Nick Phillips
Associate Dean of Curriculum and Academic Programs
Nick Phillips received his PhD from Indiana University in 2014. His dissertation, titled Space and the City: Peripheral Communities of Madrid and Barcelona, focused on the production and representation of suburban spaces in contemporary Spanish detective fiction. His research and scholarly interests include contemporary Spanish and Latin American detective fiction, Spanish cinema, television and popular music, urban studies, studies of space and everyday life, Spanish ecocriticism, and Catalan language, literature, and film.
SCHOLARSHIP
Crisis Unleashed: Crime, Turmoil, and Protest in Hispanic Literature and Visual Culture. Edited by Diana Aramburu and Nick Phillips. Hispanic Issues, Vol. 29, 2022. .
The Thrill of the Crime in a Decade of Crisis: Carlos Monteros El desorden que dejas. Crisis Unleashed: Crime, Turmoil, and Protest in Hispanic Literature and Visual Culture. Edited by Diana Aramburu and Nick Phillips. Hispanic Issues, Vol. 29, 2002. .
Digital Cities, Digital Crimes: Mapping Spanish Detective Fiction. Hispania vol. 104, no. 4, December 2021. .
When the Bubble Bursts: A Spatial Interrogation of Spanish Crisis in Jos矇 ngel Ma簽as Sospecha. Studies in 20th and 21st Century Literature, Vol. 43, No. 2, 2019. .
Stuck in La Prosperidad: Madrids Metamorphosis from Dictatorship to Democracy in La soledad era esto. 晨勳莽梯硃紳籀款勳梭硃. Vol. 182, 2018. .
Localizing Humor and Crime in Julio Mu簽oz Gij籀ns El asesino de la rega簽獺. Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies, Vol. 21, No. 1, 2018. .
Spanish Cinema and Ecocritical Labor Migrations: Immigrants as Human Waste in Las cartas de Alou and Biutiful. Letras Hispanas, Vol. 13, 2017. .
WEB PUBLICATIONS
Digital Cartographies of Spanish Detective Fiction. Digital Bridges for Humanistic Inquiry. December 2016. Ongoing web project, .
CURRENT PROJECTS
Nick is currently working on a book project on contemporary Spanish detective fiction, especially from Andaluc穩a, and its depiction and resistance to political and economic crisis following the 2008 recession.
COURSES TAUGHT
SPN 385: Studies in Contemporary Spanish Literature and Film
Este seminario se enfoca en el g矇nero detectivesco y la novela negra de Espa簽a producido desde el fin de la dictadura de Franco hasta hoy d穩a. Los textos incluidos son o pueden ser representantes del g矇nero popular detectivesco, tanto en la literatura como en el cine y la televisi籀n. Adem獺s, investigaremos otras fuentes culturales producidas durante la democracia, como la arquitectura, la novela gr獺fica y la m繳sica popular, para interrogar los cambios inherentes en la transformaci籀n econ籀mica y cultural de Espa簽a desde los a簽os 70 hasta el siglo XXI. Adicionalmente, emplearemos la cr穩tica literaria sobre los textos y sobre el g矇nero detectivesco para ampliar nuestro an獺lisis.
SPN 320: Cultures of the Spanish Speaking World: Historical Memory and Cultural Production in 20th and 21st Century Spain
El objetivo de este curso es examinar la influencia de los productos culturales contempor獺neos como los programas de televisi籀n, el cine, la m繳sica y otros textos visuales y su relaci籀n con y manipulaci籀n de la memoria hist籀rica espa簽ola del siglo XX. Usaremos estos textos para criticar las representaciones hist籀ricas en comparaci籀n con los eventos reales, como por ejemplo la Segunda Rep繳blica, la Guerra Civil, la dictadura de Franco, y la transici籀n a la democracia. Examinaremos tambi矇n c籀mo las memorias pueden ser creadas, manipuladas, y destruidas a trav矇s de la producci籀n y el consumo de estos g矇neros visuales.
SPN 314: Studies in Modern Spanish Literature
El objetivo de este curso es ofrecer al/a la estudiante un panorama sobre la literatura espa簽ola de los 繳ltimos dos siglos, a trav矇s del enfoque tem獺tico del desarrollo del tema del espacio, desde lo rural hasta lo urbano contempor獺neo. As穩 el/la estudiante entender獺 mejor varios movimientos literarios diferentes, pertenecientes a los siglos XIX, XX, y XXI de la historia de Espa簽a, adem獺s de mejorar sus habilidades en la comprensi籀n oral y escrita del espa簽ol, la producci籀n escrita, y el proceso de an獺lisis textual. Esta clase se centrar獺 en tres g矇neros literarios principales: la narrativa (tanto novela como cuento corto), la poes穩a, y el teatro. A trav矇s de los textos estudiados y el acercamiento a varios espacios espec穩ficos, podemos analizar m獺s a fondo los contextos hist籀ricos y pol穩ticos presentes en Espa簽a durante los 繳ltimos 200 a簽os.
SPN 343: The Art of Language
SPN 295: Keeping up with your Spanish II (online conversation class taught during the COVID-19 pandemic)
SPN 285: Introduction to Textual Analysis
SPN 217: Intermediate Spanish
SPN 106: Beginning Spanish II
SPN 105: Beginning Spanish I
TUT 100: American Detective Fictions
In the tutorial every entering student explores a topic of interest to the student and the instructor in a small group, discussion-intensive setting. The objectives of the tutorial are to illuminate methods of inquiry rather than to cover topics comprehensively, focusing particularly on writing, critical reading, oral communication, and information literacy skills.
This class posits that the global popularity of detective dramas, murder mysteries, and shady sleuths can be traced to a uniquely American configuration of the genre. This semester, our investigation will take us down the dark alleys of detective fiction, allowing us to discover the evolution of the detective protagonist, the types of crimes uncovered, and the genres role in critiquing American society. We will begin with the Hardboiled subgenre of the 1930s and continue through the rise of the Police Procedural in the 1960s, ending with televisions impact on the genre in contemporary society. We will read two detective novels, Raymond Chandlers The Big Sleep and John Balls In the Heat of the Night, and we will view several Hollywood adaptations of the genre, including The Maltese Falcon, Chinatown, Harper, and Fargo. Finally, we will watch the first season of HBOs hit series True Detective. We will also read several texts on the rules of the genre and its critical and popular appeal, both within America and beyond.