|
Pablo Baler
Faculty
College
of Arts and Letters
Department
of modern languages and literatures
Office:
KH-A3039
Phone: (323) 343-4243
Fax: (323) 343-4234
E-mail: pbaler@calstatela.edu
|
|
INTRODUCTION
Pablo
Baler is a fiction writer, journalist, and art critic who teaches
Spanish and Latin-American literature, as well as Visual Arts, Literary
Theory, Critical Thinking and Creative Writing.
In addition to his academic work as teacher and scholar, Baler has
published extensively in newspapers and magazines, for the most part in
Argentina and the U.S. (Sculpture, Clarín, Museum, Buenos
Aires Herald, and La Opinion among others) and has worked as
news-writer for Univision/San Francisco. As a fiction writer, Baler was
awarded two national literary prizes in Argentina for his novel Circa
(Buenos Aires: Ed. Galerna, 1999) and has received recognition in
Argentina, Spain (Círculo Cultural Faroni), and Chile
(Revista Ciudad Invisible) for his short stories; some of which were
anthologized in Ramuri
Magazine (April 2009,
translated into Rumanian by Tudora Şandru-Mehedinţi), Golden
Handcuffs Review (2008,
translated into English by Matt Losada), Quince Líneas
(Barcelona: ed. Tusquets, 1996), and Nuevos Cuentistas Argentinos
(Buenos Aires: ed. Red Literaria Sur, 1995).
TOP
TEACHING
INTERESTS
Literary
Theory, Aesthetics, Literature and Philosophy,
The Avant-garde, 20th and 21st
century Latin-American short story, History of the Spanish American
novel, Creative writing and Creative reading, Spanish Journalism,
Visual and Cultural criticism, Baroque and Neo-baroque aesthetics.
TOP
RESEARCH
Pablo Baler’s
research
focuses on 20th century Latin American literature and visual culture
with a strong emphasis on theoretical issues pertaining to philosophy,
aesthetics, and the history of ideas. Baler’s doctoral
dissertation, later published as Los
sentidos de la distorsion: fantasias epistemologicas del neobarroco
latinoamericano (Senses of
Distortion: Epistemological Fantasies of the Neo-Baroque - 2009 Ed.
Corregidor), explores the ruptures and continuities linking the
decentered dynamics of the 17th century (Quevedo, Góngora,
Bernini) to the logic of instability that permeates 20th century visual
and literary production in Latin America (Huidobro, Borges, Sarduy).
Los sentidos
de la distorsion corresponds to
a broader interest in the origins and implications of representational
crises. In that sense, Baler’s current research further
inquires into a wide range of aesthetic problems and solutions brought
about by the shattering experience of violence (war, torture,
terrorism, martyrdom) as reflected in theatre, cinema, and the visual
arts in the context of the Americas of the 20th and 21st century.
Connected to this interest in the dynamics of representational crises
and artistic revolutions, Baler is exploring and assessing the scope of
current trends in the art world. As part of this project focused on art
criticism, history of ideas, and cultural theory, Baler is currently
editing a collection of essays written by a broad range of authors that
will offer different perspectives and insights into the aesthetic
sensibility that is starting to define the 21st century. This book,
entitled: The
Next Thing: Art in the 21st Century
will be a collection of contestable "prophecies" about the sensibility
that will define our time.
TOP
PUBLICATIONS
 |
Los
sentidos de la distorsion:
fantasias epistemologicas del neobarroco latinoamericano
Research focusing on the epistemological underpinnings of neobaroque
aesthetics
Published in January 2009
Coleccion Nueva Critica Hispanoamericana -
Editorial Corregidor. Buenos Aires, Argentina.
|
 |
Chapter
on visual artist Liliana Porter anthologized in Conversations
on Sculpture. Washington:
University of Washington Press and International Sculpture Center,
2007.
Conversations on Sculpture
explores the state of sculpture today from
the artist's perspective.
|
 |
Circa
(novel) Buenos Aires: Ed. Galerna, 1999: Erotic-metaphysical thriller
First
National Prize from Secretaria
de Cultura de la Nación de la Presidencia (Argentina)
1996-97.
Second
Prize Concurso de Novela Fondo
Nacional de las Artes, 1998.
|
 |
"Hormiga
Soluble", short story published in international anthology Quince
Lineas, (Coleccion Andanzas). Barcelona: Ed. Tusquets, 1996.
