Mary E. Barnard

Mary E. Barnard is a Professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature at the Pennsylvania State University's Department of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese (College of the Liberal Arts). She holds a PhD in Comparative Literature from the University of Michigan, specializing in early modern Spanish lyric poetry. Her work bridges literary analysis and material culture, examining how objects shape cultural and intellectual history under the Habsburgs.

Her research focuses on visual/material culture, poetry of ruins, text-image interactions in early modern print, and classical myth's role in Habsburg Spain. Key contributions include groundbreaking studies on Garcilaso de la Vega and the 1621 Habsburg literary renaissance. She has authored/edited books for Duke University Press and University of Toronto Press, including A Poetry of Things (2022) and Garcilaso de la Vega... (2014).

Her articles appear in PMLA, Renaissance Quarterly, and Hispanic Review. Awards include the Choice Outstanding Academic Book designation and grants from ACLS, Mellon Foundation, and Woodrow Wilson Foundation. Current projects include a co-edited collection on spatial theory in Early Modern Spanish literature and art.

• Grants: National Humanities Center, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
• Editorial Work: Co-edited Objects of Culture... (2013)