Luis Beltrán Almería: the intellectual that looked at the East and became an outstanding literature theorist

Abstract

This contribution presents the academic life of Luis Beltrán Almería (Professor of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature at the University of Zaragoza), on the occasion of his 70th birthday. After a brief reference to his secondary and university education, special attention is paid to his doctoral thesis, which dealt with the so-called free indirect discourse, with reference to the character's speech in the modern Spanish novel. The theory of discourse genres and the novel by Mikhail Bakhtin, of whom Beltrán Almería is an excellent specialist in Spain, was essential for the development of this thesis. The teaching and research dedication of Beltrán Almería is reviewed, specifying the disciplines he has worked on, the doctoral theses and research projects he has directed, and, finally, the topics that have occupied him in his brilliant and extensive scientific production.