived in Barcelona, Spain. She had over 50 works to her name, plus hundreds of articles, dissertations, and conferences and many of her writings, including "Nocturna, mas no funesta", build on and express this belief. She died from COVID-19 in Madrid during COVID-19 pandemic in Spain, at the age of 83.
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Note VALÉORINE
Iris M. Zavala (1936–2020) was an American journalist, literary critic and literary scholar, among other activities. Born in Ponce, the journalist died in Madrid.
Iris M. Zavala studied at University of Puerto Rico and University of Salamanca. The journalist worked for University of Minnesota and Utrecht University.
Genres include essay. Languages used include English and Spanish. Works by Iris M. Zavala are held at Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. The journalist received Guggenheim Fellowship.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 26 September 2026
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wikidata · Q6070306 · wikipedia · Iris M. Zavala
In this article
Biography
Biography
Zavala worked between 1936 and 2020 across writer, literary critic, university teacher, journalist and novelist and 3 further recorded occupations. The registers place that work in essay. This article rests on 48 published texts and 22 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.
Zavala studied at University of Salamanca and University of Puerto Rico. The recorded working language is Spanish and English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are essay. Fernando Lázaro Carreter is recorded as an influence. Employment is recorded with Utrecht University and University of Minnesota. Work by Iris M. Zavala is recorded in the collections of Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes. Distinctions recorded are Guggenheim Fellowship.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Iris M. Zavala • Born — 27 December 1936 • Birthplace — Ponce, Puerto Rico • Died — 10 April 2020 • Place of death — Madrid, Spain • Occupation — scholar, writer, and poet • Subject — Puerto Rican political independence, women's themes • Notable Works — *Kiliagonía • Unamuno y su teatro de conciencia • Noctura mas no funesta • Intellectual Roots of Puerto Rican Independence • El bolero. Historia de un amor • Awards — * Decorated by King Juan Carlos I of Spain. "Encomienda, Lazo de Dama de la Orden de Mérito Civil." 1988 • Medal of Honor, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico, April 1994. • Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Puerto Rico, June 1996. • Gold Medal, Ateneo Puertorriqueño. 1998. • Cátedra UNESCO de Estudios Latinoamericanos, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, 2001 • Honorary Doctoral degree, Universidad de Málaga. 2004. • María Zambrano Thought Award, Junta de Andalucía. 2006. • Pen Club Award (based on "El libro de Apolonia o de las islas".
Early years
Early years
Zavala was born on 27 December 1936 in Ponce, Puerto Rico. She graduated from the University of Puerto Rico with a B.A. in literature and from the University of Salamanca with a "Licenciatura" degree as well as a "Doctor en Filosofía y Letras" (Ph.D.). There, she was influenced by Spain's Fernando Lázaro Carreter.
Career
Career
Zavala taught in Puerto Rico, Mexico, the United States, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, and Spain. In Spain she was a UNESCO fellow at the University Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, and a Ramon Llull fellow at the University of the Balearic Islands in Mallorca. Zavala taught in many universities in the United States, including the University of Minnesota. She was also a literary critic and essayist. In 1980, she wrote her masterpiece, "Kiliagonía", a Ponce city novel. Her second novel was "Nocturna, mas no funesta" (1987), published by Montesinos (Barcelona, Spain). It was adapted for a theatrical interpretation by Group Alcores (Madrid). Other works include "El libro de Apolonia o de las Islas" and "El sueño del amor".
Identity
Identity
What the record establishes about Iris M. Zavala is recorded with the occupation university teacher. Zavala is recorded with the occupation literary critic. Zavala is recorded as writer, literary critic, university teacher, journalist and novelist.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1936–2020
The full dated record · 3 entries
1936
Iris M. Zavala was born on 27 December 1936.
2020
Dies at Madrid.
2020
Iris M. Zavala died on 10 April 2020.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Ponce.
Birth place
Madrid.
