Assuming the Light: The Parisian Literary Apprenticeship of Miguel Angel Asturias
Stephen Henighan
Legenda (General Series) •1 December 1999

  • ‘The combination of close textual analysis of Asturias's own work, both fictional and journalistic, with that of other discourses, including the work of his contemporaries as well as his critics, is, in my view, one of the many strengths of Assuming the Light. Frequently provocative and meticulously researched, this book will be of interest therefore not only to Asturias specialists but also more generally to scholars engaged in Latin American cultural studies, particularly those interested in questions of cultural identity.’ — Claire Lindsay, Modern Language Review 97.3, 2002, 742-3 (full text online)
  • ‘Lucid, sophisticated, beautifully written, it provides a valuable and thought-provoking introduction to the writer's extraordinary sojourn in Paris... Stephen Henighan seems destined to make an outstanding contribution to Asturias studies.’ — Gerald Martin, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 79, 2002
  • ‘Valuable, problematic insights for those conversant with Asturias's work and its criticism.’ — Paul Jordan, Bulletin of Spanish Studies LXXIX, 2002, 826-8

Berceo's 'Vida de Santa Oria': Text, Translation and Commentary
Anthony Lappin
Legenda (General Series) •1 November 2000

  • ‘While chiefly important for providing the specialist with a reliable version of the VSO, it also gives a detailed commentary on the text: both of these will now be indispensable tools for the Berceo scholar. The English translation will usefully serve to make the Vida de Santa Oria accessible to scholars of other disciplines.’ — Gregory Peter Andrachuk, Modern Language Review 97.3, 2002, 743-5 (full text online)
  • ‘The problems presented to a modern editor of Berceo's Vida de Santa Oria are daunting. The text survives in a unique medieval copy [which] appears to have been made, at the most conservative estimate, more than a century after the death of its author... Lappin keeps Berceo's text clean and readable by relegating textual notes to the end, and supports the text with over a hundred pages of informed and detailed critical commentary... There is much to be said for [Lappin's] essentially pragmatic editorial approach. It honestly confronts the problem of a late or corrupt copy-text and does not assume, as has happened so often in the past, that an author who has become part of the canon is therefore free from literary sin and incapable of omission or logical inconsistency. Lappin's Berceo emerges as an immaculate composer of verse but a vulnerable story-teller.’ — Ian Macpherson, Bulletin of Spanish Studies LXXX, 2003, 112-13
  • ‘Should become the standard reference for all future research on the Vida and, indeed, a touchstone for studying all of Berceo's hagiographies.’ — E. Michael Gerli, Speculum 2003, 2003, 936-8
  • ‘Un buon lavoro, che risolve sicuramente alcuni problemi editoriali e interpretavi.’ — Eduardo Blasco Ferrer, Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 120/2, 2004, 411-14
  • ‘The publication of a full lenght study and edition of one of Berceo's hagiographic works is a rare event; even rarer is the appearance of an English translation. But this book is not likely to be remembered for these reasons. More likely is that it will be read for what it is: a radical, but flawed, attempt to breathe new life into Oria scholarship.’ — Andrew M. Beresford, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies Volume 80, n.1, January 2003, 119-20

Questions of the Liminal in the Fiction of Julio Cortázar
Dominic Moran
Legenda (General Series) •1 December 2000

  • ‘An ambitious attempt to improve the level of sophistication of Cortázar criticism and, at the same time, to nudge the existing consensus about the meaning of Cortázar's work in a specific direction... What is important is not that Moran shows us yet again that Cortázar's fiction emphasizes the ambiguity and mystery surrounding reality and the human psyche. It is that he offers a way to put that ambiguity and mystery into the context of some modern thinking.’ — Donald L. Shaw, Bulletin of Spanish Studies LXXIX, 2002, 670-1

Spanish Romanticism and the Uses of History: Ideology and the Historical Imagination
Derek Flitter
Legenda (General Series) •17 January 2006

  • ‘La perspectiva de Flitter elabora perspicaces análisis de un proyecto intelectual, el historiocismo schlegeliano al hispánico modo, con cierto recorrido histórico en la cultura española moderna.’ — Íñigo Sánchez Llama, Iberoamericana 8.30, 2008, 263-65

Teresa of Avila's Autobiography: Authority, Power and the Self in Mid-Sixteenth-Century Spain
Elena Carrera
Legenda (General Series) •4 February 2005

  • ‘In sum, Carrera succeeds admirably in her goal of elucidating the textual models and controversies that underlie Teresa's religious practices and her self-presentation in Vida. She provides expert guidance through the theological maze...’ — Alison Parks Weber, Iberoamericana VI, 24, 2006, 213-15

Poetry and the Realm of the Public Intellectual: The Alternative Destinies of Gabriela Mistral, Cecília Meireles, and Rosario Castellanos
Karen Peña
Legenda (General Series) •14 December 2007

  • ‘By bringing together three of the principal Latin-American authors of the twentieth century, Poetry and the Realm of the Public Intellectual contributes enormously to our understanding of what inspired and motivated them as authors. Peña proves to have a very thorough understanding of poetry, providing a painstakingly close readings of the three poets analysed. She also demonstrates a great deal of familiarity with both Spanish and Portuguese bibliographical sources in her studies of each of the writers... A valuable contribution to the field of Latin-American poetry, especially in its discussion of the question of gender and the place of female intellectuals in Latin America.’ — Vivaldo Santos, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 87.7, 2010, 1020-21
  • ‘Resumiendo, se trata de una contribución valiosa e importante sobre la conflictividad americana mediada por las voces femeninas. Por encima de todo, Peña nos muestra que la poesía es más vital y resonante en sus momentos de rebeldía.’ — Roland Spiller, Iberoamericana 43, 2011, 200-01

Negotiating Sainthood: Distinction, Cursilería and Saintliness in Spanish Novels
Kathy Bacon
Legenda (General Series) •5 July 2007

