Dr. Joseph Ricapito 

Emeritus Professor  - Foreign Language and Literature

Bachelor's Degree(s): Brooklyn College of the City University of N.Y., B.A.

Master's Degree: State University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, M.A.

Ph.D.: University of California, Los Angeles, Ph.D.

Email: ricapito@lsu.edu

Area of Interest

Spanish Golden Age Literature; Spanish Picaresque Novel; Picaresque Novel in Comparative Literature; Literary Relations between Spain and Italy in the Renaissance; Renaissance Studies, Cervantes Studies, Mateo Alemán Studies.

Awards & Honors

Dean's List - Brooklyn College, 1951.  
Hispanic Club Summer Study Award, Summer 1954 in Mexico.
Yale B. Griffith Traveling Award (Pomona College, Summer 1965).
Ford Foundation - Pomona College Summer Fellowship, 1967.
Ford Foundation - Pomona College Summer Research Fellowship, 1968.
Ford Foundation - Pomona College Sabbatical Grant, 1968-69.
Ford Foundation - Pomona College Summer Research Fellowship, 1969.
All-Conference Soccer Team, U.C.L.A, 1959.
Indiana University Faculty Research Fellowship 1970-71.
Indiana University Faculty Research Summer Fellowship 1972.
Indiana University Faculty Grants-in-Aid for Research.
ACLS Travel Grant, 1976.
Post Doctoral Fellowship granted by the Comité Conjunto España - USA para asuntos culturales y educativos, Spring 1980.
National Endowment for the Humanities, Grant for Translation, 1981-82.
Cavaliere dell'Ordine al Merito della Republica Italiana 1988 (Knight in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic).
From the Spanish Government:  decorated Caballero al Orden de la Cruz de Isabel la Católica, 1989 (Knight of the Order of Queen Isabel.)
LSU - Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Educator of 1990.  
LSU - Summer Research Fellowship
LSU Distinguished Faculty Award for 1994, for Excellence in Teaching, Research and Service.
Delivered two lectures at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, April 19-20, 1995, as part of the “A World Series Presentation”: Bernardin-Haskell Foundation Lectures.
Unanimously elected Honorary Associate Member of the Hispanic Society of America, December, 1996.
First Recipient of the Joseph Yenni Memorial Distinguished Professor of Italian Studies, 1999.
Certificate of Recognition in appreciation for commitment to volunteer service in 1999 by LSU - for volunteer work with the American Cancer Society and work with and for Man-to-Man, a support group for prostate cancer survivors, Baton Rouge.
First lecturer for the newly endowed Homecoming Lecture by a “Distinguished Alumnus of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese of the University of California at Los Angeles,” November 3, 2000.

Elected Member of honor of the Asociación de Escritores Marroquíes en Lengua Española, president Mohamed Akalay, 2001.

Elected to Honorary Membership to Golden Key International Honour Society, Louisiana State University chapter (and gave the keynote speech at the induction ceremony).

LSU University Service Award for Volunteer Work with Man-to-Man, American Cancer Society, a support group for Prostate Cancer Survivors, January 2002.

Distinguished Research Master, Louisiana State University, 2002

Eastern Washington University Visiting Distinguished Scholar in the Honors Program, October 20-22, 2003.  Invited by Dr. Perry C. Higman, Director of Honors Program.

2004 Cervantes lecturer.  Fordham University Series in Cervantes.  April 28, 2004.

“Rainmaker, 2008” Award, Louisiana State University.  
“As a Rainmaker, your exceptional research and creative productivity have been recognized as setting the highest bar.  Your work brings resources and respect to the University and to your respective schools and departments.”

“Rainmaker, 2009” Award, Louisiana State University.  See above for details.

Brooklyn College Alumni Association Lifetime Achievement Award 2010

 

Selected Publications

A.   Books:

1.Bibliografía razonada y anotada de las obras maestras de la novela picaresca española.  Madrid:  Castalia, 1980, 613 pp.

2. La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes y de sus fortunas y adversidades, 205 pp., Madrid: Cátedra.  Edición crítica, introducción y notas. Twentieth edition, 1986 (original printing, 1976).  Concurrently being marketed in Mexico, first printing, 1987.

