JOSE ANTONIO MAZZOTTI

MAZZOTTI, José Antonio Distinguished Peruvian poet, Scholar, and Professor José Antonio Mazzotti, b. 1961 - d. 2024, a distinguished Peruvian poet, scholar and professor, passed away peacefully at the age of 63, surrounded by his loving family. True to his indefatigable spirit, he spent his final days writing and editing. He is survived by his wife, Barbara Corbett in Medford; his three children, Gabriel José of Chelsea, Lucas Corbett and his wife, Susan Zhou of Brooklyn and Marcus Corbett and his partner, Gabriela Martinez of Medford. He was the son of the late Luis Enrique Mazzotti and the late Rosa Ramos de Mazzotti, both of Lima; and the brother of the late Humberto Mazzotti of Montreal. He is also survived by his brothers, Luis and Oscar; as well as by his large extended family in Peru, the United States and Canada. Revered for his poetry, respected for his academic writing and research, admired for his cultural activism in the field of Peruvian and Latin American studies, José Antonio was, above all, loved as a kind and generous human being with a legion of friends, family, colleagues, students and admirers. José Antonio was born in Lima, Peru, in 1961 and immigrated to the United States in 1988. He received his doctorate at Princeton in 1993 and spent the following decades teaching, researching and guest lecturing at various academic institutions, including Temple, Harvard, Brown and Pavia (Italy) Universities. He received an honorary doctorate at the Universidad Ricardo Palma in Lima (2023). At Tufts University, he was the King Philip VI of Spain Professor of Spanish Culture and Civilization and Professor of Latin American literature. His academic work focuses on colonial literature, Andean chronicles, Creole cultures, contemporary Latin American poetry and the linguistic and cultural documentation of Amazonian indigenous groups. He authored over 100 articles and essays on significant Peruvian cultural and historical figures, such as Inca Garcilaso de La Vega and Cesar Vallejo. He founded the International Association of Peruvianists in 1995 and since then, has served as its president; since 2010. He has also served as the director of Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana, a leading publication for the study and analysis of Latin American literatures. His many research publications include the seminal "Coros mestizos del Inca Garcilaso" (1996 and 2023; translated into English as "Incan Insights" in 2008) and powerful and polemical "Lima fundida" (2016, translated to English as "The Creole Invention of Peru" in 2019). An intellectual of global reach, he put together more than ten international conferences in Europe, Asia and the Americas. He was also and foremost, a prolific and accomplished poet. His first poetry collection, "Poemas no recogidos en libro", was awarded the Túpac Amaru Poetry Prize from the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in 1981. Later in life, in 2018, the anthology of his collected works, "El Zorro y la Luna", was awarded the prestigious José Lezama Lima International Poetry Prize by Casa de las Américas in Havana. Always at the center of his poetic and academic endeavors was the pursuit of social justice, an advocacy for decolonial thought and the denunciation of the brutality of power and its privileges. The themes he explored involved the complexities of identity, migration and the intersection of cultures. Finally, Jose Antonio was an inspirational teacher and generous mentor to his students and young scholars His example of intellectual integrity and commitment to a more egalitarian future continues to inspire poets, writers and scholars worldwide. Friends and family are invited to Visiting Hours at the Vertuccio Smith & Vazza, Beechwood Home for Funerals, 262 Beach St., REVERE, MA, on Thursday, September 12, from 4 to 7 P.M., with a service including poetry readings and other orations at 6 P.M. There will also be a Memorial Service at the Goddard Chapel at Tufts University, on September 14, at 11 A.M., for his many colleagues and the Tufts community. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in his name to the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. To send online condolences, please visit www.vertucciosmithvazza.com