Isabel la Católica y Juan Sebastián Elcano en Boston.

Una vez más vuelve Isabel la Católica por estas tierras de Massachussets. En esta ocasión coincidiendo con Juan Sebastián Elcano. Ahí, hermosamente atracado en un puerto sin gracia pero con batallas que contar. Los recipientes de su cruz, la de la Reina Isabel, han sido dos conocidos hispanistas: Jim Iffland y Christopher Maurer, los dos de una misma universidad y departamento, Boston University. La hermana menor (¡) de los otros dos monstruos, Harvard y MIT. También se le condecoró a Elazer Edelman, profesor de MIT, con la Medalla de la Orden del Mérito Civil. La ceremonia se celebró en una sala de Boston University con una de las mejores vistas de Boston y el río Carlos.

Hay que agradecer estas merecidas condecoraciones a nuestro - casi saliente - cónsul Carlos Robles. El se interesó desde un principio y de una forma personal en conocer a los españoles y extranjeros del área que excelentemente ha representado, teniendo siempre en mente cómo agradecer, cómo premiar, a los que estando fuera de España dedican sus esfuerzos - los dos hispanistas que he mencionado, desde que eran adolescentes - e ilusiones, a la propagación de la cultura de España en este país, con un resultado brillante en estos dos casos. Pero no están todos los que son, y bien que sabe esto nuestro querido cónsul, segura estoy de que - después de su marcha - seguirá cayendo el fruto de lo que él ha sembrado.

Tres años de servicio en Boston y otro nuevo cargo, ahora en Bruselas. Una vida errante la de los diplomáticos. Quien sustituya a Carlos y Begoña (como cariñosamente les llama la comunidad) no lo tiene fácil…o lo tiene facilísimo, por el ejemplo que ellos han dejado.

Queremos –es el sentimiento de muchos otros - agradecer, con cariño y admiración, la participación de los embajadores de España, Jorge Dezcallar Mazarredo y su mujer Teresa Valente. Los que hemos tenido ocasión de conocerlos en sus visitas a Boston nos sentimos afortunados de que personas de tal calibre representen a España en el extranjero; en particular en un país tan complejo y diverso como EE.UU. En Boston tienen más de una casa. (¡Con los recortes de presupuesto a los funcionarios del Estado quizás llegue el día en que el embajador no se pueda quedar en un hotel!)

La ceremonia fue en inglés en consideración a los muchos invitados de habla inglesa que asistieron. Más adelante intentaré traducir lo que aquí cito al español, por la misma consideración al público de mi blog.

Remarks by Jorge Dezcallar,

Ambassador of Spain

I am very pleased to be able to receive you here today on the occasion of the formal recognition by Spain of the merits of a group of individuals from various backgrounds, who share their support of Spanish culture and sciences in the United States [...]

The Order of Isabel la Católica was created in 1815 and is today the main knighthood by which his majesty the King of Spain recognizes the extraordinary merit of those individuals who significantly promote the values of Spanish arts, culture and sciences in the Americas. It was under Queen Isabella that this continent was discovered to the rest of the world.

It is an honor for me to bestow, today, on behalf of his majesty King Juan Carlos I, the Cruz de Oficial [Officer’s Cross] of the Order of Isabel la Católica upon :

James Iffland, Professor of Spanish at Boston University. This Cruz de Oficial is bestowed in recognition, deep appreciation and gratitude for Mr. Iffland’s extraordinary leadership in the study of the Golden-Age of Spanish literature in the United States, and his outstanding and tireless work to promote Spanish culture in the US academic field.

The work of James Iffland, Professor of Spanish at Boston University, has been remarkable for the quality of attention he has given to literary texts of different genres, periods, and social contexts. Over the past thirty years, while publishing a groundbreaking book on the seventeenth-century Spanish satirist Francisco de Quevedo, and a no less revolutionary book on the ideological and esthetic premises of Cervantes and his imitator Avellaneda, along with editions, articles, and lectures written –and spoken-- in impeccable Spanish, James Iffland has been a leader in the U.S., in Spain, and throughout the world, among those who study the so-called Golden Age of Spanish literature [...] It is with the Order of Isabel la Católica that we honor the excellence of his work, his quest, and the thoughtful questions he has posed.