3. Alfonso de Valdés.  Dialogue of Mercury and Charon.  Translated by J. V. Ricapito (Diálogo de Mercurio y Carón).  With introduction and notes.  Bloomington:  Indiana University Press, 1986, 186 pp.

4. A Tri-Interlinear Edition of Lazarillo de Tormes (1554), with an Introductory Study of the Language of Lazarillo.  Madison, Wisconsin:  Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, Ldt, 1987, 78 pp.

5. Hispanic Studies in Honor of Joseph H. Silverman.  Edited by Joseph V. Ricapito.  Newark, Delaware:  Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Monograph Series, 1988, 379 pp.

5a. This book was published in hardback in 1988.  Due to the successful sales a paperback was issued in 1989 in a Special Memorial Edition.  It also includes the prologue and an article by me.

6. Rediscovering America 1492-1992.  National, Cultural, and Disciplinary Boundaries Re-examined.  Selected proceedings of the Louisiana Conference on Hispanic Languages and Literatures, Feb. 27-30, 1992, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge.  Co-editor (Ricapito et al.).

7. Diálogo de Mercurio y Carón - ed. J.V. Ricapito.  Edición crítica con introducción, notas y variantes.  Madrid:  Castalia, 1993, 314 pp.

8. Selected Proceedings.  Louisiana Conference on Hispanic Languages and Literatures, 1994.  Joseph V. Ricapito, editor.  Published by Louisiana State University, July, 1995.

9. Cervantes’s Novelas ejemplares: Between History and Creativity.  W. Lafayette, In.: Purdue University Press, 1996.

10.  Formalistic Aspects of Cervantes’s “Novelas ejemplares.”  Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 1997

11.  Florentine Streets and Other Poems.    W. Lafayette, IN.: Bordighera, Inc. 1997.

12.  Consciousness and Truth in Don Quijote.  Newark, Delaware:  Juan de la Cuesta Monograph Series, 2007.

13.  Fratelli, A Novel.  Bloomington, IN:  AuthorHouse, 2007.
14.  Second Wave, Original Poems by Joseph V. Ricapito, published by Bordighera, New York, 2008.

15.  In Pursuit of Truth, Guernica Editions,  Toronto, 2013. Joseph V. Ricapito

B.   Articles:

1. "From Boccaccio to Mateo Alemán:  An Essay on Literary Sources and Adaptations," Romantic Review, LX (1969), 83-95.

2. "Love and Marriage in Guzmán de Alfarache,"  Kentucky Romance Quarterly, XV (1968), 123-138.

3. "Comparatistica:  Two Versions of Sin, Moral Transgression and Divine Will:  Guzmán de Alfarache and I Promessi Sposi," Kentucky Romance Quarterly, XVI (1969), 111-118.

4. "Lazarillo and Masuccio's IV Novella," Romance Philology, XXIII (1970), 305-311.

5. "Student Revolt - Italian Style" in Saturday Review of Literature, (New York), February 21, 1970 (with M. L. Stein).

6. "Un paralelo folklórico del cuento de `La lechera' y de la `Ingeniosa Else' en la Italia meridional" Revista de dialectología y tradiciones populares (Madrid), XXVII (1971), Cuadernos 1 and 2, pp. 117-121.

7. "Lazarillo de Tormes and Machiavelli:  Two Facets of Renaissance Perspectivism," Romanische Forschungen, 83 (1971), 151-172.

8. "El contorno picaresco de El conde Lucanor," Romanische Forschungen, 84 (1972), 97-107.

9. "`Cara de Dios':  Ensayo de Rectificación,"  Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, L, 2 (1973), 142-146.

10. "Américo Castro y la novela picaresca," Insula (Madrid), año XXIX núms. 314-315.  Enero-Febrero 1973, p. 13.

11. "Algunas observaciones más sobre `contóme su hacienda'," Annali-Istituto Orientale Universitario - Sezione Romanza- (Napoli).  XV, 2 (1973), 227-233.

12. "Dos cuentos más de la Italia meridional," Revista de dialectología y tradiciones populares (Madrid), XXXI (1975), Cuad. 1, 2, 3 and 4, pp. 99-101.

