Contemporary French Poetry: Towards a Minor Poetics
Daisy Sainsbury
Research Monographs in French Studies 65•26 July 2021

  • ‘Sainsbury has opened up a hospitable space for further reflection and critical engagement. This is a sure-handed, accessible and very knowledgeable study of what is challenging, and critically important, work.’ — Michael G. Kelly, Modern Language Review 119.2, 2024, 273-74 (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

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)

José Saramago: History, Utopia, and the Necessity of Error
Mark Sabine
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 23•19 December 2016

  • ‘Beyond providing a rigorous, detailed and elegant analysis of those novels, Sabine offers a model for reading Saramago that will serve as reference point for any future work.’ — Paulo de Medeiros, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 95, 2018, 579-80
  • ‘This volume is of tremendous use to both seasoned scholars of Saramago and those who, like many in the English-speaking world, are familiar only with his later novels.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 54.3, July 2018, 377
  • ‘Likely to be welcomed by specialists and non-specialists looking for a critical grounding in the author’s initial and decisive novels of the 1980s.’ — Ana Paula Ferreira, Journal of Lusophone Studies 4.2, 2019, 299-301 (full text online)
  • ‘From a broad perspective which accepts the idea of an inherent political project and its utopian message, this book excellently resumes the possible justifications, together with scholarly well founded contextualizations, thus offering an outstandingly solid basis from which to depart towards further fruitful debates.’ — Burghard Baltrusch, Portuguese Studies 36.1, July 2020, 115-19 (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)

No Country for Nonconforming Women: Feminine Conceptions of Lusophone Africa
Maria Tavares
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 32•30 September 2018

  • ‘An excellent scholarly contribution that is both clear and accessible. It must be critically addressed byprofessors, students, and researchers both in and beyond the Lusophone academic sphere.’ — Sandra I. Sousa, Journal of Lusophone Studies 4.1, 2019, 328-30 (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

Francisca Wood and Nineteenth-Century Periodical Culture: Pressing for Change
Cláudia Pazos Alonso
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 35•21 January 2020

  • ‘It is a rare pleasure to encounter such a meticulous, far-reaching, and at the same time, downright readable academic book as this (which, to its further merit, has an excellent, full Index). The author leaves no stone unturned in her painstaking exploration and rigorous analysis of Wood’s career and periodical culture in nineteenth-century Portugal. The book traverses intellectual biography, literary, social and cultural history, the history of ideas and, of course, the insightful textual analysis for which Pazos Alonso is so highly regarded. This excellent and ground-breaking monograph extends our understanding of the intellectual culture of 1860s Portugal, reaching well beyond the immediate subject matter at hand. It is an essential reference for scholars of nineteenth-century writers of any sex.’ — Rhian Atkin, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 2021 (full text online)
  • ‘Pazos Alonso vai mesmo mais longe celebrando Wood como um exemplo da primeira vaga de feminismo na Europa... A autora reconstrói uma rede de figuras, europeias e outras, defensoras dos direitos femininos, na qual insere Wood demontrando que, se era uma voz praticamente isolada em Portugal, não o era se colocada num contexto mais amplo situado para além das estreitas fronteiras culturais e políticas lusas.’ — Teresa Pinto Coelho, Revista de Estudos Anglo-Portugueses 29, 2020, 233-41
  • ‘Neste livro, Cláudia faz brilhantemente justiça a Francisca, prestando ao mesmo tempo um serviço à cultura nacional.’ — Ana Luisa Vilela, Colóquio-Letras 206, 2021, 276-279
  • ‘Pazos Alonso’s compelling and engaging study not only rescues a prime Portuguese journalist and intellectual from cultural oblivion, but also grants her a well-deserved transnational place in feminist and gender scholarship.’ — Leticia Villamediana González, Modern Language Review 117.3, July 2022, 508-09 (full text online)
  • ‘Succeeds admirably in its proposed aim to offer an overview of the Portuguese mid-nineteenth-century periodical press through the closer analysis of Francisca Wood’s career as editor of A Voz Feminina. It is a groundbreaking study, especially valuable for its extensive archival research that brings to light the figure of a forgotten Portuguese woman writer and pioneer feministas well as the results of her progressive efforts in both the Portuguese and international contexts.’ — Manuela Mourão, American Journal of Lusophone Studies 6.2, 2022, 209-11 (full text online)

