Guillem Molla

Guillem Molla is senior lecturer of Spanish Studies and the Catalan language program director at UMass, Amherst. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in both Spanish and Catalan Studies from the University of Girona, and a PhD Extraordinary Award upon completion of his thesis on comparatist Ramon Esquerra. Prior to coming to UMass, he worked as a Tutorial Fellow at Cardiff University and a Foreign Language Assistant at the University of Bristol. He received a Batista i Roca Award from IPECC for his promotion of Catalan culture in the US. He has served as a graduate advisor in Digital Humanities at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). He is the co-curator of the Massachusetts Catalan Film Festival and the UMass Catalan Week (since 2014).

His main area of research deals with modern Iberian and Catalan literature. He has published works on food anthropology, documentary film, reception studies, and comparative literature. His major research project was published in a book titled Ramon Esquerra: Geografia crítica d’un esperit comparatista, which addresses the introduction of academic comparatism in Catalonia during the interwar period and the adequacy of this discipline in the Iberian context. He is the editor of the correspondence between writer Josep Pla and historian Jaume Vicens Vives, and several works by Catalan authors, especially major fin-de-siècle writer Prudenci Bertrana.

ORCID

Research Areas

• Modern Iberian Literature
• Modern Catalan Literature
• Comparative Literature

Publications

Books

• Ramon Esquerra, geografia crítica d’un esperit comparatista. Barcelona: PAMSA, 2015, 304 p.

Edited Books

• Josep Pla, Jaume Vicens Vives. L’hora de les decisions. Cartes 1950-1960. Barcelona: Destino, 2019, 368 p. ISBN: 978-84-9710-281-0
• Prudenci Bertrana. L’impenitent. Girona: Ela Geminada, 2017, 504 p. ISBN: 978-84-947322-7-0
• Prudenci Bertrana. El vagabund. Girona: Ela Geminada, 2016, 298 p. ISBN: 978-84-945953-5-6
• Prudenci Bertrana. L’hereu. Girona: Ela Geminada, 2016, 380 p. ISBN: 978-84-945953-1-8
• Prudenci Bertrana. Jo! Memòries d’un metge filòsof. Girona: Ela Geminada, 2015, 290 p. ISBN: 978-84-943424-2-4
• Prudenci Bertrana. Violeta. Girona: Ela Geminada, 2013, 148 p. ISBN: 978-84-940467-4-2
• Josep Maria Corredor. Converses amb Pau Casals. Girona: Ela Geminada, 2012, 457 p. ISBN: 978-84-940467-3-5
• Miquel Berga. No fer res i altres ocupacions. Girona: CCG, 2007, 183 p. ISBN: 978-84-967661-3-6

Selected Articles and Book Chapters

• “‘El Imserso de la memoria’ de los vencidos: Montse Armengou y Ricard Belis.” In Barbara Zecchi; Raquel Medina; Cristina Moreiras Menor; María Pilar Rodríguez (eds.). Envejecimientos y cines ibéricos. Valencia: Tirant lo Blanch Humanidades, 2021, pp. 433-458.
• “Locus y focus en los mares del Sur: Los Paraísos oceánicos de Aurora Bertrana.” In Susana L. M. Antunes (ed.). Ilhas de Vozes em Reencontros Compartilhados. Holden, MA: Quod Manet Press, 2021, pp. 113-146.
• “Sabor, gusto y poesía: Gastronomía y signo alimentario en la obra literaria de Narcís Comadira.” Bulletin of Spanish Studies (2021). DOI: 10.1080/14753820.2021.1900651
• “¿Humanisme o humanitarisme? Fallida d’imponderables a l’entorn d’una discussió entre Ramon Esquerra i Manuel Cruells.” Caplletra: Revista Internacional de Filologia 70 (2021): 99-116. DOI: 10.7203/Caplletra.70.20001
• “Prudenci Bertrana, Josafat, transl. Peter Bush; Maria Mercè Marçal, The Passion According to Renée Vivien, transl. Helena Buffery and Kathleen McNerney; Ferran Soldevila, English Hours, transl. Alan Yates.” Catalan Review 35 (2021): 143-147. DOI: 10.3828/catr.35.7
• “Ramon Esquerra, un pioner del comparatisme acadèmic.” In Antoni Martí Monterde; Teresa Rosell Nicolás (eds.). Comparatistes sense comparatisme: La literatura comparada a Catalunya. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, 2018, pp. 71-98.
• (with Dolores Juan Moreno) “De fuets y remolachas: Notas sobre gastronomía en la producción literaria de Isabel Coixet.” In Barbara Zecchi (ed.). Tras las lentes de Isabel Coixet: Cine, género y feminismo. Zaragoza: Publicaciones Universidad de Zaragoza: Colección Sagardiana, estudios feministas, 2017, pp. 453-464.
• “Tendència lírica i hibridació genèrica: Lectures de Ramon Esquerra sobre Marcel Proust.” In Xavier Pla (ed.). Proust a Catalunya. Lectors, crítics, traductors i detractors de la Recherche. Barcelona: Arcàdia, 2017, pp. 157-174.
• “’L’encaix de la literatura catalana en la literatura comparada.” El Funàmbul: Revista de Cultura 5 (2015): 43-54.
• “Josafat: Els escenaris de la novel·la.” Revista de Girona 283 (2014): 28-33.
• “Comparatista català d’entreguerres.” Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies 19 (2013): 139-157. DOI: 10.1080/14701847.2013.867392
• “Josep Pla, Ramon Esquerra i la intuïció d’un mecanisme literari.” Revista de Girona 240 (2007): 42-47.
• “Un esperit europeista.” Serra d’Or 558 (2006): 43-45. (Call to the Young Writers Award)
• “Les llunyanies, d’Amat-Piniella, més a prop.” Revista de Catalunya 222 (2006): 81-96.
• “El català a Andorra.” Ianua: Romance Philology Journal 4 (2003): 73-90.

Courses Recently Taught

• Spanish 246: Intensive Intermediate Spanish
• Catalan 246: Intensive Intermediate Catalan
• Catalan 297A: Conversational Catalan
• Spanish 312: Oral and Written Expression
• Spanish 321: Literary Currents – Spain II
• Spanish 356: Spanish for Medical Professions
• Catalan 397A: Barcelona and Catalan Culture
• Spanish 415: Culture and Civilization of Spain
• Film / Spanish 597T: Catalan Cinema