Vincent Barletta on Alexander the Great

About Guest:

Vincent Barletta specializes in Iberian literatures and cultures of the medieval and early modern periods. He is the author of Covert Gestures: Crypto-Islamic Literature as Cultural Practice in Early Modern Spain (U of Minnesota P, 2005), for which he was awarded the 2007 La corónica International Book Award. He is also the editor and translator of Francisco Núñez Muley’s A Memorandum for the President of the Royal Audiencia and Chancery Court of the City and Kingdom of Granada (U of Chicago P, 2007). Professor Barletta’s most recent book is entitled Death in Babylon: Alexander the Great and Iberian Empire in the Muslim Orient (U of Chicago P, 2010). This book examines the complex and often conflicting image of Alexander the Great in late medieval and early modern narrative works that deal (in varying ways) with imperial expansion into Muslim North Africa and Asia. The book analyzes selected texts in Catalan, Portuguese, and Spanish, as well as Greek and Latin texts from antiquity and works in aljamiado. He is currently working on a book that focuses on Portugal’s capital, Lisbon. 

works in aljamiado. He is currently working on a book that focuses on Portugal’s capital, Lisbon. 

Education
Post-doctoral study, UCLA, Linguistic Anthropology, 1999-2001. Ph.D., UCLA, Hispanic Languages and Literature, 1998. BA with honors, Saint Mary’s College of CA, English, 1989.

%d