  • ‘Altamente recomendable para los estudiosos interesados en el análisis del complejo engarce socio-estético del género sexual, las prácticas religiosas y la modernidad. [Highly recommended for scholars interested in analysis of the complex socio-aesthetic interweaving of gender, religious practices, and modernity.]’ — Iñigo Sánchez-Llama, Iberoamericana 8.29, March 2008, 228-31
  • ‘Comprehensive studies of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century religious discourse have been rare in contemporary Spanish literary studies. Kathy Bacon’s Negotiating Sainthood seeks to alter this imbalance by contributing original, at times surprising, and ultimately convincing interpretations in this area. The text’s insightful connections between Bourdieu’s social theories, cursilería, and aspirations for saintly distinction provide invaluable theoretical tools and concepts for untangling the complexities of an historically polemical era.’ — Ruth J. Hoff, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 86, 2009, 551-52
  • ‘El manejo de una nutrida bibliografía que abarca diferentes disciplinas, así como el brillante análisis individual de cada novela, redundan asimismo en la coherencia de los argumentos esgrimidos por la profesora Bacon. Estamos, en suma, ante un libro que destaca por el rigor metodológico y que arroja nueva luz sobre las variadas manifestaciones del culto a la santidad en la novela española moderna.’ — Toni Dorca, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 86.3 (2009), 446-47
  • ‘In short, Bacon casts a refreshingly new light on the novels in question, highlighting the complexities therein and inviting readers to revisit them. The study, as a whole, is a fascinating piece of work of clear relevance not merely for those interested in fin de siglo culture, but for a wide range of readers from disciplines both within and outside Hispanic Studies.’ — Rhian Davies, Modern Language Review 106.1, 2011, 269-70 (full text online)

Octavio Paz and T. S. Eliot: Modern Poetry and the Translation of Influence
Tom Boll
Legenda (General Series) •10 October 2012

  • ‘What has been missing from Paz scholarship so far are comparative studies that take a larger international approach to a poet who prided himself on his intellectual cosmopolitanism... Tom Boll’s Octavio Paz and T. S. Eliot is a welcome contribution in this direction. It presents a careful and impressively researched study of young Paz’s reflections on Eliot’s poetry, which the former repeatedly acknowledged as one of the most important influences on his early work and on his vision of modernity.’ — Rubén Gallo, Modernism/modernity 21.2, April 2014, 564-65

Decolonizing Modernism: James Joyce and the Development of Spanish American Fiction
José Luis Venegas
Legenda (General Series) •11 February 2010

  • ‘There is something delightfully Joycean and Cortazarian about the volume which demands our close collaboration and participation as we jump around to consult the original texts, dipping into Ulysses and Rayuela, for example, then back to the study in question, not necessarily in chronological order. In this sense, I felt like the quintessential lector cómplice. This review is the final step in my literary contribution.’ — John Walker, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 88.6, September 2011, 929-30
  • ‘Among the many valuable assets of Venegas's cohesive study are its painstaking research and its suggestive ways of interpreting the presence of Joyce in Latin American fiction... A significant contribution to the critical debate over the nature of modernism.’ — Alberto Lázaro, James Joyce Literary Supplement 26.1, Spring 2012, 5-6
  • ‘An impeccably researched and systematic study which has much to offer to the 'planetary' dimension of Joyce scholarship.’ — Patricia Novillo-Corvalán, James Joyce Broadsheet 88, February 2011
  • ‘An insightful and illuminating intertextual analysis... takes a refreshing approach by rejecting the notion of a cultural or intellectual ‘centre’ informing the periphery, or, in Latin American terms, the civilized educating the barbaric. Instead, both Joyce and those he influenced (directly or indirectly) are seen as the creators of ‘an alternative literary history’.’ — Victoria Carpenter, The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies 72, 2012, 247
  • ‘In this book, José Luis Venegas takes existing debates on James Joyce's influence on modern Spanish American fiction decisively further... Thanks to its balanced focus on theory, criticism and literary analysis, the book is comprehensive in its approach yet highly readable. With quotations given in both English and Spanish, this comparative study is a valuable research tool not only for Hispanists but also for critics of English literature working on Joyce.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 49.2 (2013), 226-27
  • ‘Must be greeted as a new study that further enriches previous critical revisions of monolithic views of 'canonical' modernism... By relocating Joyce as a 'peripheral' modernist writer in the literary map of Latin America, Decolonizing Modernism offers an innovative and alternative reinterpretation of both European and Spanish-American literary histories that eschews the restrictions of national boundaries and canonical readings and opens untrodden paths for the emergence of (even) more revisionary studies of modernism in the future.’ — M. Teresa Caneda Cabrera, James Joyce Quarterly 48.4 (2011), 772-75
  • ‘A concise but eloquent demonstration of the potential of truly non-Eurocentric comparative studies between Latin American and European literatures... At the center of Decolonizing Modernism lies the belief in an intimate relationship between literary form and structure and specific history and geography, a relationship that asks for a critical approach that combines the analysis of formal as well as historical aspects.’ — Paulo Moreira, Hispanófila 168 (May 2013), 174-75

In the Light of Contradiction: Desire in the Poetry of Federico García Lorca
Roberta Ann Quance
Legenda (General Series) •12 April 2010

  • ‘Never dull, Quance has the ability to provoke thought, to make us look anew at material that invites reinterpretation.’ — C. Brian Morris, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 89.2, 2012, 313-15
  • ‘Finely nuanced and very compelling... Given its overall thoroughness, quality, and insight, there are surely good chances that In the Light of Contradiction will refocus a portion of the enormous interest in Lorca’s work to one of its lesser studied corners.’ — Andrew A. Anderson, Revista de Estudios Hispanicos 46.1 (March 2012), 158-60
  • ‘This book sets out to prove [that these three works were part of a poetic cycle] and it does do so, providing on the journey a very enlightening snapshot of Lorca’s frame of mind... Well researched and clearly written... An excellent addition to scholarly studies on Spain’s most important modern poet.’ — Stephen M. Hart, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 89.2 (2012), 213-14
  • ‘We have, for the first time in Lorca studies, an analysis of the three books [Suites, Canciones, and Poema del cante jondo] side by side. Moreover, this is the first time that Poema del cante jondo has been studied in a monograph in conjunction with the Suites... This is a sophisticated monograph yet also an entertaining one. It should compel Hispanists to observe Federico García Lorca’s poetry in a new and exciting perspective.’ — Laura Burgos-Lejonagoitia, Modern Language Review 108.2, April 2013, 654-56 (full text online)