Pepetela and the MPLA: The Ethical Evolution of a Revolutionary Writer
Phillip Rothwell
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 36•30 April 2019

  • ‘The result is a deft, nuanced and accomplished analysis not only of Pepetela and his most important works, but of contemporary Angola and the way that the MPLA has wielded its power... It is a landmark work of scholarship from one of the field’s most accomplished critics, and essential reading for scholars of Lusophone African cultures, Angolan social history and Luso-Brazilian and African literatures.’ — Lanie Millar, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 97.6, 2020, 1069-1070

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

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

Quim Monzó and Contemporary Catalan Culture (1975–2018): Cultural Normalization, Postmodernism and National Politics
Guillem Colom-Montero
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 45•26 July 2021

  • ‘Con una prosa nítida que nada tiene que ver con la infumable y obtusa jerga académica de tantos textos universitarios, Colom aborda el personaje, la obra y la trayectoria de Monzó de un modo integral, desde sus inicios como enfant terrible contracultural que actuaba desde los márgenes del sistema cultural hasta su posición de centralidad en el panorama cultural y mediático y en el canon literario catalán... Lean el libro de Guillem Colom sobre Quim Monzó, un hombre que — en esto tampoco ho cambiado nada en cinco décadas — siempre se ha tomado muy en serio esto de escribir y muy burlonamente lo de ser escritor.’ — Pere Antoni Pons, Última Hora 19 December 2021
  • ‘Confessa que sempre ha llegit Quim Monzó, que sempre l’ha fascinat, però en cap cas amaga que algunes de les contradiccions de l’escriptor català li produïen tensió.’ — Cristina Ros, Ara interview, 5 January 2022
  • ‘Given the importance (cultural, social and political) that Monzó has in current Catalan culture, we must celebrate the publication of a study as fundamental as the one we are reviewing... Conceived as a study of Quim Monzó’s literary and cultural trajectory, Guillem Colom-Montero’s monograph offers a broad frieze of Catalan culture between 1975 and 2018, linking it to the debates, anxieties and tensions generated by the development of counterculture, libertarian thought and postmodernity. In this way, much of the interest and value of the book – which is highly readable, well-documented and rich – is due to its focus as an interdisciplinary cultural study.’ — Maria Dasca, International Journal of Iberian Studies 35.1, 1 March 2022, 96-98 (full text online)
  • ‘El llibre s’inicia, l’any 2018, amb la distinció que Òmnium Cultural feia a l’escriptor català atorgant-li el premi d’Honor de les Lletres Catalanes. La captació d’aquell moment i el repàs del discurs que Monzó va fer durant la gala, on vinculava passat i present de la història de la repressió i l’exili a Catalunya, tenint en compte que el president de l’entitat, Jordi Cuixart, ja estava empresonat, produeixen un efecte de narrativa circular, d’obra rodona, que s’obre i es tanca tan coherentment, que ja des del principi hom pot copsar la direcció de les tesis de Colom-Montero... El fet que el llibre recuperi gran part de l’obra oblidada de Monzó posa en evidència els efectes mateixos de la normalització sobre el camp d’estudis culturals i literaris català pràcticament fins a l’actualitat. I alhora, permet connectar les tesis de Colom-Montero amb altres treballs crítics d’àmbit hispànic (Martínez 2012; Delgado 2014) que també han revisat qüestions relacionades amb la cultura en general, i les seves relacions a’ — Júlia Ojeda Caba, Caplletra 72, 2022, 315-19

Naturalism Against Nature: Kinship and Degeneracy in Fin-de-siècle Portugal and Brazil
David J. Bailey
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 48•21 January 2020

  • ‘Naturalism against Nature considerably expands our understanding of how the international literary movement known as Naturalism manifested itself in selected but fully representative writers in Portugal and Brazil... A very useful study and one that should be regarded as required reading for all students and scholars interested in Naturalism and its importance to the Lusophone world.’ — Earl E. Fitz, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 97.9, October 2020, 1559-1560 (full text online)
  • ‘The transnational dimensions of literary Naturalism operating between Brazil and Portugal are explored in this excellently written book by David Bailey.’ — Richard Cleminson, Modern Language Review 116.4, October 2021, 667-68 (full text online)
  • ‘Contribui o estudo, portanto, para uma melhor compreensão da particularidade da expressão literária naturalista em Portugal e no Brasil.’ — Patrícia H. Baialuna de Andrade, Journal of Lusophone Studies 6.1, Spring 2021

