Prof. Manuel Herrero-Puertas｜College of Liberal Arts－Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures｜Spanish

For Dr Manuel Herrero-Puertas, scholarship thrives on intellectual and personal challenge—on being pushed beyond the familiar.

Originally from Spain and now based at National Taiwan University, he is a specialist in early and nineteenth-century American literature. His work brings together literary, disability, and critical neurodiversity studies, exploring how ideas of intelligence, perception, and cognition are formed—and how they might be rethought in a digital age shaped by speed, distraction, and constant connectivity. Recently, he has drawn on gothic and horror fiction to explore how writers such as Edgar Allan Poe—working at a time when new forms of mass media were already beginning to reshape attention—created forms of tension and focus purposefully to slow readers down. By encouraging more sustained, attentive reading, gothic and horror fiction can, Dr Herrero-Puertas suggests, offer a way of pushing back against today’s constant pull of devices, social media, and notifications.

Yet his approach to research is shaped as much by where he works as by what he studies. He began his academic journey at the University of Oviedo in Spain before spending time at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom and later completing his PhD at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the United States. A subsequent appointment at the New York Institute of Technology’s Nanjing campus brought him to China, before moving to Taiwan to join National Taiwan University. Taken together, this trajectory reflects a career defined by movement, adaptation, and continual learning.

Working across different systems, languages, and cultural contexts has meant rarely feeling fully ‘in control’—a condition he associates not with difficulty, but with intellectual vitality. This sense of productive disorientation also resonates with his interest in gothic and horror traditions, where unfamiliar and unsettling environments are central. Rather than settling into familiarity, he points to the value of remaining in environments that require adjustment, where new questions emerge and assumptions are tested.

As a non-American scholar of American literature, being based in Taiwan offers what he sees as a productive vantage point. It creates space to revisit canonical texts from a different angle, shaped by conversations that might be less likely to arise in more familiar academic settings.

In his classroom, here in Taiwan, distance becomes a resource. Discussions of topics such as the American Revolution are informed by NTU students’ own perspectives on issues like statehood, identity, and political change. These connections are not imposed, but emerge naturally, allowing historical texts to be read alongside contemporary and localised concerns.

Teaching, in this context, becomes less about delivering fixed interpretations and more about stimulating and sustaining intellectual conversation. Dr Herrero-Puertas describes the most effective learning moments as those where understanding is still in progress—where students and teacher continue scratching their heads long after the class bell has rung.

In this setting, NTU students are not passive participants but active contributors. While often described as disciplined, he also highlights their intellectual curiosity and willingness to engage with complex ideas. They bring perspectives that can unsettle established readings, particularly in a subject area grounded in cultural and historical contexts different from their own.

That exchange is not one-directional. Teaching in Taiwan, he notes, has required him to rethink his own assumptions and to approach familiar material from new angles. In this sense, the classroom becomes a shared space of inquiry, where knowledge is continually negotiated.

Beyond the classroom, he sees the university as one of the few environments where disagreement remains both possible and productive. The ability to question, to challenge, and to reconsider positions without hostility is, in his view, an essential part of academic life—one that is not always easily sustained elsewhere.

The intellectual culture at NTU is supported by institutional support that has enabled him to develop his work. Since joining NTU in 2018, he has secured funding, teaching awards, and recognition for his research, while maintaining an active international profile.

Despite working at a distance from many of his primary research sites, he continues to participate in global academic networks. Initiatives such as the Coalition of English Departments in Asia (COEDA) provide opportunities for collaboration and exchange, linking NTU with institutions including the University of Tokyo, Seoul National University, and the National University of Singapore.

This ability to remain internationally engaged from Taiwan has been significant. It has allowed him to maintain research connections, present his work at conferences, and access the materials necessary for his work, while continuing to develop his research from a different geographical and intellectual vantage point.

Set against wider pressures facing the humanities in parts of Europe and North America—where funding constraints and performance metrics increasingly shape academic work—his experience in Taiwan offers a different perspective. Here, he has found the space and support to pursue research in ways that prioritise depth, reflection, and sustained inquiry.

At the same time, working within a different system has required some adjustment. In particular, he notes that evaluation frameworks can place greater emphasis on journal articles than on longer-form scholarship. For disciplines in which books remain central, this can create a tension—but also an ongoing conversation about how different academic traditions are valued.

These considerations sit alongside a broader sense of appreciation—for the intellectual environment that has supported his work. Beyond the university, life in Taiwan has also influenced his experience. He points to a strong sense of civic responsibility, public trust, and everyday safety, as well as a cultural appreciation for books and reading that he encountered early on.

Over time, what began as a professional move has taken on a more personal dimension. Taiwan, he reflects, has become a ‘home away from home,’ while NTU has provided what he describes as an ‘intellectual home’—a place where he can continue to develop his work, engage with students, and remain part of a wider academic conversation.

For Dr Herrero-Puertas, scholarship is less about reaching fixed conclusions than about sustaining a process of inquiry and, at times, space for dissent. Whether through research, teaching, or collaboration, that process depends on remaining open to challenge—intellectually, culturally, and personally. At NTU, that openness continues to shape both his work and the environment around it.