Gender, Nation and the Formation of the Twentieth-Century Mexican Literary Canon
Sarah E. L. Bowskill
Legenda (General Series) •6 July 2011

  • ‘Its coherent, well-sustained, and highly persuasive argument is likely to inspire others to take on this and the other challenges outlined in the conclusion. Indeed, as much as Bowskill’s book delves into the archives of reviews of the past, this is also a forward-looking study.’ — Amit Thakkar, Modern Language Review 110.1, January 2015, 273-74 (full text online)
  • ‘Sarah E. L. Bowskill’s study on gender, nation and canon-formation is a groundbreaking treatment of Mexican literature. She dissects a series of canonised and uncanonised novels to prove how the former were privileged by the state and how critics (un)consciously rewarded certain works while ignoring others... Bowskill makes us wonder why no one had deconstructed such critical happenings before, given that nation-building was the overpowering impulse to put Mexico in the literary map of modernity.’ — Francisco A. Lomelí, Bulletin of Latin American Research 34.1, 2014, 106-07

Jorge Semprún: Writing the European Other
Ursula Tidd
Legenda (General Series) •23 April 2014

Spanish Practices: Literature, Cinema, Television
Paul Julian Smith
Moving Image 1•1 June 2012

The Compositors of the First and Second Madrid Editions of 'Don Quixote'
Robert M. Flores
Publications of the Modern Humanities Research Association 7•1 January 1975

Unamuno’s Theory of the Novel
C. A. Longhurst
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 1•1 July 2014

  • ‘A highly illuminating exploration regarding Unamuno’s views on narrative fiction that pays attention to the pervasiveness of elements referring to the physical and mental worlds, the author, the word, the reader, the person, the double and philosophical investigations.’ — Anna Vives, The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies 78, 2018, 193-94

The Latin American Short Story at its Limits: Fragmentation, Hybridity and Intermediality
Lucy Bell
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 4•1 November 2014

  • ‘This study adds to the scholarly criticism of these three authors [Rulfo, Cortázar, Monterroso] and suggests a potentially productive approach that extends beyond Latin American studies into the field of Comparative Literature.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 52.1, 2016, 113-14

Spanish New York Narratives 1898-1936: Modernization, Otherness and Nation
David Miranda-Barreiro
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 5•1 November 2014

  • ‘A well-organized and clearly argued study that situates Spain’s view on modernity within the European context. It will be of interest to scholars on early twentieth-century Spain, Modernism, transnationalism and popular narratives.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 51.4, October 2015, 502-03
  • ‘What could have been a niche study derives its strength and originality from offering new insights into debates on Spanish modernity. This is illustrated well by the primary materials chosen, since they do not necessarily have great literary merit in their own right but serve as the testament to a certain Zeitgeist. Students of Lorca’s Poeta en Nueva York would, for example, benefit from the context on race and multiculturalism provided by the book.’ — Daniela Omlor, Modern Language Review 112.3, July 2017, 728-29 (full text online)
  • ‘El estudio de Miranda-Barreiro, que explora la imagen de Nueva York como símbolo de la modernidad, es de gran actualidad... hay que felicitar a Miranda-Barreiro por incluir géneros poco estudiados hasta ahora en la prosa de los años veinte, así como por el carácter comparatista que adopta. Aunque su aportación más importante es, en mi opinión, su capítulo sobre la raza, la nación y la modernidad, el libro es también de gran interés para el especialista que quiera profundizar en el tratamiento de Nueva York en la narrativa de esta época.’ — María Soledad Fernández Utrera, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 94, 2017, 902-04
  • ‘A well-written book that stands as a major contribution to the field.’ — Anna Vives, The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies 78, 2018, 190-91

The Art of Ana Clavel: Ghosts, Urinals, Dolls, Shadows and Outlaw Desires
Jane Elizabeth Lavery
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 6•16 March 2015

  • ‘El libro de Lavery es una obra necesaria y de actualidad para entender también el pulso de los movimientos literarios en la América de habla hispana. Es un aporte que resarce a la literatura en general y a la visibilidad de las escritoras en particular... En la narrativa de Clavel—según Lavery—, realidad, identidad y cuerpo diluyen sus fronteras dentro y fuera de la ficción, excediendo la literatura para señalar lo propio de la condición humana. Así, el trabajo de Lavery contribuye a establecer un marco teórico, o si se prefiere, el canon del acontecer de la literatura emergente no solo de México, sino de América Latina.’ — Rita Vega Baeza, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 94.10, December 2017, 1830-31

Alejo Carpentier and the Musical Text
Katia Chornik
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 7•11 October 2015

  • ‘Como declara la autora, este ensayo se orienta a muy variados lectores potenciales: estudiosos de la obra de Carpentier, tanto desde el punto de vista estrictamente literario como desde el ángulo de la musicología. Pero su carácter explicativo y la transparencia de su prosa lo hacen asequible también a aquellos que de manera general disfrutan la obra de nuestro novelista... Ya desde este primer capítulo se evidencia el rigor de la investigadora, la amplitud de la bibliografía y de la documentación consultada y la agudeza con la que penetra en dichos textos.’ — Fundación Carpentier online, 18 January 2016)
  • ‘The results of her research and scholarly publications on Carpentier, has made of her a source of consultation by other credited scholars on the subject... The author makes great contributions to Carpentier’s long list of scholarly studies... This is an excellent contribution to the vast scholarship dedicated to the works of Carpentier and his peculiar understanding of musicology, literature and musical forms.’ — Rafael E. Saumell, Bulletin of Latin American Research 36.4, October 2017, 556–557 (full text online)
  • ‘A unique contribution... useful for further scholarly research on Carpentier.’ — Alira Ashvo-Muñoz, Latin American Music Review 39.1, Spring/Summer 2018, 127-29

