Celia Correas de Zapata

Background

Celia Correas de Zapata was born on October 9, 1935, in Mendoza, Argentina to the family of a noble Argentinian writer, politician, and historian Edmundo Correas. Later Celia immigrated to the United States and became a naturalized citizen.

Education

In 1951 in Mendoza, Celia graduated from Escuela Normal Tomás Godoy Cruz. Then, she enrolled at the University of Cuyo and in 1965 earned a Master's degree. In 1971, Celia became a Doctor of Philosophy at the University of California in Irvine.

Career

Celia's first working place was Santa Ana Junior College where she was an instructor in Spanish. She worked there for a year before taking on the position of associate professor of Spanish at her alma-mater - University of California-Irvine. In 1978 Correas de Zapata joined San Jose State University as a professor of Hispanic literature. This place became central in her academic career.

In 1976 Celia became coordinator and director of the first conference on Inter-American Women Writers. In a couple of years, that was followed by the launch of the Council for Latin-American Studies.

Celia has also published a collection of poems, Tiempo ajeno, written dozens of articles on Hispanic writers and cultural issues, and recorded Argentine Writer Celia Correas de Zapata Reading Poems (in Spanish) for the Archive of Hispanic Literature on Tape at the Library of Congress Recording Laboratory.

Correas de Zapata is the author of Isabel Allende: Life and Spirits which has been translated into Portuguese, Greek, Italian, and German. In this work she writes of a passionate contemporary and long-time friend, and one of the most important Latin American writers of the twentieth century, Isabel Allende. Allende’s career as a novelist began as a letter to her dying ninety-nine-year-old grandfather, which she later transformed into her first novel The House of Spirits. Correas de Zapata’s book is a representation of Allende’s life thus far, capturing both her literary achievements and her spirit. Celia drew on personal interviews with Allende, her family, and her acquaintances in Chile for this book. By providing glimpses into Allende’s family and personal life, the writer helps readers interpret some of the autobiographical elements in Allende’s writings.

Celia also released Short Stories by Latin-American Women: The Magic and the Real. For this anthology, Correas de Zapata chose thirty-one stories from as many authors to give equal representation to magic realism and surrealism. The authors explore their views on love, sex, politics, and revenge, often with humor and sarcasm. Unlike traditional prose, most of these sketches have no real beginning or end but are, rather, psychological introspections that trace the emotional development of their characters against what Marcela Kogan, reviewing the book for Belles Lettres, called "a dim, cloudy backdrop."

Correas de Zapata has always been an active public speaker. For instance, she was invited to be a panelist and reviewer at the National Endowment for the Humanities and became a special guest at the third conference of Universidad Autonoma de Mexico.

Achievements

• Celia Correas de Zapata has created courses on creative writing, literary analysis, and Hispanic women writers, including Isabel Allende. She led specialized seminars and inspired and guided young writers into the field of publications.
  
  Celia's collection Short Stories by Latin-American Women: The Magic and the Real is widely used in courses across the United States and Latin America.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Isabel Allende: Life and Spirits

    (This is an intimate interview/biography of passionate con...)

    1998
  • Short Stories by Latin American Women

    (Celia Correas de Zapata has collected stories by thirty-o...)

    1990
  • Cruz del Sur 1976
  • Detras de la reja: Antologia critica de narradoras latinoamericanas del Siglo XX 1980

Membership

• Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese

• Pacific Coast Council on Latin American Studies

• Philological Association of Pacific Coast

• Center for Inter-American Women Writers

• Latin American Studies Association

• Council of Latin American Studies

• Mexican-American Heritage of Santa Clara County

  1982

Connections

In 1955 Celia got married. She have two children: Carol and Martin.

Father:

Edmundo Correas

Grandfather:

Juan de Dios Correas

Juan de Dios Correas was Governor of Mendoza Province from 1824 to 1826.

Daughter:

Carol Correas de Zapata

Son:

Martin Correas de Zapata

Friend:

Isabel Allende

colleague:

Margaret Sayers Peden