Manuel Mantero

Manuel Mantero is a Spanish professor and writer (born in Seville on July 29, 1930). In 1969, Mantero moved to the United States and continued his work as a professor.

Biography He earned a law degree from the University of Seville, and a doctorate in law from the University of Salamanca, with a dissertation on philosophy and law in the work of the Italian poet Giacomo Leopardi (1957). He served as a professor in the University of Seville and contributor to the School of Hispanic American Studies, under the direction of Spain’s Higher Council of Scientific Research (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), as well as a member of the school journal, Estudios Americanos (American Studies.) In 1960, he moved to Madrid, with a hiatus in Rome, where he did research under the auspices of the Italian Government. During the 1960s, he developed an intense cultural and professional body work: literary critic, collaborator with newspapers and specialized publications, commentator on television or radio programs and a speaker on Spain’s lecture circuit. During the 60's, he worked as a professor at the University of Madrid. Mantero was a member of the Cervantes Institute in Madrid, and the National Institute of Legal Studies, both academic affiliates of the Higher Council of Scientific Research.

Move to the United States In 1969, Mantero moved to the United States as a full professor at Western Michigan University. In Western Michigan, he founded and edited the magazine Sagittarius, whose contributors included Jorge Luis Borges, Jorge Guillén, Vicente Aleixandre, Agustín Yáñez, Emilio Carballido. In 1973, he moved to the University of Georgia, where he occupied a special Chair as a Distinguished Literature Professor until August of the year 2000, the date of his retirement. Currently he is an emeritus distinguished research professor at the University of Georgia.

During the years Mantero resided outside of Spain, he never stopped returning to his native country or participating in its cultural traditions. Two of his most recent books, Había una ventana de colores (memorias) (There Was a Window of Colors (memoirs)) and Equipaje (poesía) (Luggage (poetry)), were initially released in Spain. The memoirs were introduced by Spain's Minister of Culture, Carmen Calvo, Prof. Jorge Urrutia, Technical Director of the Cervantes Institute, and writer/journalist Antonio Burgos. The book of verse was introduced in Madrid by Prof. Rogelio Blanco, Director General of Books, Archives and Libraries, and Prof. Juan Carlos Marset, poet and Delegate of Culture to the City Council of Seville.

Honors and awards Mantero won Spain’s National Award for Literature (1960), the Fastenrath Award given by the Spanish Royal Academy of Language (1967), the Albert Christ-Janer Award (1981), The March Foundation Literary Prize (1964) and Andalusian Critics’ Award (1995 and 2005). He is a member of the Seville’s Royal Academy of Letters (1985). He has received the Golden Seals of Luis de Góngora awarded by Córdoba’s Royal Academy (2003), Seville’s Gold Medal (2005). In 2006 the City Council of Seville named a street for him.

He has served as a consultant to the Royal Swedish Academy for the Nobel Prize for literature. He is an honorary member of French, Italian and Hispanic international academic associations. Mantero is a member of the America’s premier Hispanic Society, Sigma Delta Pi’s Order of Don Quixote. He has represented Spain at international literary fairs and conferences, such as at the Miami Book Fair International and the Euro-San Francisco Poetry Festival. Monographs, conferences and special sessions have been dedicated to Mantero’s poetry. Books in English by Douglas Barnette, A Study of the Works of Manuel Mantero, and by Betty Jean Craige, Manuel Mantero. New Songs for the Ruins of Spain have introduced him to British and American readers. His work has been translated into several languages (English, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, Romanian, Ukrainian, Polish, etc.) In the words of Vicente Aleixandre, recipient of the 1977 Nobel Prize for Literature, Manuel Mantero “has produced a work that adds value to the whole of the current Spanish lyric by his personality and stature”. “Work” -says Aleixandre- that “makes an indelible mark in the poetry of his time”.

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