Sylvia Molloy of Southold and Manhattan died July 14, 2022. She was 83.
Born Aug. 19, 1938, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Molloy grew up speaking English, French and Spanish. After receiving a doctorate in comparative literature from the Sorbonne, Paris, in 1967, she embarked on a distinguished career in the United States as a scholar, writer, teacher and critic. She was professor of Spanish at Yale and Princeton universities, where she was among the first women to gain tenure, in 1974. At New York University, she held the Albert Schweitzer Chair in the Humanities, retiring in 2010. In 2007 at NYU she created the master of fine arts degree in creative writing in Spanish, the first program of its kind in the U.S.
A former president in 2001 of the Modern Language Association of America, she was a fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Social Science Research Council and the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, in Umbria, Italy, in 2003.
Molloy was the author of 22 works of criticism, memoir and fiction, published mostly in Spanish, including critical studies of Hispanic literature and writers such as Jorge Luis Borges and the Ocampo sisters, Victoria and Silvina; essays on gender and sexuality; anthologies on autobiography and women’s writing in Latin America; short stories; and two novels.
A resident of Southold since 1991 with Emily Geiger, her partner and spouse of 41 years, who survives her, Molloy was a great lover and protector of stray cats, dogs, ducks and hens, and a creator of delicious desserts.
She is also honored and mourned by two nephews, Regis and Benoit Glorieux of Montreal, Canada; legions of friends; and devoted students throughout Latin America, Europe, and the U.S.
This is a paid notice.