Edward H. Friedman (Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University) is Chancellor’s Professor of Spanish and Professor of Comparative Literature at Vanderbilt University. His primary field of research is early modern Spanish literature, with special emphasis on picaresque narrative, the writings of Cervantes, and the Comedia. He also has worked widely in contemporary narrative and drama. His books include Cervantes in the Middle: Realism and Reality in the Spanish Novel (2006), The Unifying Concept: Approaches to the Structure of Cervantes Comedias, The Antiheroine’s Voice: Narrative Discourse and Transformations of the Picaresque, Wit’s End: An Adaptation of Lope de Vega’s La dama… boba (performed by Vanderbilt University Theatre as part of its 2006-2007 season). He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Scholar Program, and the National Humanities Center. He is editor of the Bulletin of the Comediantes and has served as president of the Cervantes Society of America. Nominated by Brigham Young University, he was selected for the Sigma Delta Pi "Orden de Don Quijote" Award in 2005. The recipient of teaching awards at Arizona State University and Indiana University, he was presented the Jeffrey Nordhaus Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching at Vanderbilt in 2006.