Death place
Books
Following is a list of the publications by Zavala: • 1963 • 1. Unamuno y su teatro de conciencia. Acta Saltmanticensia: University of Salamanca, 222 pp. • 1965 • 2. La angustia y el hombre. Ensayos de literatura española. Mexico: Universidad Veracruzana, 224 pp. • 3. Barro doliente (Poetry). Santander: La Isla de los Ratones • 1970 • 4. La Revolución de 1868. Historia, pensamiento, literatura, ed. with Clara E. Lida. New York: Las Americas. • 5. Masones, comuneros y carbonarios. Madrid: Siglo XXI, 363 pp. • 1971 • 6. Ideología y política en la novela española del siglo XIX. Madrid: Anaya, 362 pp. • 1972 • 7. Poemas prescindibles (Poetry). New York: Anti-ediciones Villa Miseria. • 8. Románticos y socialistas. Prensa española en el siglo XIX. Madrid: Siglo XXI, 205 pp. • 1973 • 9. Libertad y crítica en el ensayo puertorriqueño, intr., ed.Con R. Rodríguez. Puerto Rico: Puerto, 448 pp. • 1974 • 10. Escritura desatada (Poetry). Puerto Rico: Puerto. • 11. Fin de siglo:Modernismo, 98 y bohemia. Madrid: Cuadernos para el Diálogo. • 1977 • 12. Alejandro Sawa, Iluminaciones en la sombra, ed. estudio, notas. Madrid: Alhambra. 2@ ed.1986 • 1978 • 13. Clandestinidad y libertinaje erudito en los albores del siglo XVIII. Barcelona: Ariel, 459 pp. • 1979 • 14. Historia social de la literatura española, in coll. C.Blanco Aguinaga, J. Rodríguez Puértolas. Madrid: Castalia, 3 vols. (revised ed. 1983, many reprints); reed. Madrid:Akal, 2001. • 15. Intellectual Roots of Puerto Rican Independence, coll with R. Rodríguez. New York: Monthly Review Press (revised ed. and translation of 1973) • 1981 • 16. El texto en la historia. Madrid: Nuestra Cultura, 259 pp. • 1982 • 17. Romanticismo y realismo. vol. 5 Historia y crítica de la literatura española. Barcelona: Crítica, 1982, 741pp (many reprints) • 18. Kiliagonía (novel). Mexico: Premià (trans.Chiliagony. Indiana University: Third Woman Press, 1985) • 1983 • 19. Que nadie muera sin amar el mar (poetry). Madrid: Visor. • 20. El siglo XVIII, spec. issue, Nueva Revista de Filología Hispánica XXXII:1. • 1984 • 21. Women, Feminist Identity and Society in the 1980s, ed. Con M. Díaz-Diocaretz. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 138 pp. • 1987 • 22. Lecturas y lectores del discurso narrativo dieciochesco. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 118 pp. • 23. Noctura mas no funesta (novel). Barcelona:Montesinos. • 24. Approaches to Discourse, Poetics and Psychiatry, ed. with Teun van Dijk, M. Díaz-Diocaretz. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 235 pp. • 1989 • 25. Romanticismo y costumbrismo. Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (Historia de España, t.35, vol. II), 183 pp. • 26. Rubén Darío bajo el signo del cisne. Universidad de Puerto Rico, 153 pp. • 27. El modernismo y otros ensayos del Rubén Darío, ed. intr.Madrid: Alianza. • 1990 • 28. La musa funambulesca. Poética de la carnavalización en Valle-Inclán. Madrid: Orígenes, 175 pp. • 1991 • 29. Unamuno y el pensamiento dialógico. M. de Unamuno y M.Bajtin. Barcelona: Anthropos, 207 pp. • 30. La posmodernidad y M. Bajtin. Una poética dialógica. Madrid: Espasa Calpe, 277 pp. • 31. El bolero. Historia de un amor (creative fiction). Madrid: Alianza, 162 pp.; reed. Aumentada y corregida, Madrid:Celeste, 2000. • 1992 • 32. Colonialism and Culture:Hispanic Modernisms and the Social Imaginary, Indiana University Press, 240 pp. • 33. Discursos sobre la 'invención' de América, ed. intr. Amsterdam: Rodopi. • 34. El libro de Apolonia o de las islas (novel). Puerto Rico: Instituto de Cultura. • 35. Discurso erótico y discurso transgresor en la cultura peninsular. Siglos XVI al XX, ed. with M.Díaz-Diocaretz, Madrid: Tuero, 1992. • 36. Breve historia feminista de la litertura española (en lengua castellana). 1. Teoría feminista:discursos y differencia, ed with M.Díaz-Diocaretz. Barcelona:Anthropos. • 1993 • 37. Historia y crítica de la literatura española. 5/1 Romanticismo y Realismo, ed. Primer Suplemento. Barcelona:Crítica. • 1995 • 38. Historia feminista de la literatura española (en lengua castellana). II. La mujer en la literatura española, ed. Barcelona:Anthropos, 1995. • 1996 • 39. Bajtin y sus apócrifos, ed. with T. Bubnova, S.Bocharov, N. Pedgorced, Amalia Rodriguez Monroy. Barcelona:Anthropos. • 40. Escuchar a Bajtin. Barcelona: Montesinos. • 41. Historia feminista de la literatura española (en lengua castellana). III. La mujer en la literatura española (del siglo XVIII a la actualidad).ed. Barcelona Anthropos. • 1997 • 42. Historia feminista de la literatura española (en lengua castellana). IV. La Literatura escrita por mujer (De la Edad Media al siglo XVIII). ed. Barcelona:Anthropos. • 43. Hacia una filosofía del acto ético. De los borradores y otros escritos, ed. Con comentarios de I. M. Zavala, Augusto Ponzio. Anthropos/Universidad de Puerto Rico. • 1998 • 44.El sueño del amor (novela). Universidad de Puerto Rico/Montesinos, • 