Spanish and Portuguese Department chair earns international book award

The chair of the Spanish and Portuguese Department at The University of New Mexico has received the Vern Williamsen Comedia Book Prize. Mary B. Quinn, author of "Sense and Spectacle in the Age of Philip IV," was awarded the prize at the Association for Hispanic Classical Theater's (AHCT) annual symposium at the University of California, Los Angeles on Sept. 19.

The Vern Williamsen Comedia Book Prize is awarded every three years to a scholarly book published by a member of the AHCT. Eligible works include monographs, edited volumes, critical editions, and anthologies related to the Comedia. Quinn's book was selected for its attention to performance and spectacle, and her take on theater culture under Philip IV.

"Writing a book can feel like a long and lonely road," Quinn said. "And while we don't conduct research with the idea of receiving outside validation for our work, I am deeply gratified that the Association for Hispanic Classical Theater recognized my contribution to the field as worthy of special recognition."

At UNM, Quinn's research focuses on early modern Spanish Literature and Culture. Using an interdisciplinary approach, she examines performance, visual culture, literature, music, and sensory history. Quinn said her book was inspired by the zarzuela. "This project began because I wanted to understand how the zarzuela (a Spanish form of musical theater) developed. I learned that the first zarzuela was written to celebrate the birth of a Spanish prince in 1657 and performed at the royal court in Madrid," said Quinn.

That Spanish prince was Felipe Próspero and her book accounts for the outpouring of celebrations in the Habsburg Empire in 1657, upon his birth and naming as heir to Philip IV of Spain.

Quinn's book is available for purchase on the Routledge website in hardcover, paperback, and ebook. She is also in the process of publishing her third book with Cambridge University Press, "Don Quixote: Wandering, Misreading, and the Creation of the Modern Novel," which will be a new interpretation of Don Quixote, looking at the physical movement of characters as the center of Cervantes's novel.