A Professor Takes to the Sea

About the Book

A Professor Takes to the Sea: Learning the Ropes on the National Geographic Explorer Volume I “Epic South America” 2013 tells of Professor Curran’s experiences on board this great expedition ship on the 2013 voyage. The book recounts early efforts to join with the ship crew, staff, and guest speakers in the collective task of providing an enriching experience for the guests or passengers. Secondly, it details Curran’s contribution of speaking of Brazilian culture and preparing the guests for the places to be seen in that country. Finally, it details the trip itself: “At Sea” with the focus on educational talks by guest speakers and recaps by the naturalists and “On Shore” with cultural and historical vignettes of the places visited.

About the Author

Mark Curran is a retired professor from Arizona State University where he worked from 1968 to 2011. He taught Spanish and Portuguese and their respective cultures. His research specialty was Brazil and its “popular literature in verse” seen in the story-poems of the “literatura de cordel.” Articles in research reviews as well as sixteen books deal with this folk-popular literature and its relation to Brazilian literature and history. Other books done in retirement treat subjects from Spanish Civilization, Latin American Civilization and Luso-Brazilian Civilization in the series “Stories I Told My Students” - books on Guatemala and Mexico, Colombia, Spain and Portugal and especially Brazil. Autobiographical books represent a change of pace from academia, “The Farm” and “Coming of Age with the Jesuits.” A seminal year of research made fiction is seen in “Letters from Brazil” and now Curran recounts a wonderful retirement “gig” on the National Geographic Explorer. See: www.currancordelconnection.com; email contact is profmark@asu.edu