13. "Mundo social y ambiente histórico en la crítica de la novela picaresca."  Actes du Table Ronde sur l'approche socio-critique du roman picaresque européen, ed. Edmond Cros. Université Paul Valery, Montpellier, France.  1976. (printed as "Société et ambiance historique dans la critique du roman Picaresque Espagnol," pp. 9-36.)

14. "Between the Novel and the Treatise:  Alfonso de Valdés and Machiavelli," Hispano-Italic (Georgetown University Press) Initial number, 1976, pp. 65-82.

15. "Jerzy Kosinski's The Painted Bird and the Picaresque Tradition," Neohelicon (Budapest) 2 (1977):  217-237.

16. "Sobre La tregua de Mario Benedetti," Cuadernos hispano-americanos, #331 (Enero, 1978), pp. 143-151.

17. "Boccaccio and the Picaresque Tradition," in The Two Hesperias.  Literary Studies in Honor of Joseph G. Fucilla.  Madrid: Turanzas, 1978.  See pp. 305-337.

18. "La estructura temporal del Buscón:  ensayo en metodología de ciencia literaria," in La picaresca:  origenes, textos y estructuras, Actas del primer congreso internacional sobre la picaresca, Madrid, 1979, pp. 725-736.

19. "Lazarillo de Tormes:  The Emergence of a New Art Form in the Renaissance." Published in the Proceedings of the 8th Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association (Budapest, 1976).

20. "Literature, Life and History in 16th-Century Spain:  The Case of Erasmus, Alfonso de Valdés and Castiglione," Festschrift in Honor of Josep Solá Solé, Barcelona:  Puvill, 1984, pp. 185-197.

21. "Tiempo contado y tiempo vivido:  A Study of Time in Guzmán de Alfarache."  In Festschrift in Memoriam of Horst Baader, Frankfurt/Main:  Vervuert, 1984, 149-160.

22. "Mateo Alemán, Two Editors and the Structure of Guzmán de Alfarache," Hispanic  Journal, VI (1984), 11-19.

23. "El Buscón de Quevedo: `Libro de entretenimiento o libro de desengaño'?"  Kentucky Romance Quarterly, 32, #2 (1985), 153-164.

24. "La estructura del Guzmán de Alfarache de Mateo Alemán," Ibero-Romania, num. 21, Neue Folge (1985), pp. 48-64.

25. "The Golden Ass of Apuleius and the Spanish Picaresque Novel," Revista Hispánica Moderna, XL (1978-79), núms. 3-4, pp. 77-85.

26. "The Myth of Argos and Two Blindmen,"  Festschrift for Charles Aubrun, K-L. Selig, editor,  Ibero-Romania number 23, Neue Folge (1986), pp.77-80.

27. "De los Coloquios de Erasmo al Mercurio de Alfonso de Valdés:  la estética de la superación," in El Erasmismo en España.  Santander:  Sociedad Menéndez Pelayo, 1986, pp. 105-107.

28. "`Los pasteles de a cuatro':  Quevedo y la antropofagia," Letras de Deusto 17.37 (Enero-Abril 1987),  pp. 161-67.

29. "Cervantes y Mateo Alemán:  De Nuevo," Anales cervantinos, 23 (1985), pp. 91-95 [published in 1988].

30. "Cervantes and the Picaresque:  Redivivo," in Hispanic Studies in Honor of Joseph H. Silverman.  Newark, Delaware:  Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Monograph Series, 1988.  See pp. 319-343.  See also above, 1A, 5.

31. "Prologue" to Hispanic Studies in Honor of Joseph H. Silverman.  Newark, Delaware: Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Monograph Series, 1988.  See pp. ix-xii.  See also above 1A, 5.

32. "Alfonso de Valdés y las reformas," in Homenaje al profesor Antonio Vilanova, 2 vols.  Vázquez, A. and M. C. Carbonell, eds. Barcelona:  Universidad de Barcelona, 1989.  See vol. I, pp. 561-570.

33. "La picaresca en China y su correspondencia en el Oeste" in Actas del IV Simposio de la Sociedad Española de Literatura General y Comparada.  Granada:  1989, pp.115-22.

