Emil Volek is a professor of Spanish at Arizona State University. He also works in Slavic literary and cultural theory, semiotics and aesthetics. He is the author of Cuatro claves para la modernidad: Análisis semiótico de textos hispánicos: Aleixandre, Borges, Carpentier, Cabrera Infante (Madrid 1984); Metaestructuralismo: Poética moderna, semiótica narrativa y filosofía de las ciencias sociales (Madrid 1985); Literatura hispanoamericana entre la modernidad y la postmodernidad (Bogota 1994); Znak, funkce a hodnota: Estetika a sémiotika umĕní Jana Mukařovského v proudech současného myšlení. Zápisky z podzemí postmoderny [Sign, Function, and Value. Aesthetics and Semiotics of the Arts of Jan Mukařovský within the Contemporary Critical Currents. Notes From the Postmodern Underground] (Prague 2004); La mujer que quiso ser amada por Dios. Sor Juana Inés en la cruz de la crítica (Madrid 2016); Obra selecta: Literatura cubana e hispanoamericana (Valencia 2020). He is the editor of Antología del Formalismo ruso y el grupo de Bajtin, I-II (Madrid 1992, 1995); Signo, función y valor: Estética y semiótica del arte de Jan Mukařovský (Bogota 2000, 2020; partial pirated ed. Bs. Aires 2011); Latin America Writes Back: Postmodernity in the Periphery. An Interdisciplinary Cultural Perspective (Routlege 2002, 2007, 2014); Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda: Tu amante ultrajada no puede ser tu amiga. Cartas de amor/novela epistolar (Madrid 2004); Teoría teatral de la Escuela de Praga: De la fenomenología a la semiótica performativa (Madrid/Bogota 2013); Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, El sueño (1690) (Madrid 2019); Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz, Poesia (Madrid 2021).
Included in “Notable 100 Czech émigré scientists encyclopedia” (2011). Commemorative Medal, awarded by Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña (1999). Commemorative Centennial Medal “José Lezama Lima,” awarded by Instituto Cubano del Libro (2016). Outstanding Mentor Award, awarded by Associated Students of ASU (1993). Andres Perez-Simon, ed. Despistemes: La teoria literaria y cultural de Emil Volek (2018).
He completed his doctorate at Charles University, Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1970: Doctor Philosophiae in History of Romance Literatures, Specialization in History of Spanish and Ibero-American Literatures, and in Theory of Literature. Dissertation: Dos décadas de la narrativa de Alejo Carpentier: 1944-1962 (Director: Oldřich Bĕlič). He pursued a postgraduate program in Aesthetics, also at Charles University from 1970-1972. His thesis was: Dialectics of the Specificity of Art: Russian Formalism, Czech Structuralism, and Marxism, 1973 (in Czech). He also attended the School of Criticism and Theory, University of California at Irvine in the summer of 1978 (NEH Fellowship; seminars with Hayden White, Wolfgang Iser, and Fredric Jameson).
Universidad de La Habana (Cuba), 1966. (Studies in Spanish American poetry under Roberto Fernández Retamar and research in Spanish American and Cuban literature.)
Ph.D. Doctor Philosophiae in History of Romance Literatures, Specialization in History of Spanish and Ibero-American Literatures, and in Theory of Literature, Charles University, Prague, Czechoslovakia 1970. Dissertation: Dos décadas de la narrativa de Alejo Carpentier: 1944-1962. Director: Oldřich Bĕlič.
Volek, Emil. Memorias de una soldadera, de Madero a los cristeros: Hasta no verte Jesus mio. Good Bandits, Warrior Women, and Revolutionaries in Hispanic Culture (2010).
Emil Volek. Mapování teorie/teorie mapování: metastrukturalistické modely vs. dedictví strukturalismu a poststrukturalismu [Mapping of Theory/Theory of Mapping: Metastructuralist Models vs. Structuralist and Poststructuralist Legacy]. Svet literatury (Prague: Filozofická Fakulta UK) (2009).
Emil Volek. Trabajo critico y metaforas barrocas. Katatay (2009).
Volek, Emil. From Argiropolis to Macondo: Latin American Intellectuals and the Tasks of Modernization. Latin American Issues and Challenges (2009).
Volek, Emil. Futures of the Past: Steps and Mis(sed)steps in Structuralism(s), Semiotics, and Aesthetics from a Metacritical Perspective. Structuralism(S) Today: Paris, Prague, Tartu (2009).
Volek, Emil. La poesia religiosa de Sor Juana. Unidad y sentido de la literatura novohispana (2009).
Volek, Emil. Literární a kulturní teorie pro 21. století: metastrukturalistické modely a genealogie [Literary and Cultural Theory for the 21st Century: Metastructuralist Models and Genealogies]. Rocenka textu zahranicních profesoru/The Annual of Texts by Foreign Guest Professors (2009).
Volek, Emil. Narativ, mýtus, historie a jiné f(r)ikce: modelování príbehu po strukturalismu [Narrative, Myth, History, and Other F(r)ictions: Modeling the Story After Structuralism]. Vyprávení v kontextu [Narration in Context] (2009).