Urban Space, Identity and Postmodernity in 1980s Spain: Rethinking the Movida
Maite Usoz de la Fuente
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 11•11 October 2015

  • ‘This is a great book for revisiting the years of cultural explosion in a Madrid—and a Spain—which had just emerged from nearly forty years of dictatorship. Madrid had always seemed to lag behind Barcelona as a culturally avant-garde city. La movida madrileña changed the way people looked at the capital, which had previously been seen as the home of conservatism and the political elite. Young people who had been born during the dictatorship and had never experienced real freedom in their lives embraced this new freedom... The book is well written, readable and accessible. The detailed analysis of La Luna de Madrid will prove to be a valuable resource for researchers studying the cultural output of la movida as well as others interested in the period of the Spanish Transition.’ — María José Blanco, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 95.4, May 2018, 370-71
  • ‘A substantial reflection on an epoch that continues to deserve critical attention from both scholars and members of the public.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 54.4, October 2018, 506-07 (full text online)

Santería, Vodou and Resistance in Caribbean Literature: Daughters of the Spirits
Paul Humphrey
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 12•25 February 2019

  • ‘Humphrey does not argue for the homogenization of [Vodou and Santería], but for the honest recognition and acceptance of their differences. Moving past the violent stereotyping [...], he encourages us to treat these religions as ‘living systems’ in which slavery, colonialism, creolization and hybridity intersect in a dynamic negotiation of all the complexities that create what would be a ‘postcolonial’ Caribbean.’ — Janelle Rodriques, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 97.2, 2020, 294-95

Reprojecting the City: Urban Space and Dissident Sexualities in Recent Latin American Cinema
Benedict Hoff
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 13•13 February 2017

  • ‘One of the latest additions to an expanding catalogue of queer approaches to Latin American cinema, Reprojecting the City identifies a ‘conceptual “sweet-spot”’ at the intersection between Urban, Queer, and Cinema Studies.’ — Rebecca Jarman, Modern Language Review 113.4, October 2018, 892-93 (full text online)
  • ‘The four film-analysis chapters are very well pitched, deftly teasing out the representations of sexual identities manifested through the relationships mediated by the differing geopolitical urban scenarios... Hoff’s monograph is a valuable contribution to the study of sexuality in contemporary Latin-American cinemas as well as to the aesthetics and geopolitics of cinematic space. It will be valuable to researchers in the field and, because of its accessibility, to undergraduate students of South American cinema.’ — Sheldon Penn, Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies 2.2, 2018, 339-40

The Last Days of Humanism: A Reappraisal of Quevedo’s Thought
Alfonso Rey
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 15•11 October 2015

  • ‘A thoughtful, wide-ranging contribution from a well-known quevedista... Many interesting points are raised, for example, Quevedo’s aims in writing a wide variety of works; his indebtedness as a humanist to Greek philosophy, Roman culture and Renaissance theories; Quevedo’s aspirations in courtly circles; his commitment to his country and Catholicism; and his views on life, death, virtue and wisdom... an excellent study.’ — John A. Jones, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 95.1, January 2018, 163-64

Film Festivals: Cinema and Cultural Exchange
Mar Diestro-Dópido
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 18•1 May 2021

  • ‘A detailed account of the myriad aspects of film festivals and their cultural import both within and beyond the field of film studies. The book will be of interest to scholars and students of film, film festivals, film cultures, with specific relevance to those working in the fields of Basque, Spanish, Argentine, and British film and these related contexts.’ — Fiona Noble, Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies 7.1, 141-42 (full text online)
  • ‘The key strength of Diestro-Dópido’s book lies in her ability to critically address the intricacies that shape film festivals by focusing on ‘the point of view of the communities that constitute the festival cosmos: organizers, funders, filmmakers, producers, critics, directors, programmers, guests, educational bodies, and more’. This book will be, therefore, an essential text for students and scholars of film festivals, as well as for those involved in running film festivals. It makes a unique contribution to the fields of Spanish screen studies and film festival studies alike due Diestro-Dópido’s original methodological and theoretical approach, close access to the main practitioners in the field and its focus on overlooked film festivals.’ — Jara Fernández Meneses, Studies in Spanish and Latin American Cinemas 19, June 2022, 264-66 (full text online)

(Un)veiling Bodies: A Trajectory of Chilean Post-Dictatorship Documentary
Elizabeth Ramírez-Soto
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 20•23 September 2019

  • ‘Estas reflexiones finales apuntan a que nos en-contramos ante una obra que no solo está llama-da a convertirse en lugar de paso obligado para investigaciones posteriores sobre el documental chileno contemporáneo inserto en el devenir de las políticas del pasado y la memoria, sino que ofrece intersticios para lecturas productivas en otros ámbitos y periodos.’ — María Luisa Ortega, Secuencias 51, 2020, 178-80
  • ‘Impeccably documented and researched... the book works with over 100 films (an impressive corpus) and includes a filmography that will undoubtedly serve as an important resource for students and scholars... The book also rescues for/from the archive a vast group of nearly forgotten directors and films that open the reader’s mind to appreciate the breadth of what Chilean documentary film both has been and is. This is an especially important gesture for international readers... Pushes the conversation on documentary far beyond the stale, though classic debates about objectivity and subjectivity; it shows that documentary film is not only a medium capable of capturing memories but also of actively creating and triggering them through sensory experience.’ — Michael Lazzara, A Contracorriente 18.2, 2021, 271-78
  • ‘Más allá de esto, no cabe duda que (Un)veiling Bodies. A Trajectory of Chilean Post-dictatorship documentary, se trata de un libro importante para futuros estudios sobre cine documental chileno, estableciendo un verdadero “piso” investigativo, que habrá que considerar al momento de acercarse a él.’ — Iván Pinto Veas, Imagofagia 24, 2021, 689-96
  • ‘En la intersección de diversos ámbitos teóricos, la obra de Ramírez-Soto forma parte, al fin, de una tendencia fecunda que busca establecer puentes entre la historia, la ética y los estudios de la imagen. Desmarcándose prudentemente de los trauma studies y prefiriendo situar su reflexión bajo el signo del “giro afectivo”, (Un)veiling Bodies logra dar cuenta exitosamente de un periodo sensible de la producción documental en Chile, otorgando una nueva visibilidad a un corpus a menudo ignorado por los investigadores.’ — Ignacio Albornoz Fariña, Cinémas d'Amérique Latine 28, 2020, 170-71 (full text online)

