José Robles, the Spanish Civil War and Hispanism

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Notes

1 See Noël Valis, ‘Hemingway’s The Fifth Column, Fifthcolumnism, and the Spanish Civil War’, The Hemingway Review, 28:1 (2008), 19–32 (pp. 23, 29–30, for Robles).

2 Paul Preston suggests he may have been a Communist, but offers no hard evidence (Paul Preston, We Saw Spain Die: Foreign Correspondents in the Spanish Civil War [New York: Skyhorse Publishing, 2009], 71). My thanks to Carolyn Richmond, Manuel Gómez Ros, José Simonet and José Ramón Sabín Lestayo for their help with bibliographical sources.

3 Ignacio Martínez de Pisón, Enterrar a los muertos (Barcelona: Seix Barral, 2005), 110. Taking a different view, Preston suggests Robles might very well have been a traitor, or fifth-columnist, but presents speculation, and even hearsay, in lieu of corroborated evidence (We Saw Spain Die, 80, 92, 377 n. 41, 379 n. 74). His main focal point is Robles’ brother Ramón, who was a Nationalist officer and fifth-columnist. Had José been passing secrets to his brother, however, it seems doubtful that Ramón would have been released, as he was after having been tried for disloyalty in January 1937 (when José was already under arrest). Such political divisions in families, common during the war, were deeply painful, but not typically conducive to treachery. See also Preston, The Spanish Holocaust: Inquisition and Extermination in Twentieth-Century Spain (New York: W. W. Norton, 2012), 393–96.

4 Concern over Robles is reflected in the fourteen articles that appeared in The Baltimore Sun between 25 August 1936 and 13 November 1939; with one piece on 25 August 1936, and two on 27 March and 17 May 1937, in The New York Times.

5 For these and other biographical details, see: Janet Pomerantz, ‘Informe’, in John Dos Passos: Rocinante pierde el camino, ed. Héctor Baggio (Madrid: Altalena, 1978), 129–34; Juan José Coy Ferrer, ‘El compromiso ético en la literatura norteamericana. Apéndice: ¿Quién mató a José Robles Pazos?’, Anthropos, N° extra, 10 [ejemplar dedicado a Miscelánea temática] (1988), 65–69; Stephen Koch, The Breaking Point: Hemingway, Dos Passos, and the Murder of José Robles (New York: Counterpoint, 2005); and Martínez de Pisón, Enterrar a los muertos, 9–12. My own professor at Douglass College, the poet Marina Romero Serrano (1908–2001), entered the Instituto-Escuela as a pupil at the same time (in October 1918) and later became an instructor. She, too, was purged, though bureaucratically, as a Republican maestra, in 1940 (Teresa Marín Eced, ‘Mujeres institucionistas represaliadas', in Doctor Buenaventura Delgado Criado: pedagogo e historiador [Barcelona: Edicions Univ. de Barcelona, 2009], 713–47 [p. 744]). Dolores Sánchez Durá says that Robles was also a student at the Instituto-Escuela (see her ‘Ignacio Martínez de Pisón: ¿Quién mató a Robles? Reflexiones en torno a un relato de intriga’, Pasajes. Revista de Pensamiento Contemporáneo, 20 [2006], 61–70 [p. 65]). But the University Register 1920–1921 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1920), 47, notes that he was educated at the Instituto de San Isidro (Madrid). Robles was from a conservative, monarchist family, little inclined, one suspects, towards sending their son to an institucionista-affiliated school.

6 Preston mistakenly states that he left to escape the Primo de Rivera dictatorship (1923–1930) (We Saw Spain Die, 64); see also Anon., ‘Dr. José Robles, of Madrid, Will Join Hopkins Faculty’, The Baltimore Sun, 12 September 1920, ES17.

7 See Annual Report of the President of the Johns Hopkins University 1921–1922 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1922), 16; Anon., ‘Personalia’, The Modern Language Journal, 20:1 (1935), 52–61 (p. 54). In 1934, he is listed as an Associate in Romance Languages (see The Johns Hopkins University Circular 1934 [Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1934], 8).

