Jay: Partner, Friend, and Father
2003; Cervantes Society of America; Volume: 23; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.3138/cervantes.23.1.006
ISSN1943-3840
Autores Tópico(s)Theater, Performance, and Music History
ResumoIn 1977, when was a graduate student, my dissertation director suggested that attend the AIH conference in Toronto. had never been to a language conference and he said that it would important for my future. That it was! He introduced me at the City Hall reception given for the congresistas to the eminent scholar, Jay Allen. Our initial conversation was about getting stage fright when playing music in public. Jay played guitar (he had briefly studied flamenco guitar with Carlos Montoya when he was in New York) and had studied violin. That was our first common ground. After many years of a long distance relationship, he finally followed me to Kentucky in 1983, when he accepted an offer at the University of Kentucky to fill Bill McCrary's position after his death, and we were married in 1984 at the Newman Center at the University of Kentucky. Our dear friends and Jay's classmates from Wisconsin, Margaret and Joe Jones, were in attendance for the joyous occasion. Simple Gifts was sung with accompaniment by guitar, dulcimer, and spoons. The reception was at Murphy's on the River. Because of Jay's resignation from the University of Florida and beginning anew at the University of Kentucky, he had to take a new path in his research and teach the theater courses there, adding another layer of fertile field to his scholarly endeavors. Out of a question in one of his classes from a student, What was the stage like then?, he set out on a quest to discover the answer. This sent him to digging up documents in archives in Spain and spending a sabbatical winter in a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina, building the first model of Corral del Principe out of broom straws and matchboxes. From this model, Radio Television Espanola made a larger one for the 400th anniversary of the Corral; this is the one pictured on the back cover of this issue, and in Jay's 1983 book. An even larger model was built (incorrectly, much to Jay's dismay) for an exhibition for the anniversary celebration in Madrid. To this day, Jay is still tilting at that windmill, trying to get the director of the theater museum in Almagro to either correct the model, or remove his name. Within this volume there are many testaments to Jay's academic career, but those of us who know him personally are most taken with his humanity, humility, and integrity. One recent example of this is that when he was just admitted last month as an honorary fellow of the Hispanic Society in New York--one of only one hundred in the world--he allowed me to put but a single sentence in the local paper to announce his honor. Since met Jay, he has always made the point that one's work needs to stand on its own. Making your mark in the field is not about making connections--it is about putting pencil to paper. Jay's purity of language and clarity in thought have been a beacon throughout the tempestuous storm of recent criticism. One paper, an extract from which is in this volume, was a critique of some of these new trends--a brave stance to have taken, since that was the focus of the symposium to which he was invited. He began this paper by saying, I am an unreconstructed pre-deconstructionist. In addition to being tall, lean, and having a grey beard, Jay has always been willing to go against the flow, from marching in the 60's to helping Sanz and Coso buck the Ayuntamiento in Alcala. He has also been a model of steadfastness and integrity for me and for our son. Even though he may disagree with you, Jay will always respect your point of view if you stand on solid ground. Whenever see El Greco's painting, El hombre con la mano en d pecho, think of Jay, who is truly a gentleman and a scholar. We have made marvelous trips to Europe and the United States, but there is no place that we would rather be than in front of our hearth reading a book (Jay likes mysteries), playing a family game, or listening to Bach. Finding adjectives to describe Jay's qualities as a loving and devoted husband and father is difficult After having raised his first family, he has participated one hundred percent, including in the delivery, in the raising of our son John Patrick, who will turn fourteen by the time these words appear. …
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