34. "The Moral Geography of Heaven, Hell and Earth:  Erasmus and Alfonso de Valdés," in Proceedings of the XIIth Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association, vol. 2.  München:  Iudicium Verlag, 1990, pp. 560-564.

35. "A Possible Source of an Episode in the Life and Loves of Tirso de Molina's Don Juan Tenorio:  Bandello's LIV Novella and Don Juan Tenorio's Invasion of the Wedding of Aminta and Batricio,"  Festschrift in Honor of Enrique Ruiz Fornells on His 35 Years of Teaching, eds. Fernández Jiménez, J., J. Labrador Herraiz, and L. Teresa Valdivieso.  Erie, Pa., ALDEEU, 1990, pp. 530-538.

36. "Unamuno's Theory of Will -- A Reconsideration," in Studies in Honor of Merle E. Simmons.  Martins, H. and D. J. Sadlier, 1990.  [appeared in 1991]  Published by Indiana University Department of Spanish and Portuguese.  Hispanic Literary Studies, vol. 3.

37. "The Politics of Editions.  The Case of Lazarillo de Tormes," chapter 5 of The Politics of Editing, Spadaccini, Nicholas, and Jenaro Talens, eds.  Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1992; pp. 74 - 94.

38. "People, Characters, and Roles:  A View of Characterization in 'La Celestina',"  Fernando de Rojas and Celestina:  Approaching the 5th Century.  Proceedings of an International Conference in Commemoration of the 450th Anniversary of the Death of Fernando de Rojas, ed. by Corfis, Ivy A., and Joseph T. Snow.  Madison:  Hispanic  Seminary of Medieval Studies, Ltd., 1993, pp. 181-191.

39. "Miguel de Unamuno's Notes Toward a Treatise on Origami and Considerations on Oriental Thought and Philosophy," Tamkang Review, vol. XXII, Nos. 1-4 (Autumn 1991-Summer 1992), pp. 81-95.  Published by the Graduate School of Western Languages and Literature, Tamkang University, Republic of China.

40. "Classicity in the Spanish Golden Age:  Gonzalo Pérez's Translation of La Ulyxes and the Origin of the Spanish Picaresque Novel", in The Picaresque:  A Symposium on the Rogue's Tale.  Benito-Vessels, Carmen and Michael Zappala, eds.  Newark, Delaware:  University of Delaware Press, London and Toronto:  Associated University Presses, 1994, pp. 37-56.

41. "La picaresca en China y su correspondencia en Occidente" in Sinapia (Revista de comunicación hispanista en Taiwan), número 4, Otoño de 1994, pp. 36-38.  Reprint of  33; see above.

42. “From Bandello to Freud and Lacan: Lope de Vega’s El castigo sin venganza,” in Oral Tradition and Hispanic Literature.  Essays in Honor of Samuel G. Armistead.  Edited by Mishael M. Caspi.  New York and London: Garland, 1995; pp. 583-603.

43. “Literary Configurations of Honor: A Comparison Between Cervantes, Lope de Vega, Racine and Corneille,” in Proceedings of the XIIIth Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association.  Eds. Ziva Ben-Porat and Hana Wirth-Nesher.  Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press, 1995.

44. “Cervantes and the Italian Novellistica.” NEMLA Italian Studies.  Selected Proceedings: Italian Section, Northeast Modern Language Association Conference.  April 8-9, 1994.  Carnegie Mellon University.  Pittsburgh, PA.  Editor: Umberto Mariani.

45. “Al-Andalus and the Origins of the Renaissance in Europe.”  Indiana Journal of Hispanic Literatures. 8 (Spring 1996): 55-74.

46. “    ”Approaches to Sentimentality.  Two Exercises in Yearning: Cervantes and Cesare Pavese.”  Studies in Honor of Gilbert Paolini., edited by Mercedes Vidal Tibbits.  Newark, Del.:  Juan de la Cuesta, 1997.  57-63.
47.     “La narratividad del romance de El Conde Dirlos,” Scriptura, Letra dura.  Estudios de Literatura Medieval.  Universidad de Lleida, Facultad de Letras, sección de Literatura Española,    13 (1997): 43-57.