8 See The Johns Hopkins University Circular: Report of the President of the University 1920–21 (Baltimore: The University, November 1921), 77; Annual Report of the President of the Johns Hopkins University 1921–1922, 62; Annual Report of the President of the Johns Hopkins University 1922–1923 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1923), 63; The Johns Hopkins University Circular: Report of the President of the University 1933–1934 (Baltimore: The University, August 1934), 72. The Department’s reports were signed by H. Carrington Lancaster.

9 Tony Hiss, Laughing Last: Alger Hiss by Tony Hiss (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977), 36.

10 Matthew Richer, ‘The Ongoing Campaign of Alger Hiss: The Sins of the Father’, Modern Age, 46:4 (2004), 307–16 (p. 310).

11 Robles published a collection of Lope de Vega songs from his plays (Cancionero teatral [Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1935]); C. E. Aníbal reviewed it unfavourably in Modern Language Notes, 52:4 (1937), 291–94. By then, Robles was dead. Other publications include: José Robles Pazos, ‘Periódicos españoles’, The Modern Language Journal, 7:5 (1923), 289–92; ‘Nota sobre Manuel del Palacio’, Modern Language Notes, 44:1 (1929), 43–44; and ‘Sobre la fecha de Fuente Ovejuna’, Modern Language Notes, 50:3 (1935), 179–82.

12 John Dos Passos called him ‘a man of vigorous, skeptical and inquiring mind’ (The Theme is Freedom [New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1956], 128).

13 See Francisco Ayala, review of Dos Passos’ Manhattan Transfer (Madrid: Cenit, 1929), Revista de Occidente, 25 (1929), 122–24; Manuel Broncano Rodríguez, ‘José Robles Pazos: primer traductor de Dos Passos y Lewis’, Livius, 2 (1992), 233–42; Francisco J. Zamora Salamanca, ‘Planificación lingüística y traducción en español: José Robles Pazos y Max Dickmann’, Romanische Forschungen, 115:4 (2003), 468–83; and Rosa María Bautista Cordero, ‘The Spanish Translation of Manhattan Transfer and Censorship’, Estudios de Traducción, 3 (2013), 149–62.

14 Preston calls Robles ‘the translator into Spanish of the novels of John Dos Passos’ (We Saw Spain Die, 64), but there was only one translation, Manhattan Transfer (his wife, Márgara Villegas, translated Dos Passos’ collection of essays, Rosinante to the Road Again [Rocinante vuelve al camino, 1930]). He was also under contract to produce Spanish versions of thirteen works of H. L. Mencken, but I find no record of any translations, contrary to Robert Roper’s assertion, in a piece that contains biographical and historical inaccuracies (see Roper, ‘A Hopkins Professor in the Spanish Civil War’, Johns Hopkins University Arts & Sciences Magazine [Spring 2011] <http://krieger.jhu.edu/magazine/v8n2/spanish-civil-war/> [accessed 11 January 2017]). On Cenit, see Gonzalo Santonja Gómez-Agero, ‘Breve perfil de la editorial Cenit (Madrid, 1928–1936)’, 1616. Anuario de la Sociedad Española de Literatura General y Comparada, 5 (1983–1984), 129–39; and Martínez de Pisón, Enterrar a los muertos, 212–16.

15 Maurice Coindreau, a friend of both Robles and Dos Passos, worked on the French translation of Manhattan Transfer around the same time. See Maurice-Edgar Coindreau, Mémoires d’un traducteur: entretiens avec Christian Giudicelli, préface par Michel Gresset (Paris: Gallimard, 1992), 33–42.

16 See John Dos Passos, in Journeys between Wars (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1938), for his recreation of his friendship with Robles.

17 José Robles, ‘Prólogo de José Robles Pazos a la segunda edición de Manhattan Transfer’, in Baggio, John Dos Passos, 135–38 (p. 137).

18 See Mechthild Albert, ‘La Gaceta Literaria, actor de una vanguardia transnacional’, in Almacenes de un tiempo en fuga: revistas culturales en la modernidad hispánica, ed. Hanno Ehrlicher & Nanette Rissler-Pipka (Berlin: Shaker Verlag, 2014), 339–56 (pp. 345–46, 352).

19 He also commented on Luis Palés in ‘Un poeta borinqueño’, La Gaceta Literaria, I:18, 15 September 1927, p. 5; and on a Baltimore production of El gran Galeoto in ‘Echegaray en inglés’, La Gaceta Literaria, I:12, 15 June 1927, p. 4.

