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Bio

Prof. Russek holds a BA (Philosophy) and an MA (Comparative Literature) from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). He completed a PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Chicago, specializing in modern and contemporary Latin American literature and visual arts. His fields of research include the links between literature and the visual arts and media, urban studies and aesthetics. He also practices creative writing, in Spanish.

His first scholarly book, , was published on May 2015 with the University of Calgary Press.

His second book, a research-creation project, was entitled . It is a miscellaneous collection of poetic prose, quotes and essays, illustrated with his own photographs. The book explores the epiphanic moment of aesthetic experience and the poetry of the everyday. It was published in Mexico by Bonilla Artigas editores in 2020.

Prof. Russek has published literary essays and two books of poetry in Spanish: . (México: El Tucán de Virginia, 1993) and Dones del día. Noventa y seis sonetos de ocasion (Mexico: Bonilla Artigas editors, 2024). A second book of sonnets, entitled Nuevos dones del día. Ochenta y cinco sonetos, will appear in 2025. Prof. Russek continues developing his lyrical vein in literary essays and poems.

He coordinates the Annual Latin American and Spanish Film Week, now in its 15^th year, and he is the President of the since 2013. 

Courses

• SPAN 100A - Beginners' Spanish I
• SPAN 100B - Beginners' Spanish II
• SPAN 305A - Soccer, Society and Culture in the Hispanic World 
• SPAN 309 - Latin American Cities
• SPAN 390 - Survey of Spanish American Culture 

Selected Publications

Articles and book chapters 

• “Julio Cortázar: Between Aesthetics and Politics: The Travails of a Literary Traveler.” In A Companion to World Literature.New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc, (2020).
  
  
• “Melancholia and Relajo in Güeros (2014) by Alonso Ruizpalacios.” In Politics of Children in Latin American Films. Maria Soledad Paz-Mackay and Omar Rodriguez, eds. New York and London: Lexington Books, 2019, 77-94.
  
  
• "Soledad y solidaridad en el cine mexicano reciente: en torno a Japón (2000), Párpados azules (2007) y Perpetuum Mobile (2009)." Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos1 (2012) 215-232.
  
  
• "From Buñuel to Eimbcke Orphanhood in Recent Mexican Cinema." In Representing History, Class, and Gender in Spain and Latin America. Children and Adolescents in Film. Carolina Rocha and Georgia Seminet, eds. New York: Palgrave McMillan, 2012. 135-150.
  
  
• "El momento epifánico en Luz silenciosa (2007) de Carlos Reygadas". Proceedings of Cine-Lit VII: An International Conference on Hispanic Film and Fiction. Guy H. Wood, ed. Corvalis, OR: Cine-Lit Publications, 2012. 74-87
  
  
• “Photographing Christ: Technology and Representation in Rubén Darío’s ‘Verónica’.” Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos. 34.2 (2010) 359-378.
  
  
• “Borges‘ Photographic Fictions.” Hispanic Journal. 31.2 (2010): 67-80.
  
  
• “Rulfo, Photography and the Vision of Emptiness.” Chasqui: revista de literatura latinoamericana. 2 (2008) 15-27.
  
  
• “An Aesthetics of Reticence: Borges and the Films of Lucrecia Martel.” Proceedings of Cine-Lit VI: An International Conference on Hispanic Film and Fiction. Guy H. Wood, ed. Corvalis, OR: Cine-Lit Publications, 2008, 54-64.
  
  
• “Ekphrasis and the Contest of Representations in La Novela de Perón(1985) by Tomás Eloy Martínez.” In Double Exposure: Photography and Literature in Latin America. Marcy Schwartz and Mary Beth Tierney-Tello, eds. New Mexico Uiversity Press, 2006, 173-191.
  
  
• “ Literature and Photography: Parallel Crafts. An Interview with Elena Poniatowska.” In Double Exposure: Photography and Literature in Latin America. Marcy Schwartz and Mary Beth Tierney-Tello, eds. New Mexico University Press, 2006, 242-249.
  
  
• “Verbal/Visual Braids: on the Photographic Medium in the Work of Julio Cortázar,” Mosaic4 (2004) 71 - 86 (Reprinted in the critical volume Julio Cortázar.Short Story Criticism series. Layman Poupard Publishing, Columbia, SC: 2018, 150-158).

Selected Presentations/Talks

- 2021 “De la gran belleza y el profundo pasmo: creación literaria y educación de los sentidos,” the 9th Workshop of   the Latin American Research Group, University of Victoria, Victoria, Victoria, March 26.

- 2021 “Acción cultural y experiencia estética en el espacio urbano: en torno a The Work of Art in the World de Doris Sommer.” Latin American Studies Association International Congress, online, May 26-29.

- 2021 “Notas sobre Ejercicios de mística urbana (poesía práctica).” 57th Congress of the Canadian Association of Hispanists (online), University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, June 1- 4.

- 2021 “Reflections on Urban Aesthetics: Word, Photographic Image and a (New) Education of the Senses.” 118^th  Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, Nov 11-14 (online)

- 2022 “Los pies del hombre y la mano de Dios: futbol, cultura hispana y enseñanza universitaria” and presentation of  Ejercicios de mística urbana (2020), 58th Congress of the Canadian Association of Hispanists (online) June 2- 5.

- 2023 “Literature, Photography and the Epiphanic Moment: Toward a (New) Education of the Senses” Annual Conference of the American Comparative Literature Association, Chicago, USA, March 16 – 19.

- 2023 “Del poetizar: contextos de la poesía y vida cotidiana,” 59th Congress of the Canadian Association of Hispanists, Ottawa, ON, June 3 - 5.

- 2024 “Notas para una poética de lo cotidiano,” 10th Workshop of the Latin American Research Group, University of Victoria, Victoria, March 16

- 2024 “Del auto arte poética: poetas ante el espejo,” 60th Congress of the Canadian Association of  Hispanists, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, June 1 - 3.

- 2024 Activity organizer. “Sesión abierta: Lectura de poesía en voz alta con el poeta Aurelio Major y miembros de la ACH,” 60th Congress of the Canadian Association of Hispanists, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, June 1 - 3.

- 2024 “Entre política y estética: Cortázar o el arte del equilibrismo,” Latin American Studies Association International Congress, Bogotá, Colombia, June 12-15.

Current Research Projects/Information

Prof. Russek is currently working in a lifelong research-creation essay entitled “Cómo escribí algunos de mis sonetos,” where he critically examines how he wrote some of his sonnets.