Photographing the Unseen Mexico: Maya Goded’s Socially Engaged Documentaries
Dominika Gasiorowski
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 21•25 February 2019

  • ‘By employing innovative, subaltern questioning, Dominika Gasiorowski makes an exceptionally strong case for engaging with this socially committed Mexican documentary filmmaker and photographer and has produced an extremely thorough and impactful study of Maya Goded’s work.’ — Erica Segre, Bulletin of Spanish Visual Studies 5.1, 2021, 186-87 (full text online)

Cortázar and Music
Nicholas Roberts
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 25•30 December 2019

  • ‘Alongside literature and politics, music is an inescapable presence in the work of Julio Cortázar. In this thorough and wide-ranging study, Nicholas Roberts provides a detailed analysis of the myriad ways in which music appears in the novels, short stories, and critical work of the Argentine. In the process, he reveals that music was no mere leitmotiv, but rather provided the structural tools for key works.’ — Ben Bollig, Modern Language Review 116.4, October 2021, 671-72 (full text online)
  • ‘Es un libro que invita a sus lectores a reencontrarse con las obras de Cortázar, pero al mismo tiempo nos inspira a perseguir una serie de preguntas más generales sobre la presencia de la música en la literatura moderna.’ — Matt Johnson, Revista Iberoamericana 87.276, July-September 2021, 952-54

Bodies of Disorder: Gender and Degeneration in Baroja and Blasco Ibáñez
Katharine Murphy
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 26•1 November 2017

  • ‘Murphy highlights the substantial points of comparison between the two authors, despite the hostility between them and their very different journeys through the literary canon. Taken in its entirety, this book deftly sets about dismantling quite a number of critical distinctions and commonplaces... This will be a valuable book for anyone working on the Spanish novel, discourses of degeneration across Europe, cultural studies, and on the dynamics of female literacy and agency.’ — Geraldine Lawless, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 96.9, 2019, 1553-55

The Novels of Carmen Laforet: An Aesthetics of Relief
Caragh Wells
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 29•29 April 2019

  • ‘Caragh Wells's seminal exploration of the psychological and aesthetic underpinning of Laforet’s novels is a must-read for anyone interested in such aspects of literature, Hispanic and global.’ — Lilit Žekulin Thwaites, Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research March 2020 (full text online)
  • ‘A required tome for any serious scholar or student of Carmen Laforet. It is a carefully researched and thoughtfully written study that should place Caragh Wells among the elite Laforetian scholars of the day.’ — Mark P. Del Mastro, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 97.3, March 2020, 444-45

Humanizing Childhood in Early Twentieth-Century Spain
Anna Kathryn Kendrick
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 30•7 January 2020

  • ‘So liegt ein reich recherchiertes Buch vor, das wie ein Feuerwerk der Informationen, Deutungen und auch Andeutungen erscheint... Die einzelnen Kapitel und Abschnitte zu Lerntheorien, Spielzeug, Theater, Kinderzeichnungen und Intelligenztests können als wichtige Beiträge zu neuen Entwicklungen einer vergleichenden und transnationalen Kindheitsgeschichte gelten und sind als solche zweifellos lesenswert.’ — Martina Winkler, H-Soz-Kult 11 January 2021
  • ‘Humanizing Childhood explores the debates and practices surrounding the emerging discipline of the study of childhood in early twentieth-century Spain. Linked to the transnational education reform movement in Europe and the United States, artists, poets, educators, and philosophers in Spain developed new frameworks to understand the “world of the child” in order to guide children to their full human potential... The book provides a welcome addition to the relatively undeveloped field of the Spanish history of childhood.’ — Pamela Beth Radcliff, Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth 15.1, Winter 2021, 165-67 (full text online)
  • ‘A carefully documented celebration of early twentieth-century Spanish humanism and its positive impact on childhood representation and education. Spanish teachers, intellectuals, and artists pressed for a science of childhood which was constructed from advances in science, art, literature, and culture, centred on the dynamic and creative aspects of the holistic child in which mind, body, and spirit were viewed as one.’ — David Foshee, Modern Language Review 116.4, October 2021, 668-69 (full text online)
  • ‘Humanizing Childhood in Early Twentieth-Century Spain is an impressive achievement. It not only constitutes a major contribution to the field of child development and paedological teaching and learning (especially with respect to the New Education movement and its Spanish representatives), but it also opens a window to how the fundamental question of human nature was addressed and problematized throughout Spain during a period of unprecedented social change... An excellent book with broad appeal.’ — Nicolás Fernández-Medina, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 2021 (full text online)
  • ‘Definitivamente, el gran valor de este libro es el esfuerzo intelectual que hace la autora para identificar conexiones significativas dentro del amplio tema de la infancia entre la historia de la ciencia, la historia de la educación, la historia cultural, la historia literaria y la historia de arte, entre otros.’ — Gabriela Ossenbach, Boletín de Historia de la Educación 2021
  • ‘El libro brilla por su extensa curiosidad, las enormes y variadas inquietudes que demuestra y su forma de transformarlas en indicios para el análisis de un tema complejo y significativo ... Se trata, en definitiva, de un libro cuya mirada global a las inquietudes, debates y reflexiones sobre la infancia y la educación debería ser inspiradora dentro de las polémicas y experimentos educativos que dominan el presente. Un libro de primer orden, de arquitectura compleja y sugerente, que demuestra gran erudición y amplitud de miras, una singular capacidad de análisis y formulación de hipótesis, riqueza conceptual, y una densidad no exenta de agilidad narrativa y amenidad. Un libro de los que, lejos del frecuente sabor metálico de las publicaciones urgentes, deja el sabor de la tradición anglosajona de las obras bien reposadas.’ — Álvaro Ribagorda, Historia y Memoria de la Educación 16, 2022, 725-30 (full text online)

