Professor Alex Elinson
King Hall 210D
Tel: (718) 997-5562
E-mail: alex.elinson@qc.cuny.edu

Lecturer/Assistant Professor of Arabic. Ph.D., Columbia University

Prof. Elinson has just taken over the Arabic and Islamic Studies curriculum developed by Prof. Spectorsky. His research focus is on medieval poetry, in particular that of Islamic Spain, and he has further interests in modern Arabic literature and medieval and modern Hebrew poetry.

My research interests cut across the Middle East and North Africa, and include Arabic and Hebrew literature from the pre-Islamic to the modern period. My dissertation, entitled Looking Back: The Poetics of Loss and Nostalgia and the Literary Definition of al-Andalus in Arabic and Hebrew Literatureexamines the intersection between literary convention and poetic subjectivity in the literature of Muslim Spain. My interest in the creative process that emerges out of, and often defies, highly conventional forms informs much of my work. 

Publications include articles on the Arabic and Hebrew strophic poem (muwashshah), medieval rhymed prose narrative (maqama), as well as reviews and translations in Medieval Encounters, the Journal of Arabic Literature, Edebiyat, Paintbrush: a Journal of Poetry and Translation, and the Middle East Studies Association Bulletin.

At Queens College, I teach courses in Arabic Language, Literature and Culture. Courses include: Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Arabic; History and Civilization of Islam; Modern Arabic Fiction in Translation; Literatures of the Islamic World.