Alonso Varo Varo

Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures

Assistant Professor

McMurran Hall 125
(757) 594-7058
alonso.varovaro@cnu.edu

Education

Ph D in Spanish, Vanderbilt University
MA in Psychology, University of Malaga (Spain)
MA in Spanish Language and Literature, Villanova University
BA in Economics, University of Granada (Spain)
BA in Business, University of Cadiz (Spain)

Teaching

Professor Varo is committed to teaching Spanish language, literature, and culture at all levels, with a special interest in teaching courses on Modern and Contemporary Spanish prose and cinema.

Research

Aesthetics of the narrative genre in the Spanish twentieth and twenty-first-century, mysticism and the limits of language, border studies, and identity theory.

Biography

Alonso Varo Varo is an Assistant Professor of Spanish at Christopher Newport University. He holds Bachelor degrees from University of Cádiz and University of Granada (Spain). He completed his graduate studies at Villanova University (M.A.) and Vanderbilt University (Ph.D.), with a specialization in Modern and Contemporary Peninsular Studies. In his pursue of a more effective approach to teaching, he complemented his language and literary training with an M.A. in Psychology (University of Málaga, Spain) where he specialized in the development of attention, empathy and social skills within educational contexts.

As an instructor, he has taught a variety of courses, ranging from beginning and intermediate Spanish, over conversation and writing strategies, to a variety of upper-level courses in Spanish literature, culture, and cinema, including advanced undergraduate seminars on topics such as identity and otherness in Contemporary Spain. He has also assisted in the development of various study abroad programs in Cádiz, Spain, and “The Way of St. James.”

In some of his more recent research works, Dr. Varo takes as a central theme the existential uprootedness of the contemporary subject within post-dictatorial Spanish narratives. He analyzes works by Cristina Fernández Cubas, Enrique Vila-Matas, and Pablo d'Ors as singular approaches to the representation of the tragic odyssey of our time and of the difficulty to find an original foundation from which to construct a sense of home and identity.

Selected Accomplishments

Book, Chapter in Scholarly Book-New
(2021). La condición trágica en “El ángulo del horror” y “El lugar” de Cristina Fernández Cubas. Hispanic Issues On Line.
Journal Article, Academic Journal
(2019). La condición fronteriza en El amigo del desierto de Pablo d'Ors. Siglo XXI. Literatura y Cultura Españolas. Volume, 17. Pages, 81-103.
Other
(2018). "Postfacio. La mirada atenta en El estupor y la maravilla de Pablo d'Ors". Galaxia Gutenberg. Pages, 379-404.
Journal Article, Academic Journal
(2018). La mirada atenta en El estupor y la maravilla de Pablo d’Ors. Anales de la literatura española contemporánea. Volume, 43. Issue, 1. Pages, 161-182.
Journal Article, Academic Journal
(2016). El estupor de lo cotidiano: Entrevista a Pablo d’Ors. Confluencia: Revista Hispánica de Cultura y Literatura. Volume, 32. Issue, 1. Pages, 212-216.

Alonso Varo Varo, I Research Workshop of Grupo de Investigación Textos Humanísticos y Literarios, "“El misticismo en las novelas de Pablo d’Ors: una lectura en torno a la filosofía del límite de Eugenio Trías”," Sevilla, Spain. (2019)
Alonso Varo Varo, 50th Annual Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA) Convention, ""La nostalgia del origen en la narrativa de Pablo d’Ors"," Georgetown University, Washington, DC,. (2019)
Alonso Varo Varo, 49th Annual Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA), "Asombro y vuelta al hogar en las novelas de formación de Pablo d’Ors," Pittsburgh, PA. (2018)
Alonso Varo Varo, 2017 Annual Symposium on Pilgrimage Studies, "Panel moderator "Myths of Place and Movement"," Williamsburg, VA. (2017)
Alonso Varo Varo, III Congreso Internacional Visiones de lo fantástico “El horror y sus formas", "La condición trágica en los cuentos de Cristina Fernández Cubas," Barcelona, Spain. (2017)
Alonso Varo Varo, Nuevas aproximaciones a la literatura contemporánea española (New Approaches to Contemporary Spanish Literature), "Música y realidad en la obra de Andrés Ibáñez," Madrid, Spain. (2017)
Alonso Varo Varo, "In Search of Home: Travel, (Trans)Formation and Identity in the Works of Enrique Vila-Matas and Pablo d'Ors," Christopher Newport University. (2016)
Alonso Varo Varo, NeMLA (Northeast Modern Language Association), "Tragic disarray in Cristina Fernández Cubas’s “El ángulo del horror” and “El lugar," Hartford, CT. (2016)