Joan Fayer University of Puerto Rico, College of Humanities

After several years of field trips and study of folk performances in the
Anglophone Caribbean, in particular Carriacou, I felt that I had a good
understanding of these events and their significance. However, only after
meeting Antonio Benitez Rojo and discussing these performances with him,
did I come to a deeper understanding. His knowledge of Caribbean literature
and sociocultural history provided not only more insights into the
performances but also a comparative perspective. His writing, academic and
literary, will long be remembered. So will his personal warmth, generosity
and kindness.

Jo Anne Harris University of Puerto Rico, College of General Studies

How does one describe the impact of a man like Antonio Benitez Rojo in one
paragraph? Should I mention the writer, the scholar, the professor, the friend
or the man who was one half of Hilda and Antonio? Although I had met and
worked with Antonio the writer and scholar before, in June 2004, Antonio,
Hilda and I were on a flight to Italy to spend a week in Bellagio working on a
very special Caribbean project. Antonio and I would be in residence with
the group, but spouses were not allowed in residence, a fact that had Antonio
quite upset. Hilda and I talked of life and death as she recounted their Cuban
experiences and the years of separation with one in Miami and one in Cuba.
We spoke of her struggles during the separation, Antonio's health and through
her eyes I saw not the famous writer, but the special man who was one half
of a marriage that had survived insurmountable obstacles to arrive in Italy
as a world-renowned scholar. The next day I, a very nervous, unsure fledgling
scholar gave my presentation to the group and afterwards Antonio, sensing
my angst, gave me a hug and quietly whispered, "Good job, you did well."
Those words not only reassured me, but gave me the confidence needed to
feel that I could continue with the project and had the ability to hold my own
in the group. I wanted desperately to repay him for those words of
encouragement, so the day after that I spoke to the rest of the group and as
a very unhappy and alone Antonio suffered through breakfast, we all
whispered to him, "If you want to stay in town with Hilda, no one will need to
know. We'll just say you slept late." That's the last we saw of Antonio at
breakfast.

Maritza Stanchich University of Puerto Rico, College of Humanities

It bears repeating, as I'm sure many of our tributes do, the degree to which
Antonio Benitez Rojo's introduction to The Repeating Island became a seminal
text in Caribbean Studies, one that continues to "nail it on the head" as it
stands up to the repetition of teaching. Though he authored many critical