Bradley Nelson

My current research focuses on the aesthetic representation and exploration of the cultural and political upheaval that accompanied developments in the sciences in early modern Spain and Europe. Titled ‘Science Fiction in Early and Late Modern Contexts,’ and funded by a 3-year standard research grant from SSHRC, this project seeks to stage a number of theoretical and discursive encounters between contemporary and Baroque manifestations of Science Fiction. The primary goal is to understand the ways in which science and technology structure our cognitive and artistic relationship with the worlds around us. Primary sources include baroque authors such as Cervantes, Calderón de la Barca, and Zayas as well as contemporary figures such as Neal Stephenson, William Gibson, and Philip K. Dick.

View my current CV here

Academic background

2000  Ph.D. in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Linguistics, Minnesota

1995  MA in Hispanic Literatures, Minnesota

1987  BS in Secondary Education and Spanish, St. Cloud State University

1985  BA in English (Spanish minor), St. Johns University, Collegeville, MN

Selected Publications

The Persistence of Presence: Emblem and Ritual in Baroque Spain. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2010.

Spectatorship and Topophilia in Early Modern and Postmodern Contexts. Co-edited with David Castillo. Hispanic Issues. Vanderbilt UP (November, 2011).

“Noche de Ronda: Machismo and Latino Gay Identity.” Pedro Monge-Rafuls: su obra. Ed. Gerardo P. Chava. (Abridged reprint of “Pedro Monge-Rafuls and Mapping the Post?Modern Subject in Latino Theater.” Gestos: Teoría y Práctica del Teatro Hispánico 1997.)

“The Writer Who Played with Fire: A Millennial Approach to María de Zayas.” Eds. Nicholas Spadaccini and Luis Martín-Estudillo. Nashville: U of Vanderbilt P (2011).

“Afterword.” Poiesis and Modernity in the Old and New Worlds. Eds. Anthony J. Cascardi and Leah Middlebrook. Nashville: U of Vanderbilt P (2011).

“Introduction: Modern Scenes / Modern Sceneries.” In collaboration with David R. Castillo. Spectacle and Topophilia: Reading Early Modern and Postmodern Contexts. Eds. B. Nelson and D. Castillo. Nashville: U of Vanderbilt P (November, 2011).

“Signs of the Times: Emblems of Baroque Science Fiction.” Spectatorship and Topophilia in Early Modern and Postmodern Contexts. Eds. B. Nelson and D. Castillo. Hispanic Issues. University of Vanderbilt Press (November, 2011).

“Grin and Bear It: Cormac McCarthy and Calderón de la Barca on Colonialism.” Modern Encounters with Calderón de la Barca. Anuario calderoniano (accepted).

“The Gift of Art and Other Trojan Horses of Modernity: Calderón’s La aurora en Copacabana.” La violencia en el mundo hispánico en el Siglo de Oro. Eds. Juan Manuel Escudero and Victoriano Roncero. Biblioteca Filológico Hispana 117. Madrid: Visor, 2010. 151-63.

“Philology and the Emblem.” Recovering Philology. Philology and Its Histories. Ed. Sean Gurd. Columbus, OH: The Ohio State University Press, 2010. 107-26.

“Tasteful Machinery: Baltasar Gracián and the Organized Body.” Reason and its Others in Early Modern Times (Spain/Italy 1500s-1700s). Ed. David R. Castillo and Massimo Lollini. Hispanic Issues. Nashville: Vanderbilt UP, 2006. 79-100.

“Capes and Swords: Teaching the Theatricality of Golden Age poetry.” Caliope (special issue on teaching poetry, in honor of Elias Rivers. Ed. Edward Friedman) 11.2 (2005): 111-24.

“Icons of Honor: Cervantes, Lope, and the Staging of Blind Faith.” Special Number of Cervantes's Theater and Theatricality in Cervantes. Bulletin of the Comediantes 56.2 (2004): 413-42.

Conference presentations

March, 2011 – “Dressing for the Occasion: Cervantes and the Virgin Mary.” Association of Hispanic Classical Theater, El Paso, TX.

May, 2010 – “Signs of the Times: Emblems of Baroque Science Fiction.” Asociación Canadiense de Hispanistas, Concordia University, Montreal.

April, 2010 – “The Writer Who Played with Fire: A Millenial Approach to María de Zayas.” Northeast Modern Language Association, Montreal, QC.

March, 2009 – “Suzerains of the Earth: The Dramatization of Colonial Encounters.” Association of Hispanic Classical Theater, El Paso, TX.

July, 2008 – “El don del arte y otros regalos griegos de la modernidad.” ALDEEU, Córdoba, Spain.

June, 2008 – “The Gift of Art and other Trojan Horses of Modernity: La aurora en Copacabana.” Violence in Golden Age Theatre, sponsored by the Hispanic Baroque Project, Stratford, ON.

(invited) March, 2008 – “Materialismo cultural y la incripción de la autoría en María de Zayas.” Centro de Recursos del Español, Université de Montreal.

(invited) February, 2008 – “Spectator Spots in Marginal Spaces: The Replication of Identity in Calderón’s la Aurora en Copacabana.” McGill University.

Grants

2011-14 “Signs of the Times: Science Fiction in Early and Late Modern Contexts.” Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada ($46,000).

2010 The Persistence of Presence: Emblem and Ritual in Baroque Spain. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Aid to Publication Grant ($8000).

2003-07 “Emblematic Moments in Literary Contexts: Ritual Strategies and Myth Making in Golden Age Spain.” Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: (2003: $11, 164; 2004: $11,164; 2005: $11,164)

2003-07 « Théâtre Moderne, Restes Rituels: Le Rôle des Pratiques Rituels dans “La ComediaNueva”. » Fonds Québécois de la Recherche sur la Societé et la Culture. (2003-04: $11,360; 2004-05: $11,360; 2005-06: $11,360)