Papers of Professor Alexander Augustine Parker (1908-1989)

The material is composed of student and later notebooks on Spanish literature, language, including notes on: criticism of Galdos; Conceptismo, metaphysical wit; minor dramatists, Golden Age; mystics and religious literature; plays, Tirso; criticism, Tirso de Molina; plays, criticism of Lope; criticism, plays, mythology of Calderon; picaresque novel in Europe; Unamuno; Gongora, criticism; Cervantes, criticism; Quevedo; Rojas Zorrilla, plays; Gracian, critical; Ruiz de Alarcons, plays; Libro de Buen Amor; fate, omens, and prophecy; tragedy; courtly love; and, miscellaneous material.

Alexander Augustine Parker was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1908. He was educated at Hawkesyard School (later Blackfriars School, Laxton) and then studied at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Between 1933 and 1939 he was a Fellow of Gonville and Caius College. In 1939 he was appointed Lecturer and Head of the Department of Spanish at Aberdeen University, and then in 1949 came the appointment of Reader in Spanish at Aberdeen. Parker became Professor of Spanish at the University of London, King's College, in 1953, and then in 1963 he was awarded the Chair of Hispanic Studies at Edinburgh University. Prior to that, in 1960-1961, he had been seconded to the University College of the West Indies. Between 1970 and 1978, Parker was Professor of Spanish Literature at the University of Texas, at Austin. His publications include Literature and the delinquent: the picaresque novel in Spain and Europe 1599-1753 (1967), and The philosophy of love in Spanish literature 1480-1680 (1985). Professor Alexander Augustine Parker died on 23 November 1989.

Generally open for consultation to bona fide researchers, but please contact repository for details in advance.

Material acquired from Professor Parker, May 1993, Accession no. E93.47

The biographical/administrative history was compiled using the following material: (1) University of Edinburgh journal. Vol. 21. 1963-1964. p. 8. Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1964. (2) Who's who 1987. London: A. and C. Black, 1987.

Compiled by Graeme D Eddie, Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections Division.

Important finding aids generally are: the alphabetical Index to Manuscripts held at Edinburgh University Library, Special Collections and Archives, consisting of typed slips in sheaf binders and to which additions were made until 1987; and the Index to Accessions Since 1987.

Check the local Indexes for details of any additions.