David Roas is writer and Associate Professor of Literary Theory and Comparative Literature at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and director of Grupo de Estudios sobre lo Fantástico (GEF) and the Research Project Lo fantástico en la cultura española contemporánea (1955-2017): narrativa, teatro, cine, TV, cómic y radio. He is also the director of Brumal. Research Journal on the Fantastic. He has published several books, articles and anthologies devoted to the study of the fantastic from a clearly interdisciplinary perspective in which literary theory, comparative literature, film studies and cultural studies are combined. Also, another important part of his works is linked to the specific study of the Spanish fantastic. Visiting professor and Visiting Scholar at Brown University, CUNY, University of Virginia, Université de Neuchâtel, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, and several Spanish universities.
Research interests
His research during the last years has followed two converging lines linked to the study of the fantastic. In the first place there are the specifically theoretical works dedicated to the definition of the fantastic, its generic boundaries, its emotional effects, and its linguistic transgressions (his main contributions are Teorías de lo fantástico and Behind the Frontiers of the Real). He has also dealt with the relationship between humor, grotesque and fantastic, and he has devoted several works to analyzing the representations of monstrosity in postmodern fiction. The second area of his research has to do with the Spanish female fantastic fiction. Along with his own works on the fantastic narrative, his main contribution has been the direction of volume Historia de lo fantástico en la cultura española contemporánea (1900-2015) and the coordination (with Alessandra Massoni) of Las creadoras ante lo fantástico. Visiones desde la narrativa, el cine y el cómic.
Keywords
Theory of the Fantastic, fantastic fiction (literature, cinema,TV, comic), comparative literature, short story, humor