20 J. Robles Pazos, ‘Manhattan Transfer’, La Gaceta Literaria, I:8, 15 April 1927, p. 4; Robles Pazos, ‘Upton Sinclair: Oil!’, La Gaceta Literaria, I:24, 15 December 1927, p. 4; R. P., ‘W. D. Steele: The Man Who Saw through Heaven’, La Gaceta Literaria, II:26, 15 January 1928, p. 4. Robles’ signature in La Gaceta Literaria varied.

21 Robles Pazos, ‘Sinclair Lewis: Elmer Gantry’, La Gaceta Literaria, I:22, 15 November 1927, p. 4; J. Robles Pazos, ‘The Sun Also Rises’, La Gaceta Literaria, I:11, 1 June 1927, p. 4. Robles also reviewed Hemingway’s Men without Women, singling out ‘The Killers’ as one of the best of the collection, but judging the book as a whole ‘enervante y depresivo’ (La Gaceta Literaria, II:25, 1 January 1928, p. 6).

22 José Robles, review of Romera-Navarro’s Historia de la literatura española, Modern Language Notes, 44:2 (1929), 114–16 (p. 114; emphasis in the original).

23 Robles, review of Romera-Navarro’s Historia de la literatura española, 114.

24 Robles, review of Romera-Navarro’s Historia de la literatura española, 115.

25 Robles, review of Romera-Navarro’s Historia de la literatura española, 116.

26 Miguel Romera-Navarro, ‘Una réplica’, Modern Language Notes, 44:4 (1929), 245–47 (p. 245).

27 Romera-Navarro, ‘Una réplica’, 245.

28 José Robles, ‘Una contrarréplica’, Modern Language Notes, 44:4 (1929), 247–48 (p. 248).

29 William J. Entwistle, review of Romera-Navarro’s Historia de la literatura española, BSS, VI:21 (1929), 35–39 (p. 38).

30 Gregory G. LaGrone, ‘Foreword’, in Bibliography of Romera-Navarro: A Homage Offered to Professor Miguel Romera-Navarro by His Friends and Former Students on the Thirtieth Year of His Teaching (Philadelphia: n.p., 1947), 4–7 (p. 4).

31 See Anon., ‘Necrology: Miguel Romera-Navarro (1888–1954)’, Hispanic Review, 22:4 (1954), 306–08.

32 Jesús Espinosa Gutiérrez, ‘Miguel Romera-Navarro: un hombre feminista frente a la misoginia cientificista del siglo XIX’, Hombres Igualitarios. Revista Digital de AHIGE [Asociación de Hombres por la Igualdad de Género], 8:93 (2015) <http://www.hombresigualitarios.ahige.org/?p=142> (accessed 15 December 2016). He also applied to join the freemasons (Espinosa Gutiérrez, ‘Miguel Romera-Navarro’).

33 José Robles, review of Hurtado and Palencia, Historia de la literatura española, Modern Language Notes, 41:7 (1926), 486–87 (p. 486). See also his criticisms of their Antología de la literatura española (Modern Language Notes, 42:6 [1927], 420); and of José A. Balseiro’s Novelistas españoles modernos (Modern Language Notes, 49:6 [1934], 410–12), as unfocused.

34 Romera-Navarro praised the manual’s fourth edition (Hispanic Review, 9:3 [1941], 415). For other overall favourable reviews of the first and third editions, see: M. R., Studies. An Irish Quarterly Review, 11:44 (1922), 667; and Alfred Coester, Hispania (USA) 16:1 (1933), 116.

35 See, for example, Joaquín Ortega, ‘El Curso de Verano en Madrid’, Hispania (USA), 3:5 (1920), 258–64, where he notes the participation of both Castro and Robles in the summer courses for foreign students, run by the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios. Ramón Menéndez Pidal, director of the Junta’s Centro de Estudios Históricos, organized the plan of study. The classes were given at the Instituto-Escuela. Robles observes that F. A. Van Dam’s scholarly preparation was a product of the Centro de Estudios Históricos; see his review of Van Dam’s edition of Lope de Vega’s El castigo sin venganza, Modern Language Notes, 44:6 (1929), 400–02 (p. 401).

