Alexander J. McNair

Research/Teaching Interests

• Iberian and Latin American literature and culture
• Early Modern literature and culture
• Folklore, oral traditions, and Cidian lore
• Sephardic and Crypto-Jewish Studies
• Poetry and translation

Education

• Ph.D., Hispanic Literature, The University of Texas at Austin, 1999
• M.A., Spanish, The University of Texas at Austin, 1995
• B.A., Spanish and Anthropology, The University of Texas at Austin, 1993

Courses Taught at Baylor

• Intermediate Spanish (SPA 2310)
• Exploring the Spanish-Speaking World (SPA 2320)
• Conversation and Composition (SPA 3302)
• Survey of Spanish Literature through the Seventeenth Century (SPA 3350)
• Survey of Spanish-American Literature to 1880 (SPA 3354)
• Spanish Drama of the Golden Age (SPA 4362)
• Cervantes (SPA 4363)
• Special Topics: El Cid and Cidian Lore (SPA 4388/5388)
• Special Topics: Spanish Ballad Tradition (SPA 4388/5388)

Selected Publications

Critical Editions

Antonio Enríquez Gómez. El Cid Campeador: El noble siempre es valiente. Edición crítica de Alexander J. McNair. Newark, Delaware: Juan de la Cuesta / Hispanic Monographs, in press.

Poema de Mio Cid. Edition with glossary and notes. Newark, DE: Juan de la Cuesta—Hispanic Monographs, 2008.

Romancero viejo. Edition with glossary and notes. Newark, DE: Juan de la Cuesta—Hispanic Monographs, 2006.

Translations

Julio César Aguilar, A Glimmer in the Shadows: Selected Poems, 1995-2020. Ed. and trans. Alexander J. McNair. Colima, México: Puertabierta Editores, 2023.

Manuel José Othón. Landscape: Poems. Ed. and trans. Alexander J. McNair. Waco, TX: Cenzontle Books, 2021.

Selected Articles

• “Los infortunios de Francisco Luis Enríquez de Mora: un proceso inquisitorial del Tribunal de Lima (1663-1664).” eHumanista/Conversos 13 (2025): 164-86.

• “Fray Luis de León and the Crypto-Jewish Context of Antonio Enríquez Gómez’s El noble siempre es valiente.” Religions 16.2 (2025): 21 pp.
• “Recovering a Lost Classic of the Spanish Stage: Observations on the Performance History of El Cid Campeador by Antonio Enríquez Gómez.” Laberinto: An Electronic Journal of Early Modern Hispanic Literatures and Culture 17 (2024): 37-60.
• “Esteban Enríquez de Fonseca (1631-¿1664?): copista de comedias y víctima de la Inquisición.” eHumanista/Conversos 12 (2024): 67-84.
• “En Israhel lo tal non se costumbra fazer: Exemplarity, Memory, and the Ballad of Tamar in the Sephardic Tradition.” La Corónica (Journal of Medieval Hispanic Literatures and Cultures) 51.2 (2023): 141-174.
• “El Cid Campeador between Luzán and Lorca: Recovering a Nineteenth-Century Pop-Culture Favorite.” Romance Notes 62 (2022): 121-31.
• “Cató por agüero: The Evolving Function of Augury in the Cidian Tradition.” Essays in Medieval Studies 28 (2012): 60-82.
• “Corpse, Codex, and Chronicle: Robert Southey Translating the Poem of the Cid.” Essays in Medieval Studies 27 (2011): 79-104.
• “El Cid, the Impaler?: Line 1254 of the Poem of the Cid.” Essays in Medieval Studies 26 (2010): 45-68.
• “Definitions and Enigmas: The Textual Transmission of Lope de Vega’s Sonnet 191 (Rimas).” Hispanófila 145 (2005): 1-17.
• “Re-Evaluating Herrera’s Sonnet XXXVIII: Notes on Sense and Intellect in the Lyric Persona of Algunas obras.” Hispanic Review 71.4 (2003): 565-84.