Gómez Manrique, Statesman and Poet: The Practice of Poetry in Fifteenth-Century Spain
Gisèle Earle
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 31•26 February 2018

  • ‘In this comprehensive study of how Manrique practised poetry, which also includes his prose, Earle offers both detailed textual analysis of individual works and an interpretation of Manrique’s literary corpus. Through this dual focus, Earle emphasizes the evolution of Manrique’s rhetorical style through figurative language and the political thrust of Manrique’s writing, including works that have traditionally been studied separately, such as elegy and devotional texts. As a result, this study makes a valuable contribution to existing scholarship through its new perspective on Manrique’s textual production, which also opens doors for future investigation.’ — Holly Sims, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 96.8, 2019, 1343-65 (full text online)

Form and Reform in Eighteenth-Century Spain: Utopian Narratives and Socio-Political Debate
Carla Almanza-Gálvez
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 33•25 February 2019

Women and Nationhood in Restoration Spain 1874-1931: The State as Family
Rocío Rødtjer
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 34•23 April 2019

  • ‘This is a fine and important book that will hopefully convince those critics prone to discounting the contributions of conservative women writers (Asensi and de los Ríos) to make the effort to read them, keeping in mind Rødtjer’s suggestive arguments.’ — Alda Blanco, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 97.3, March 2020, 440-41

Queer Genealogies in Transnational Barcelona: Maria-Mercè Marçal, Cristina Peri Rossi, and Flavia Company
Natasha Tanna
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 37•30 December 2019

Hispanic Baroque Ekphrasis: Góngora, Camargo, Sor Juana
Luis Castellví Laukamp
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 38•7 January 2020

  • ‘Con este volumen, Castellví Laukamp presenta una nueva manera de estudiar la poesía del virreinato [...] Hispanic Baroque Ekphrasis: Góngora, Camargo, Sor Juana crea un museo de papel compuesto por poemas y por imágenes de la temprana edad moderna.’ — Conxita Domènech, Revista Iberoamericana 87.274, Spring 2021, 360-62
  • ‘Hispanic Baroque Ekphrasis […] es una obra excelente por el profundo y original estudio que ofrece sobre las posibilidades expresivas de la écfrasis, el sobresaliente conocimiento de la obra de los autores estudiados, la adecuada estructuración, la riqueza de fuentes y la claridad expositiva.’ — Lizbeth Souza-Fuertes, Hispania 104.1, March 2021, 125-126 (full text online)
  • ‘Castellví's book is extensively documented in the critical bibliography and is eruditely positioned between literature and art [...] The documentary and pictorial apparatus supports this work, which undoubtedly aims to position itself as a landmark on the subject.’ — Laura Yadira Munguía Ochoa, Hipogrifo 9.1, 2021, 1369-72 (full text online)
  • ‘The attention to detail and the bibliographical scope of this book is noteworthy. so is the ability to develop cogent arguments that gain momentum towards the final section of each chapter... this is a well-contextualized, generous book that proves how early modern poets in spanish, and the poetics they adhered to, were not hampered by geographical borders and cannot be by academic ones.’ — Antonio J. Arraiza-Rivera, Bulletin of the Comediantes 72.2, 2020, 163-65
  • ‘Hispanic Baroque Ekphrasis de Castellví Laukamp constituye una aportación de primer orden en el ámbito de la poesía barroca hispánica del que podrán disfrutar especialistas y aficionados. Su dimensión transatlántica y su diseño transgenérico [...] permiten al autor ofrecer una mirada fresca y erudita a un tiempo sobre los grandes poemas que analiza.’ — Martín Zulaica López, Rilce 37.2, 2021, 885-91
  • ‘Hispanic Baroque Ekphrasis is an exquisitely written and illustrated book […] Turning to a transatlantic vision of the baroque, this book clearly shows that Gongorism in Viceregal Latin America was an instrument to think and to create with liberty. Written with subtlety and enargeia, this thoughtful volume provides important new insights into Góngora, Camargo and Sor Juana.’ — Frederick de Armas, Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos 44.3, 2022, 784-87 (full text online)
  • ‘Hispanic Baroque Ekphrasis constitutes an outstanding contribution to the interpretation of the three poems it studies. Castellví Laukamp’s command of art history, visual studies, early modern poetics, and the classical tradition enable him to craft astute and compelling readings. He is a widely read, learned, and clear writer’ — Felipe Valencia, Colonial Latin American Review 31.3, 463-65 (full text online)
  • ‘A complex but rewarding study, Hispanic Baroque Ekphrasis recognizes Camargo and Sor Juana as both followers of Góngora and poetic innovators in their own right.’ — Elizabeth Blakemore, Forum for Modern Language Studies 58.3, 2022, 406 (full text online)

Contemporary Galician Women Writers
Catherine Barbour
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 39•28 September 2020

