About

Rich came to Warwick from the University of Oxford, where he did his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, before taking up a Junior Research Fellowship in Spanish at Merton College in 2015. He has also held lectureships at The Queen’s College, St. Catherine’s College, Christ Church, and Brasenose College.

Research interests

Rich’s main research interests are in the literature and thought of early modern Spain, with a particular focus on the reception of classical authorities. He is also interested in the city of Seville, European emblem books, literary wit, and translation, and has previously worked on English versions of medieval mester de clerecía poetry. He is keen to hear from research students and postdoctoral candidates interested in any aspect of early modern Iberian culture.

Current projects

Rich's most recent monograph (published June 2023) combines his interests in literature, philosophy, and intellectual culture, to offer a detailed study of the reception of the Aristotelian golden mean in early modern Spain. He is presently at work on a major new project on the culture of poetry in sixteenth-century Seville, and a study of literary imitation in Góngora's Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea.

Administrative roles

• Exam Secretary, SMLC
• Director of Graduate Studies, Centre for the Study of the Renaissance

Selected publications

Books

• Moderation and the Mean in the Literature of Spain's Golden Age: A Measure for Measure (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2023). Available here.
• The Poem of Fernán González, trans., with Peter Such, Aris and Phillips Hispanic Classics (Oxford: Oxbow, 2015). Available here.
• Book of Alexander, trans., with Peter Such, Aris and Phillips Hispanic Classics (Oxford: Oxbow, 2009). Available here.

Articles and Book Chapters

• 'The Spanish Alexander: A Figure of Praise and Blame', in Richard Stoneman, ed., A History of Alexander the Great in World Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2022), pp. 242-70.
• 'An Authorized Version? Siting Authority and Citing auctores in Don Quixote', in Stephen Boyd, Trudi Darby, and Terence O'Reilly, eds., The Art of Cervantes in 'Don Quixote': Critical Essays (Cambridge: Legenda, 2019), pp. 65-90.
• 'Fallen Idols? Vice and Virtue in the Iconography of Icarus and Phaethon’, in Javier Muñoz-Basols, Laura Lonsdale, and Manuel Delgado, eds., The Routledge Companion to Iberian Studies (London and New York: Routledge, 2017), pp. 249-63.
• ‘Horatian Roots in Fray Luis’s Garden: Imagery and Meaning in the Vida retirada’, Hispanic Research Journal 17.3 (2016), 201-13.

Qualifications

DPhil, Medieval and Modern Languages, University of Oxford
MSt, Modern Languages, University of Oxford
BA, Classics and Modern Languages, University of Oxford

SEDA-PDF Learning, Teaching and Assessing award