My entire career has been at Vanderbilt. I have covered the vast area of Contemporary Peninsular Spanish Literature, with some incursions into the nineteenth century. In thirty years, I have taught  a wide range of courses and seminars and directed dissertations in areas ranging from eighteenth century literature to the Generation of '98 and more recent fiction. 

My main area of research interest has been literature and culture in the Generation of 1927. I published a book on Pedro Salinas, one on the poet Manuel Altolaguirre, one on the history and cultural activities taking place at the Residencia de Estudiantes in Madrid (1910-1936). I edited an anthology of prose from the Spanish Vanguard. 

My present research is on the relationship between literature and the arts (painting, music, architecture), in which I aim to establish a common esthetics in the frequent exchanges and collaborations during the 1920-1936 period. I have published several articles on the subject and plan to publish a book to come out within the next two or three years. 

I was born in Belgium and educated, beyond high school, in Houston, Texas, and in Madison, Wisconsin. My native language is French (with some Flemish), and I am fluent in Spanish and English. Spain is very familiar territory, since I have spent extensive periods there on research or directing our Vanderbilt-in-Spain program.