Comparative Literature in Britain: National Identities, Transnational Dynamics 1800-2000
Joep Leerssen
Studies In Comparative Literature 27•23 September 2019

  • ‘This is a study of the rare kind of which it can truthfully be said that it is definitive: the description fits Leerssen’s book perfectly. To those still living who launched comparative literature in the new universities some 50 years ago it will come as a happy reminder of an exciting time of innovation and change which they were fortunate to have been part of. To those of a later generation it will reveal that what happened in the 1960s did not emerge from nowhere: a long and honourable history, ably explored by Professor Leerssen, led up to it.’ — John Fletcher, Journal of European Studies 50.3, 2020, 302-321 (full text online)
  • ‘The publication of [this book] is welcome news... The entire section on the nineteenth century is a treasure house of insights into cross-national and comparative ways of approaching knowledge... This is, all in all, a book to be heartily recommended for a wide variety of readers interested in comparative studies in the humanities and social sciences, while being of particular interest to those wishing to understand the evolution of literary and cultural studies.’ — Barnita Bagchi, History of Humanities Fall 2020, 554-56

The Modern Culture of Reginald Farrer: Landscape, Literature and Buddhism
Michael Charlesworth
Studies In Comparative Literature 36•26 February 2018

  • ‘The clear strengths of this book are in its lucid prose, historical accuracy, and truly fascinating subject matter... Richly supported in terms of diverse textual materials, the book is also visually stunning and contains a number of wonderful illustrations, photographs, and reproduced artworks... Charlesworth’s book presents a compelling case for a renewed interest in Reginald Farrer’s writings, and will remain the definitive work on this topic for many years to come.’ — Jeffrey Mather, Modern Language Review 115.1, 2020, 164-65 (full text online)

The Rhetoric of Exile: Duress and the Imagining of Force
Vladimir Zorić
Studies In Comparative Literature 39•19 December 2016

  • ‘Since the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise and down to the exodus of Jews from Germany triggered by Kristallnacht, followed most recently by the flight of millions from the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, exile has constituted a basic experience of human history and myth, summoning forth a library of commentary... Zorić has taken a rich and fascinating topic and exposed it fruitfully to various theoretical analyses.’ — Theodore Ziolkowski, Modern Language Review 113.2, April 2018, 363-64 (full text online)
  • ‘The book has something of the virtues of classical philology, such as erudition and close reading of the overall European literary tradition in original languages. It is equally commendable for widening its scope to the literary depictions of exilic experience in often overlooked East and Central European literatures, thus escaping the rather common fault of essentially reducing European intellectual and imaginative experiences to its Western parts.’ — Aleksandar Pavlović, European History Quarterly 48.2, 402-03

Utopian Identities: A Cognitive Approach to Literary Competitions
Clementina Osti
Studies In Comparative Literature 41•22 August 2018

Sublime Conclusions: Last Man Narratives from Apocalypse to Death of God
Robert K. Weninger
Studies In Comparative Literature 43•29 September 2017

  • unsigned notice, The Year's Work in English Studies 98.1, 2019, 657-58

Scenographies of Perception: Sensuousness in Hegel, Novalis, Rilke, and Proust
Christian Jany
Studies In Comparative Literature 45•14 May 2019

  • ‘Christian Jany’s Scenographies of Perception situates itself on well-traversed philosophical territory, but with a freshness unusual in a volume devoted to longstanding issues in the history of philosophy and theories of poetry and literature... A thought-provoking, cross-disciplinary account of the relationship between thought and perception that ought to appeal to students of German idealism and ro- manticism and their aftermath in the 20th century, and in a way that stays admirably close to the relevant texts and the concerns that animate them.’ — James D. Reid, Monatshefte 112.3, 2020, 555-57

Depicting the Divine: Mikhail Bulgakov and Thomas Mann
Olga G. Voronina
Studies In Comparative Literature 47•23 April 2019