Emil Volek. "Literatura, estética, cultura: encuentros y desencuentros.". Treinta años de estudios literarios/culturales latinoamericanistas en Estados Unidos. Memorias, testimonios, reflexiones críticas (2008).
Emil Volek. "Promesas y simulacros en el baratillo posmodernista: saber y ser en las encrucijadas de una ‘historia mostrenca’.". Treinta años de estudios literarios/culturales latinoamericanistas en Estados Unidos. Memorias, testimonios, reflexiones críticas (2008).
. Literatura andina en el siglo XX. Desde el indigenismo hasta nuestros días. (2008).
Emil Volek. “Anverso y reverso del laberinto de la soledad: Octavio Paz y cien años de Macondo.”. CILHA (Centro Interdisciplinario de la Literatura Hispanoamericana (2007).
Emil Volek. "Un texto en busca de autor y destinatario: Serafina de Cristo.". Simulacros de la fantasía. Nuevas indagaciones sobre arte y literatura virreinales. Homenaje a José Pascual Buxó. Simposio internacional (2002) (2007).
Fehr, Johannes,Kouba, Petr. Habitats of Language/Language Inhabited: From Ostension and Umwelt to the Possible Worlds of Communication and Culture. Dynamic Structure: Language as an Open System (2007).
Volek, Emil. Sexo, risa e historia entre los antiguos mexicanos: El Canto de las mujeres de Chalco (texto, contexto, performance). XXII Coloquio Internacional de Literatura Mexicana e Hispanoamericana, Universidad de Sonora, Hermos (Nov 2009).
Volek, Emil. Memorias de una soldadera: Hasta no verte Jesús mío, de Elena Poniatowska. Bold Caballeros and Noble Bandidas, Hispanic Research Center, ASU, Downtown Pho (Apr 2009).
Volek, Emil. "De Argirópolis a Macondo: El intelectual latinoamericano y los desafíos de la modernización," "Los estudios latinoamericanos hoy: Transformaciones del campo.". Special invitation by the Philosophical Faculty, Charles University, Prague (May 2008).
Volek, Emil. "Literární a kulturní teorie pro 21. století: dedictví strukturalismu a postrukturalismu". Special invitation by the Philosophical Faculty, Charles University, Prague (May 2008).
Volek, Emil. "Od metastrukturalismu k postteorii". Seminar lecture and discussion (May 2008).
Volek, Emil. "Strukturalismus a metakritická perspektiva". Literárnevedné fórum, Section of Narrative Theory, Institute of Czech Literature, Czech Academy of S (May 2008).
Service
Decires: Revista electronica del Centro de Ensenanza para Extranjeros, UNAM (Mexico), on editorial board (2010 - Present)
Spanish Doctoral Committee, Member (2008 - Present)
Spanish doctoral Committee, member (2008 - Present)
Svet literatury. Philosophical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, on editorial board (2007 - Present)
Svet literatury. Philosophical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, on editorial board (2007 - Present)
Svet literatury. Philosophical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, on editorial board (2007 - Present)
Theoretica et historica. Institute of Czech Literature, Czech Academy of Sciences, on editorial board (2007 - Present)
Theoretica et historica. Institute of Czech Literature, Czech Academy of Sciences, on editorial board (2007 - Present)
Theoretica et historica. Institute of Czech Literature, Czech Academy of Sciences, on editorial board (2007 - Present)
CILHA (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Editorial Board (2006 - Present)
CILHA (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina), Editorial Board (2006 - Present)
CILHA (Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina), Editorial Board (2006 - Present)
Universum: Rev. de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales Univ. de Talca, International Editorial Board (2004 - Present)
Universum: Rev. de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales Univ. de Talca, International Editorial Board (2004 - Present)
Universum: Rev. de Humanidades y Ciencias Sociales Univ. de Talca, International Editorial Board (2004 - Present)
Connotas. Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Editorial Board (2002 - Present)
Connotas. Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Editorial Board (2002 - Present)
Connotas. Universidad de Sonora, Hermosillo, Editorial Board (2002 - Present)
Hermes Criollo. Montevideo, Uruguay, On International Editorial Board (2001 - Present)
Hermes Criollo. Montevideo, Uruguay, On International Editorial Board (2001 - Present)
Hermes Criollo. Montevideo, Uruguay, On International Editorial Board (2001 - Present)
Escritos. BUAP, Puebla, Mexico, International Editorial Board (1995 - Present)
Torre de Papel (Univeristy of Iowa), Editorial Board (1994 - Present)
Torre de Papel (Univeristy of Iowa), Editorial Board (1994 - Present)
Torre de Papel (Univeristy of Iowa), Editorial Board (1994 - Present)
ASU/community at large, resource person for Czech/Slovak (1976 - Present)
Escritos. BUAP, Puebla, Mexico, International Editorial Board (1995 - 2006)
ASU/community at large, resource person for Czech/Slovak (Present)