45. Historia feminista de la literatura española (en lengua castellana). V. La literatura escritura por mujer (siglos XIX y XX). Anthropos/Universidad de Puerto Rico. • 46. ¿Historia o literatura?, ed. Iris M. Zavala. Núm.Esp. La Torre. • 2000 • 47.Feminismos, cuerpos, escrituras. ed Iris M.Zavala.La Página. Canarias • 48.El bolero. Historia de un amor, ed.Madrid: Celeste. (2ed. ampliada). • 49.Historia social de la literatura española(en lengua castellana)vol I-II.C. Blanco Aguinaga, Julio Rodríguez Puértolas, Iris M. Zavala.Madrid:Akal. Reedición. • 50.Breve historia feminista de la literatura española (en lengua catalana, gallega y vasca). vol.VI, ed. Iris M.Zavala. Barcelona: Anthropos. • 2001 • 51. El rapto de América y el síntoma de la modernidad. Barcelona:Montesinos. • 2004. • 52. La otra mirada del siglo XX. La mujer en la España del siglo XX. Madrid. La Esfera de los Libros. • 2006 • 53. Leer Don Quijote. 7 tesis sobre ética y literatura. Barcelona: Anthropos. • 2007 • 54. Percanta que me amuraste. Barcelona:Montesinos (novela) • 55. Poesía completa, Canarias:La Página. • 56. Kiliagonía.(reed)..Canarias:La Página.. • 2008 • 57. Alejandro Sawa. Crónicas de la bohemia. Ed. Veintisiete: Madrid. • 58. Miguel de Unamuno, ensayos heréticos. Ed. Veintisiete (en prensa). • 59. La (Di)famación de la cultura. 7 ensayos sobre ética. Ed. Veintisiete, Madrid.
Context
Primary material
Context
The circumstances in which Iris M. Zavala is established in Bibliothèque nationale de France under 12021258z. Zavala is established in IdRef (French universities) under 02836161X. Zavala is established in Library of Congress under n79058922. Zavala is established in FAST under 36227.
Documents and archives
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Iris M. Zavala”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q6070306: Iris M. Zavala
General reference · Wikidata
Honors and awards
• Decorated by King Juan Carlos I of Spain. "Encomienda, Lazo de Dama de la Orden de Mérito Civil." 1988 • Medal of Honor, Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña, San Juan, Puerto Rico, April 1994. • Doctor Honoris Causa, University of Puerto Rico, June 1996. • Gold Medal, Ateneo Puertorriqueño. 1998. • Cátedra UNESCO de Estudios Latinoamericanos, Universidad Pompeu Fabra, 2001 • Honorary Doctoral degree, Universidad de Málaga. 2004. • María Zambrano Thought Award, Junta de Andalucía. 2006. • Pen Club Award (based on "El libro de Apolonia o de las islas"). Zavala is also honored as one of Ponce's greatest writers at the Park for Illustrious Ponce Citizens.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Hernández, Domingo Luis. "En el Mundo de Iris: Entrevista a Iris Zavala." Barcelona Review 41 (March–April). Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- 2.Muere la escritora puertorriqueña Iris Zavala por coronavirus en España
- 3.Datos del Autor: Iris M. Zavala. Artecomunicarte A.C. 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- 4.Hernández, Domingo Luis. "En el Mundo de Iris: Entrevista a Iris Zavala." Barcelona Review 41 (March–April). Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- 5.Fallece Iris Zavala, honoris causa por la UMA. novaciencia. 13 April 2020.
- 6.Datos del Autor: Iris M. Zavala. Artecomunicarte A.C. 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- 7.Hernández, Domingo Luis. "En el Mundo de Iris: Entrevista a Iris Zavala." Barcelona Review 41 (March–April). Retrieved 31 May 2012.
- 8.The Institutionalization of Spain. University of Minnesota. Hispanic Issues. Book Series Details. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- 9.Hernández, Domingo Luis. "En el Mundo de Iris: Entrevista a Iris Zavala." Barcelona Review 41 (March–April). Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- 10.Hernández, Domingo Luis. "En el Mundo de Iris: Entrevista a Iris Zavala." Barcelona Review 41 (March–April). Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- 11.Datos del Autor: Iris M. Zavala. Artecomunicarte A.C. 2008. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- 12.Literature. Travel Ponce. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
References
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References
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reference work
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General reference
Further particulars
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Open the remaining particulars
The identifiers under which Iris M. Zavala may be traced in institutional catalogues.
Her recorded languages were Spanish and English. Formation and teaching. Zavala studied at University of Salamanca and University of Puerto Rico. Her recorded influences include Fernando Lázaro Carreter.
Identity and origins
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Books
39,499 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
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