- Department
- Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
- Email Address
- aastro@trinity.edu
A native of Brooklyn, I have been at Trinity University for over a third of a century and have come to appreciate greatly San Antonio culture and ease of life. I used to follow all kinds of theoretical approaches to literature, but now I approach texts more and more as esthetic works and historical testimony and try to influence my students in the same direction: less cogitation, more informed appreciation.
Education
- Ph.D., Yale University
- M.A., Columbia University in the City of New York
- B.A., Cornell University
Selected Publications
- Splendor, Decline, and Rediscovery of Yiddish in Latin America, volume co-edited with Malena Chinski (Leiden: Brill, 2018).
- “Avatars of Third-Generation Holocaust Narrative in French and Spanish,” in Third-Generation Holocaust Narratives: Memory in Memoir and Fiction, ed. Victoria Aarons (Laudham, MD: Lexington, 2016), pp. 103-130
- “Revisiting Wiesel’s Night in Yiddish, French and English,” Partial Answers 12.1 (2014), pp. 127-152
- “Le yiddish en France,” in Histoire sociale des langues de France, ed. Georg Kremnitz, Fañch Broudic et al. (Rennes: Presses Universitaires de Rennes 2013), pp. 547-57
- “Carlos M. Grünberg’s Circumcision of the Tongue” Journal of Jewish Identities 5.1 (2012), pp. 1-14.
Subjects Taught
- French: language, literature and culture (all levels).
- Spanish: language (including "languages across the curriculum").
- Yiddish: language, culture and film (in Jewish studies cluster).
Community Service & Involvement
Community Involvement
I translate documents for locals doing genealogical research and am a member of organizations furthering viewpoint diversity.
Trinity Involvement
I have served on various University committees and once was member of the Faculty Senate. I enjoy advising students and helping them navigate bureaucratic complexities.