Awarded
the “Circulo Cultura Faroni” recognition, Madrid.
|
 |
Opening
Chapter: “Abstraccion y Figuracion” en Reflejos
Argentinos Buenos Aires: Ed. Fundación Surcos, 1999: 9-19
|
 |
"El mago pelado de
rulos", short story
published in Argentine anthology Nuevos
Cuentistas Argentinos, Buenos Aires: Ed. Red Literaria Sur, 1995.
|
Translations
(in collaboration with Matt Losada)
Poetry
written by Eduardo D'Anna forthcoming Fall 2009 by Golden
Handcuffs Review (Vol. 1 No.
12).
Excerpt
from Luisa Valenzuela’s novel La
travesia Golden
Handcuffs Review Winter/Spring
2009 (Vol. 1. No. 11).
Poems
by Adriana Borga, Luisa Futoransky and Concepción
Bertone. Golden
Handcuffs Review Summer/Fall
2008 (Vol. 1, No. 10).
Articles
"Del
perro andaluz al fantasma de la libertad: la evolución del
surrealismo en Luis Buñuel”.
KARPA, Journal of Theatrical and Visual Culture Criticism. January,
30th, 2009.
“Facundo, Civilización y
Barbarie: Panfleto Épico: Apuntes para una
poética del racismo, el autoritarismo y la
egomanía en la Argentina.”
Everba, Summer 2003. Electronic journal
“El
fenómeno Isabel Allende” cover article Nuevo
Mundo/San Jose Mercury News. September 20, 2002: 26-7.
“Tulio
Romano: Escultor
Argentino” Lucero.
University of California, Berkeley.
Volume 13,
Spring 2002: 190-1.
“The Doors of Expression: the work of
art in the age of quantum processing power” Sculpture
Vol. 21 No 4 (May 2002): 44-51.
“La maduración del
‘enfant terrible’”.
Book review. El Escritor, el
Amor y la Muerte de Enrique
Medina. Lucero.
University of California, Berkeley. Volume 12, Spring 2001: 127. Also in BUENOS
AIRES HERALD, 28-III-1999.
“Archeology of Time: A Conversation
with Claudia Aranovich”
Cover article,
Sculpture Vol. 20 No 4 (May
2001): 22-27.
“The Subconscious of
Civilization: An interview with Liliana
Porter”
Sculpture magazine Vol 20 No.1
(Jan/Feb 2001): 36-41
“James
Peck: Landscapes of the Soul” Arte
Al Día (International
Magazine of Latin American Art) Year 20 Nº78 –
Argentina, Jan 2000: 30-33.
“La
Argentina Incorregible” Proa,
Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tercera Epoca #43 October, 1999: 85-6.
“Borges Apócrifo”
Proa, Buenos Aires, Special
Edition, Tercera Epoca, #42, July/August, 1999: 113-4. Also in Everba Summer 2002
TOP
EDUCATIONAL
BACKGROUND
Ph.D.
Hispanic Languages and Literatures May, 2006
- U. C.
Berkeley
Berkeley, California
M.A.
Latin-American Literature May, 1994
- Stanford
University
Palo Alto, California
B.A.
Philosophy June, 1991
- Hebrew
University
Jerusalem, Israel
B.A.
Spanish Literature June, 1991
- Hebrew
University
Jerusalem, Israel
TOP
COURSES
TAUGHT
| Course |
Course
Title |
| 315- |
Latin
American Culture and Civilization |
| 429- |
19th
Century Spanish American Literature |
| 242 |
Literature
and Drama in Translation - General Education Class |
| 413 |
Spanish
American Literature II |
| 417 |
Latin
American Short Story |
| 401 |
Introduction
to Literary Analysis |
| 583 |
Contemporary
Hispanic Prose - Master's Seminar |
| 483 |
Contemporary
Spanish-American Novel |
| 205A/B |
Intermediate
written Spanish |
| 300B |
Advanced
Composition and Grammar |
| 507 |
Literary
Theory |
| 485 |
Southern
Cone Fiction |
| 445 |
Spanish
Journalism |
| 450 |
Spanish
Journalism Practicum |
TOP
EVENTS
ORGANIZED
Argentine
Art Today
Presentation
by Argentine artist Carlos Muslera
|
El
ifierno prometido
Presentation
by Elsa Drucaroff
|
Imposturas
Presentation
of fiction work by Alicia Kozameh, Pablo Baler, Paola Marin, and Gaston
Alzate 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
Collection of Short Storieswritten
by the Students of Spanish 417
more
at...
|
Cuban Poet
Jose Kozer
Poetry Reading at CSULA
|
|