Christopher Maurer, Professor of Spanish in the Department of Romance Studies at the University of Boston. This Cruz de Oficial is bestowed in recognition, deep appreciation and gratitude for Christopher Maurer’s extraordinary leadership in the study of the Spanish literature in the United States, and his outstanding and tireless work to promote Spanish culture in the US academic field.

Professor Christopher Maurer's distinguished career within the field of Hispanic studies spans several decades during which he has won thee admiration of his colleagues through his conscientious and illuminating exploration of a wide range of Spanish authors. Professor Maurer began his career centering his attention largely on Renaissance and Baroque poets... His biography and edition of Francisco de Figueroa helped to renew interest in this lesser known but brilliant sixteenth-century poet while his essays on Francisco de Quevedo, fray Luis de Leon and others made important contributions to the critical corpus dedicated to these canonical authors of the period.

Simultaneously, however, Professor Maurer initiated his scholarly explorations of the author to whose work he has dedicated the greater part of his career, that is, Federico García Lorca. Christopher Maurer has earned a reputation as one of the world’s leading experts on the writer whom many would consider the greatest Spain produced in the XXth century, a writer who is also firmly ensconced in the canon of world literature. Professor Maurer has contributed to the dissemination of Lorca’s works in the English-speaking world through his own outstanding translations as well as through his presentations to audiences in a wide variety of venues. He has also deepened the knowledge of Lorca within the Spanish-speaking world through, for example, his superlative editions of Lorca’s correspondence as well as the unpublished prose of the poet’s early years.

Professor Maurer has also contributed to our understanding and appreciation of the work of many of the other distinguished members of Lorca’s circle, with books on Unamuno and Juan Ramón Jiménez (two of Lorca’s masters) and studies on fellow poets of that prodigious generation (the so-called “Generation of 1927”), including Jorge Guillén, Pedro Salinas, and Emilio Prados. Lorca’s work is permeated by the visual arts and music, and here, too, Professor Maurer has taught us much, particularly regarding the complex relationship of Lorca and Salvador Dalí as well as Lorca’s deep commitment to his native Andalucía’s great flamenco tradition. [...]

The Order of Civil Merit was created by King Alfonso XIII to acknowledge outstanding and extraordinary service to civil society and to the overall well being of our nation. King Juan Carlos I is currently the grand master of the order.

It is an honor for me to bestow, today, on behalf o f his majesty King Juan Carlos I, the Official Cross of the Spanish Order of Civil Merit, upon

Elazer Edelman, Professor of Health and Sciences and Technology, and Director of the Biomedical Engineering Center of MIT, Professor of Medicine at Harvard and Senior Physician and Cardiologist at the Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Professor Elazer Edelman, is a close friend of Spain. He has mentored more than 100 students from Spanish universities, worked closely with colleagues in Spanish academia, and advocated for and guided advances in Spanish industry. This he did from love of his students, respect for his colleagues, dedication to his craft and passion for teaching, research and the advancement ofsociety – and above all the most genuine affection for all things Spanish. Prof. Edelman’s accomplishments in science are well known, his contributions to medicine are well documentedand his commitment to teaching and research legendary. His is one of very few who hold the highest academic ranks at both the Massachusetts institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School. For all he has done for Spain, its students, its teachers, its leaders in health, science, business and public policy, in the name of His Majesty the King, I am delighted to present Prof. Elazer Edelman with the Official Cross of Civil Merit.

To conclude, I would like to take this opportunity to publicly thank Elazer Edelman, Christopher Maurer, and James Iffland, for their dedication and passion in the promotion of the culture of Spain in this great country, where I have the honor of representing Spain and His Majesty King Juan Carlos.

Thank you all.

Pincha aquí para ver fotos de la ceremonia.

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