  • ‘Contemporary Galician Women Writers is an engaging and informative study of Galician literature and identity and, especially, a valuable contribution to the scholarship on Galician narrative fiction by women.’ — Silvia Oliveira, Hispania 105.2, June 2022, 303-04 (full text online)
  • ‘A valuable contribution that presents a thorough picture of the Galician cultural landscape; at the same time, it stresses the need for academia to enquire beyond the national understanding of literary systems.’ — Lucia Cernadas, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 94.2, 2022, 379-80 (full text online)
  • ‘Presents a compelling, well-written textual analysis of six novels that adds substantially to our knowledge about three commercially successful writers who, except for Moure (the Galician-language writer), are yet to receive sustained attention. The book convincingly shows that much is learnt about the literary representation of Galician identities when the works under study are by authors who are located outside Galician national literature. The book will be of interest to scholars working on Hispanic Peninsular, particularly Galician, Literary Studies, but it also has much to offer to other literary scholars, especially those working on women’s writing.’ — María Liñeira, Galicia 21 2023, 124-27

The Marvellous and the Miraculous in María de Zayas
Sander Berg
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 40•23 September 2019

Twentieth-Century Sephardic Authors from the Former Yugoslavia: A Judeo-Spanish Tradition
Željko Jovanović
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 41•28 September 2020

  • ‘La investigación que presenta Željko Jovanović en su monografía Twentieth-Century Sephardic Authors from the Former Yugoslavia. A Judeo-Spanish Tradition era, yo creo, necesaria. El autor ofrece, en los tres capítulos que forman la parte palpitante del volumen, una reflexión muy finamente detallada de la evolución de la literatura oral en el ámbito de las comunidades sefardíes de la antigua Yugoslavia... Finalmente, sería injusto terminar esta reseña sin subrayar la riqueza de las notas que acompañan cada capítulo y que no son una simple añadidura, sino que aportan información útil e interesante; además,el gusto de esta monografía está enriquecido por las fotografías esparcidas en el volumen y que restituyen, a través del poderdela imagen, la vivacidad de los protagonistas que Željko Jovanović ha logrado retratar con inteligente maestría.’ — Paola Bellomi, Meldar 2, 2021, 61-64 (full text online)
  • ‘En su exposición, Jovanović aúna siempre el rigor positivista con la sutileza interpretativa: la riqueza de la información, el respeto a los hechos e incluso la atención a los mínimos detalles textuales no excluyen otras formas de análisis que, manejadas con cautela, permiten al autor construir un libro sólido y brillante, que arroja luz sobre muchas cuestiones: la oralidad y su relación con la escritura, la historia de las mujeres y de las minorías y, naturalmente, la pervivencia del legado hispánico más allá de los límites de la Península.’ — Álvaro Alonso, Boletín de literatura oral 11, 2021, 321-23 (full text online)
  • ‘This is a valuable book, well thought out, with an extensive bibliography (including many items in Serbo-Croat), illustrations and useful indices.’ — Bulletin of Spanish Studies February 2022 (full text online)
  • ‘Unburdened by jargon and meticulously researched, Jovanović’s study is a welcome resource for those working on the literary heritage of the Sephardim. The text will also be of interest to those writing on Spanish–Yugoslav relations, cultural history, transnational literary transmission and translation, and linguistic varia- tions of Ladino across the twentieth century.’ — Alma Prelec, Modern Language Review 118.2, 2023, 271-72 (full text online)
  • ‘El libro es una aportación importante al estudio de la cultura de los sefardíes de Serbia y Bosnia, al conocimiento de la cultura sefardí en general y su evolución en época contemporánea y, más ampliamente, a los estudios sobre las relaciones entre cultura popular y creación literaria culta y al análisis de la construcción de relatos sobre la identidad cultural y la memorialización del pasado de una minoría, tomando como base una tradición folklórica en proceso de desaparición.’ — Paloma Díaz-Mas, MEAH 70, 2022, 257-62

Memory and Utopia: The Poetry of José Ángel Valente
Manus O’Dwyer
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 44•28 September 2020

  • ‘El título del trabajo de Manus O’Dwyer si breve y conciso da cierto vértigo por la amplitud de los temas críticos seleccionados y porque, como el autor reconoce en una elegante y brillante introducción, la crítica en torno al poeta español es prolija. La facilidad con que O’Dwyer soluciona dichas complicaciones en las primeras páginas para focalizar su labor en la cuestión social y política de la poesía de José Ángel Valente es tan encomiable como lapropia edición del libro... Una cuidada publicación de tremenda utilidad tanto para hispanistas como para comparatistas, que por añadido es disfrutable.’ — Juan Blázquez Cuena, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 98.10, 2021, 1733-34
  • ‘El profesor de la Universidad de Sheffield logra cumpli-damente su propósito: describe los discursos críticos que han relegado e incluso negado esta dimensión y demuestra su relevancia mediante análisis textuales e intertextuales de una multiplicidad de materiales relacionados con la actividad intelectual del poeta (cartas, conferencias, diarios, ensa-yos, poemas, relatos, traducciones, etc.). Este logro es por sí mismo mo-tivo suficiente para recomendar la lectura de Memory and Utopia... Es preciso agradecer a Manus O’Dwyer que su lectura ponga de relieve la fascinante extrañeza que la singular extraterritorialidad cultural rastreable en la obra de José Ángel Valente puede llegar a producir.’ — Daniel Aguirre Oteiza, Prosemas 6, 2021, 232-38
  • ‘Memory and Utopia gravitates around the idea that Valente was not (or not just) a modern mystic who devoted his word to the ineffable, but a poet who found in mystic motifs the way to access his social context, in an attempt to resist the institutionalized, vain discourse of recent extremist political practices... A brave, innovative proposal that is able to look at Valente’s literary production as a whole, and to find in his verse the aim to construct, through “a paradoxical immanence of the transcendent” (115), a utopian space of memory and self-negation in the community.’ — María Vera Reyes, Theory Now 4.2, 2021, 249-53 (full text online)
  • ‘This new vision of the poet is constructed through concise and precise analysis that does not shy away from issues of great philosophical and aesthetic complexity... a ground-breaking and informative book that will change the way readers and scholars appreciate this towering figure of Spanish and Galician verse.’ — Ricardo Fernández Romero, Modern Language Review 118.1, 2023, 147

Horizontalism and Historicity in Argentina: Cultural Dialogues of the Post-Crisis Era
Brigid Lynch
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 46•10 December 2021