36 José Robles, review of Castro’s El pensamiento de Cervantes, Modern Language Notes, 42:4 (1927), 275–77 (pp. 276, 277). Other critics also welcomed the book; see George Tyler Northup (Modern Philology, 25:2 [1927], 231–37); and W. J. E. [William J. Entwistle] (BSS, IV:15 [1927], 133–34).

37 José Robles, review of Castro’s Santa Teresa y otros ensayos, Modern Language Notes, 45:5 (1930), 347–49 (p. 348).

38 Robles, review of Castro’s Santa Teresa y otros ensayos, 348.

39 The term, ‘cultural reader’ is contemporary. A reviewer used it to describe Tertulias españolas (Anon., ‘Foreign Language Texts in American Classrooms’, Books Abroad, 13:1 [1939], 126–29 [p. 129]), as did William H. Shoemaker, in his ‘Prefatory Note’ to José Robles, Tertulias españolas, with a Foreword by F. Courtney Tarr, 5^th ed. (New York: F. S. Crofts, 1946), vii–viii (p. vii). All references are to this edition of Tertulias españolas.

40 The company merged to form Appleton-Century-Crofts in 1948. See ‘Queries’, The French Review, 21:5 (1948), 409–13 (pp. 409–10): ‘The Crofts list of books has been particularly notable for its contributions to the fields of the modern languages, history, and English’ (410).

41 See Frederick Sharer Crofts’ engaging lecture, Textbooks Are Not Absolutely Dead Things, third of the R. R. Bowker Memorial Lectures (New York: The New York Public Library, 1938).

42 Wilfred A. Beardsley, review of Robles’ Cartilla española, The Modern Language Journal, 20:6 (1936), 380–81.

43 Robert K. Spaulding, review of Robles’ Tertulias españolas, The Modern Language Journal, 23:7 (1939), 558.

44 Anon., ‘Foreign Language Texts in American Classrooms’, 129.

45 William H. Shoemaker and the Meredith Publishing Company applied for a copyright renewal of Tertulias españolas in 1965, though there is no sign that it was reprinted. See Catalog of Copyright Entries. Third Series. Books and Pamphlets. July–December 1965 (Washington, DC: The Library of Congress, 1968), 2380.

46 Hispania (USA), 19:4 (1936).

47 José Robles, ‘Preface’ to his Cartilla española, 4^th ed. (New York: F. S. Crofts, 1939), v.

48 Robles, Cartilla española, 30.

49 Robles, Cartilla española, 6.

50 Robles, Cartilla española, 80.

51 Shoemaker, ‘Prefatory Note’ to Robles, Tertulias españolas, vii.

52 Raymond S. Willis, Jr, ‘Necrology: Frederick Courtney Tarr (1896–1939)’, Hispanic Review, 8:1 (1940), 67–68.

53 Robles had reviewed Tarr’s work, noting its strengths and weaknesses. See his review of C. Carroll Marden and F. Courtney Tarr’s A First Spanish Grammar, Modern Language Notes, 43:4 (1928), 274–75; and his review of Tarr and Augusto Centeno’s A Graded Review Grammar with Composition, Modern Language Notes, 49:1 (1934), 64–65.

54 Robles, Tertulias españolas, 9.

55 Robles, Tertulias españolas, 54–55, 89.

56 Robles, Tertulias españolas, 59–60.

57 Robles, Tertulias españolas, 28.

58 Robles, Tertulias españolas, 104–07.

59 He favoured La Granja del Henar, on the calle Alcalá, a café frequented by writers, artists, politicians, and academics (Martínez de Pisón, Enterrar a los muertos, 19).

60 LaGrone, ‘Foreword’, to Bibliography of Romera-Navarro, 6.

61 Francisco Ayala, Recuerdos y olvidos (1906–2006) (Madrid: Alianza, 2006), 229; Coy Ferrer, ‘El compromiso ético’, 65.

62 Tarr, ‘Foreword’, to Robles, Tertulias españolas, vi.

63 John Dos Passos, ‘The Death of José Robles’, The New Republic, 19 July 1939, 308–09 (p. 309).

* Disclosure Statement: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.