José Ortega y Gasset – James Bryant Conant, with Federico de Onís as Intermediary. Correspondence (1933–1934). Part Two

Abstract

José Ortega y Gasset was invited by Harvard University President James Bryant Conant to be a Godkin Lecturer in the fall of 1934. The invitation was the result of the mediation of philologist Federico de Onís, who came up with the idea. As a professor at Columbia University since 1916 and director of the Institute of the Spains in the United States, founded in 1920, Onís was a great promoter of the Spanish language and culture in the United States. Aware of the difficulty Spanish writers had in accessing the American public and intellectual and academic circles, and taking advantage of the critical success Ortega had achieved after the publication of The Revolt of the Masses (New York: Norton, 1932), Onís launched a campaign to promote the philosopher's figure and work, which included presenting him in the country's most select academic forums. The correspondence presented here tells the story of Ortega's nomination as Godkin Lecturer in 1934.