48.   “Monsters, Demons and Iconography in Guzmán de Alfarache: The Case of the Monster of
Ravenna (I,1),” Journal of Hispanic Philology, XVIII (1993): 141-156.

49. “Quebrar el ojo: Posibles orígenes de su significado en hebreo,” Revista de filología
española
, LXXVII, fasc. 3-4 (1997): 321-327 (with Shalom Lindenbaum).

50.   “Commonality of Thought: Juan Luis Vives and Lazarillo de Tormes,” Crítica hispánica,
XIX, nos. 1 & 2 (1997): 24-40.

51.   “Anatomía formalista de las Novelas ejemplares de Cervantes,” Lexis, revista de lingüística
y literatura
, 23, no. 1 (1999): 301-316.

52.   “The Wisdom of Proverbs: Proverbs from Italy in Italian and in Dialect from Giovinazzo in
Apuglia,” in Romance Languages Annual 1999, vol. X1, Eds. Dixon, Flory, Lawton,
Sharpley-Whiting, Stephenson, Tamburri, Wood.  West Lafayette: Purdue Research
Foundation, 2001.  

53.   “Los moriscos, un autor anónimo y dos autores del siglo de oro espanol” in Mélanges  à Luce
López Baralt
, ed. Abdeljelil Temimi.  Zaghouan (Tunisia): Fondation Temimi, 2001,
2 vols.  See vol. II, pp. 601-613.

54.   “Style and Idea in St. Theresa’s Las moradas.”  Jewish Culture and the Hispanic World.
Essays in Memory of Joseph H. Silverman.  Eds.  Samuel G. Armistead and
Mishael M. Caspi, in collaboration with Murray Baumgarten.  Newark, Delaware:
Juan de la Cuesta (2001), pp. 463-475.

55.   “Cervantes, Lepanto, el cuerpo y el sufrimiento físico,” Volver a Cervantes.  Actas del  IV
Congreso internacional de la asociación de cervantistas
.  Lepanto, 1-8 de octubre de
2000.  Palma:  Universitat de les Illes Balears. 2001.  

56.   “Don Quijote y El Cortegiano de Castiglione: Un ejercicio en la imitación, el rechazamiento
y la parodia,” Actas del X Coloquio internacional de la asociación de cervantistas,
Academia de España
, Roma, 27-29 septiembre 2001, Alicia Villar Lecumberri, Ed.
[received in 2002].

57.   “En la mente de Mateo Alemán,” Proceedings of the International Seminar of the Fourth
Centenary of the publication of Mateo Alemán’s Guzmán de Alfarache, 22 - 26
November, 1999.  Sponsored by the Universidad de Sevilla, Facultad de Filología,
Departamento de literatura española.

58.   “Galatea’s Fall and the Inner Dynamics of Góngora’s Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea,” in Women in the Discourse of Early Modern Spain.  Gainesville: University of Florida UP, 2002, 160-180.

59.   “Tristeza y amargura: Los poetas hispano-hebreos y La Celestina,” Proceedings of the
Homenaje-Congreso a Luce y Mercedes López Baralt
.  Colegio universitario de
Arecibo, Puerto Rico, November 19-21, 1998.  

60.   “Cervantes and the ‘Funny Book’ Syndrome,” Filer, Malva, Domenick Finello, William Sherzer, eds.  A Celebration of Brooklyn Hispanism. Newark, DE.: Juan de la Cuesta, 2004, pp. 13-44.

61. “La teatralidad en la prosa del Quijote,” Theatralia: El teatro de Miguel de Cervantes ante    el IV Centenario, Maestro, Jesús, ed.
Pontevedra: Mirabel, 2003, pp. 315-327 [received in 2004].

62.   “Mutability: The Case of Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas,” Yearbook of Comparative and General Literature, 50 (2003-2004): 83-93 [received in 2004], special volume dedicated to the theme of mutability, eds. Eoyang, Eugene and David Hertz.

63.      “Valor e inmanencia moral en Don Quijote de Cervantes,” Coloquio, Universidad Nacional de San Agustín,” abril del 2004, pp. 26-30.