  • ‘An engaging study that offers an innovative perspective, with lively case studies, on recent Argentine cultural history.’ — Ben Bollig, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 94.2, 2022, 383-84 (full text online)

Queering Lorca’s Duende: Desire, Death, Intermediality
Miguel García
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 49•7 March 2022

Memory, Identity and the Historical Novel in Uruguay: Opening up the Archive 1985-2010
Karunika Kardak 
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 52•31 August 2023

Visual and Plastic Poetics: From Brazilian Concretism to the Chilean Neo-Avant-Garde
Rachel Elizabeth Robinson
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 53•7 March 2022

  • ‘A variegated assortment of attentive readings of individual poems that further enrich the reader’s appreciation of the three poets. Robinson’s book is well-written, and a wonderful addition to the library of any academic interested in contemporary poetry, for Latin-American literary critics, for enthusiasts of the Avant-Garde, but also for anyone who would like to learn about three magnificent Chilean artist-poets that toiled under adverse political conditions to create beauty.’ — Eduardo Ledesma, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 100.4, 2023, 611-13 (full text online)

The Experience of Colour in Lorca's Theatre
Jade Boyd
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 54•13 September 2022

  • ‘Boyd is sensitive to what is left out as well as what is explicit. She thus underlines the absence in this tragedy of stage directions regarding lighting. She also reads ‘verbal colour’ into objects, food and animals, so the mention of frogs, chocolate, earth, fire and goldfinches becomes part of an imagined canvas of images, sometimes as potent as what we can see on stage.’ — John London, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 100.6, 2023, 930-32 (full text online)

Matilde de la Torre: Sex, Socialism and Suffrage in Republican Spain
Deborah Madden
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 56•20 October 2022

Borges and Joyce: An Infinite Conversation
Patricia Novillo-Corvalán
Studies In Comparative Literature 24•4 February 2011

  • ‘Deftly employs cultural, geographical, biographical, linguistic and literary analysis; in doing so, it provides readers with a better understanding of Joyce, Borges, and the connections between them.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 49.2 (2013)
  • ‘...The engaging central thesis, of the surprisingly fruitful interaction between these two seemingly dissimilar authors.’ — Ben Bolig, Modern Language Review 108.3, 2013, 983-85 (full text online)
  • ‘This is an ambitious and satisfying book that illuminates, through the prism of Borges, the work of Joyce and, through Joyce, the work of Borges... It is a very welcome and important addition to our libraries.’ — Lucia Boldrini, James Joyce Quarterly 49.3/4, May 2014, 689-92

Exile and Nomadism in French and Hispanic Women's Writing
Kate Averis
Studies In Comparative Literature 31•1 July 2014

  • ‘Averis skilfully negotiates a corpus that encompasses six writers, two languages, and several nations in an engaging style and with careful structuring, which unfailingly maintains her reader’s engagement. This study offers a very welcome re-evaluation of exile as a linguistic, psychological, gendered, and existential site.’ — Trudy Agar, French Studies 69.4, October 2015, 560-61
  • ‘The originality and importance of this study in the field of Comparative Literature lies in the fact not only that it analyses exiled women writers (instead of exiled men writers) but also that these writers’ homelands are different, making the research findings more valid as they are extremely representative of women who write away from their birth countries... Averis’ analysis is extremely comprehensive, clearly exposed and well supported with a solid and respected bibliography.’ — Verónica Añover, Modern and Contemporary France 23.3, 2015, 410-11
  • ‘This book draws a new and original path within the analysis of contemporary women’s exilic writing and the nomadic configuration of identity. Not only does it develop key notions of exile and women’s writing, applying them to illustrative cases, it also articulates connections that overturn preconceived arguments, such as the exilic stereotyped figures still in use in Euro-American theorizations, or the negative connotations of exile, which are replaced by the idea of exile as a productive and creative site in which more fluid identities are rebuilt.’ — Marianna Deganutti, OCCT Review online, October 2015

Uruguayan Theatre in Translation: Theory and Practice
Sophie Stevens
Transcript 15•8 October 2022

  • ‘A welcome and much needed contribution to Uruguayan theatre studies and translation... Stevens’ translations are thoughtfully crafted, beautifully articulated, clear, and amply tested for the stage. They reveal the careful and meticulous work of a researcher who has investigated thoroughly the context, formal aspects of language use, rhetorical devices, and style of the target text in collaboration with playwrights, actors, directors, scholars and students in workshops, rehearsals, table readings and seminars. Virtually unknown to most English audiences, the translated plays included in this book are true gems and will be of great interest to theater scholars, students, and practitioners. Through juxtaposing analysis and translation of theater in one study, Stevens pioneers dialogue between the fields of Uruguayan theater and translation studies in a book that will hold great appeal to theater scholars, translators, students and practitioners.’ — The Mercurian 14 November 2023
  • ‘Overall, this book is exemplary in offering insight into the decisions made by translators alongside directors, playwrights, and actors. The focus on praxis and self-reflection constitutes a novel and creative way of engaging with Uruguayan theatre as both national and transnational. The practical and theoretical considerations proposed by Stevens will be of use to translators, dramatists, and theatre scholars alike.’ — Cara Levey, Modern Language Review 2024, 119.1, 167-69 (full text online)
  • ‘This volume already fills a need because there are never enough translations of plays from Spanish into English for academic and practical purposes such as research, teaching and staging. Beyond fulfilling a basic need, however, Stevens’ book explores a deeper inquiry into the act of translation by linking it to thematic, cultural and dramatic concepts. For Stevens the process of translation practice is not merely technical; rather it is a methodology that informs scholarship on the dramatic text in new ways.’ — Sarah M. Misemer, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 100.5, 2023, 773-75 (full text online)

Imagining Iberia in Medieval German Literature
Doriane Zerka 
Transcript 26•31 August 2023

Epic and Chronicle: The 'Poema de mio Cid' and the 'Crónica de veinte reyes'
Brian Powell
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 18•1 January 1983