64.    “Preface to Mohamad Akalay’s book, Las maqāmāt y la picaresca: al-Hamadi y al-Hariri:  Lazarillo y Guzmán.”  Tanger:  Publicaciones de la Asociación de Escritores Marroquíes en Lengua Española., pp. 709, 2005.

65.  “El mejor pasaje de El Quijote,” IV Centenario.  La Lupa, Universidad SEK Segovia, Spain.  Num. 13 de mayo de 2005, p. 10.    

66.  “Cervantes y la consciencia: ‘Yo sé quién soy,’ El caballero de los leones y Ricote el Moro.”
In Cervantes y su mundo, III.  Eds. Lauer, A. Robert y Kurt Reichenberger.  Kassel: Reichenberger, 2005.

67.  “Historia, sociedad y economía de los siglos XVI y XVII en referencia a Don Quijote,”
Dejar hablar a los textos: homenaje a Francisco Márquez Villanueva.”  Piñero Ramírez, Pedro M., ed.  Sevilla: Universidad de Sevilla, 2005.

68.  “De Bandello a Freud y Lacan: El castigo sin venganza de Lope de Vega.”  In Estudios de Teatro Español y Novohispano.  Asociación Internacional de Teatro Español y Novohispano de los Siglos de Oro.  Instituto de Filología y Literaturas Hispánicas “Dr. Amado Alonso,” Facultad de Filosofía y Letras, Universidad de Buenos Aires, 2005.  See #42. 68 contains much of the material of #42 but adds other material.

69. Italians are Everywhere,” The American Italian Digest, Spring 2006, p. 8.

70.  “Fun and Games in ‘La Señora Cornelia’,” in Comparative Literature in an Age of Multiculturalism.  Volume one, Proceedings of the XVIth Congress of the International Comparative Literature Association. Transitions and Transgressions in an Age of Multiculturalism, University of South Africa,Pretoria, 13-19th of August, 2000, Ina Grabe, ed. pp. 151-159.

71.  “Some Keys to the Understanding of Don Quijote,” in “Aquí se imprimen libros”:  Cervantine Studies in Honor of Tom Lathrop.  Groundland, Mark, Ed.  Univesity, Mississippi: Romance Monographs, 2008.  Romance Monographs, Number S-3, pp. 106-118

72.  “Cervantes y las religiones en Don Quijote,”  in Cervantes y las religiones.”  Actas del Coloquio Internacional de la Asociación de Cervantistas, Universidad Hebrea de Jerusalén, Israel, 19-21 de diciembre de 2005.  Vervuert:  Universidad de Navarra, Iberoamericana, 2008, 691-703.

73.  “Cervantes and Consciousness:  The Christian and Muslim Worlds Juxtaposed,” in Cervantes and Don Quijote.  Proceedings of the Delhi Conference on Miguel de Cervantes. Vibha Maurya and Ignacio Arellano, eds.  Hyderabad, India:  EMESCO Books, 2008.

74.  “My Mother the Disciplinarian,” in Remembrances.  Sixty Tales of Growing up with Italian Mothers, Grandmothers and Godmothers,” edited by Edward Albert Maruggi, foreword by Fred Gardaphè.  Hilton,NY:  Winston Publishing, 2008.

75. “Formalism and Stylistic Analysis as Applied to Lazarillo de Tormes,” in  Approaches to Teaching the Lazarillo de Tormes and the Picaresque Tradition,” Anne J. Cruz, Ed. Approaching to Teaching Series of the Modern Language Association, 2008.
76. “The Long Road Home,” A journalistic account.  Italian-American Digest [New Orleans] Vol. 35, #4, Winter (2008).

77. “The Social Context of Guzmán de Alfarache,” in  Spain’s Multicultural Legacies—Studies in Honor of Samuel G. Armistead. Martin, Adrienne L. and Cristina Martínez-Carazo.  Newark, Delaware:  Juan de la Cuesta—Hispanic Monographs, 2008, pp. 271-281.

78. “The Picaresque in Film,” in Hispanic Studies in Honor of Robert L. Fiore, Eds. Gasta, Chad M., and Julia Domínguez.  Newark, Delaware:  Juan de la Cuesta Hispanic Monographs Series, 2009, pp. 449-463.