  • ‘Olga G. Voronina’s careful comparative study brings to light many of the parallel narrative strategies in Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita and Thomas Mann’s Joseph and His Brothers... What sets Bulgakov and Mann apart from the mainstream, as Voronina convincingly shows, is their decision to engage polemically with biblical texts.’ — Thomas Seifrid, Comparative Literature Studies 57.3, 2020, 559-62
  • ‘В заключение хочу сказать, что книга Ольги Ворониной инновативна в постановке исследовательской проблемы и плодотворна в ее решении. Завершаю рецензию на книгу цитатой из другого булгаковского романа: «Она дышит! Она живет!».’ — Irina Belobrovtseva, Scando-Slavica 67.2, 2021, 287-94 (full text online)
  • ‘Voronina has created a convincing, far-researching, unique and engaging study of Bulgakov's and Mann's poetic versions of biblical narratives, which both de- and re-mythologize the source text and are characterized by syncretism and rich intertextuality. The book is undoubtedly interesting and inspiring not only for Slavic and German scholars but also for any reader who is interested in a different and innovative approach to the study of comparative literature. The spiritual, scientific, and scholarly merits of this book perfectly complement one another.’ — Natalia Kaloh Vid, Slavic Review full text online)
  • ‘The first comparative study of The Master and Margarita and Joseph and His Brothers, and an important and original contribution to research on Bulgakov’s and Mann’s novels as well as on biblical literature in more general terms.’ — Sarah Fengler, Oxford Comparative Criticism and Translation 30 September 2021
  • ‘Depicting the Divine is a meticulously researched, impressive close reading of two novels... a valuable contribution to literary studies. In her nuanced close readings and thorough research of the two novels Voronina applies a specialist’s insight to both Bulgakov and Mann, paying attention to linguistic subtleties in the two languages and explaining them well to the English reader.’ — Eric Laursen, Russian Review 80.4, October 2021, 713-14 (full text online)

Samuel Butler and the Science of the Mind: Evolution, Heredity and Unconscious Memory
Cristiano Turbil
Studies In Comparative Literature 48•28 September 2020

Metaphor in European Philosophy after Nietzsche: An Intellectual History
Andrew Hines
Studies In Comparative Literature 54•28 September 2020

  • ‘This monograph is exactly as its title would suggest: a lively intellectual history of metaphor in (mostly) twentieth-century European philosophy... does the impossible, succeeding very clearly in defining and outlining the history of metaphor (which [Hines] does comprehensively and deeply, I might add).’ — Christopher O’Hara, Forum for Modern Language Studies 58.1, January 2022, 127-28 (full text online)
  • ‘Throughout the book, [Hines] suggests that studying the metaphors of ideologies would be an apt use case — he cites examples from The Language of the Third Reich, Victor Klemperer’s study of Third Reich rhetoric — yet he can only hint at how exactly this is to be done. As a historical result, Hines has produced an excellent overview over the development of metaphor theory, and has assembled a canon whose surprising star, Hans Blumenberg, is also still the least known in the Anglosphere. Not everyone will agree with this selection — nor with the pivotal position Nietzsche has in it — but for any future study of metaphor theories, this book will be indispensable.’ — Hannes Bajohr, Contributions to the History of Concepts 17.2, Winter 2022, 123–27 (full text online)

Fragments, Genius and Madness: Masks and Mask-Making in the fin-de-siècle Imagination
Elisa Segnini
Studies In Comparative Literature 56•26 July 2021

  • ‘The wide-ranging approach of the book, which also engages with recent debates in decadence and early modernist studies, openly challenges the “abrupt separation between authors associated with the ‘half-mock interlude of decadence’ and those considered exponents of symbolism, and thus part of early modernism”... The author keeps steady command of her arguments while navigating and scrutinising several artifacts from different cultures, though of course each case study shows its own fine tuning.’ — Giulio Milone, Synergies 2, 2021, 65-68 (full text online)
  • ‘Elisa Segnini leads her readers on a journey through fin-de-siècle Europe with one extra stop in Japan. The universe unveiled by Segnini is populated by uncanny mask makers, men in drag, grotesque masquerades, deathly plaster casts, gruesome masks of exceptional men, criminals, and deviants... A distinctive contribution to a field that can only benefit from engaging with the anthropological, medical, and legal discourse that underlies the artistic production of the fin de siècle.’ — Alessandra Crotti, Rivista di studi vittoriani 53, 2022, 121-25

Zola and the Art of Television: Adaptation, Recreation, Translation
Kate Griffiths
Transcript 3•28 September 2020

  • ‘There is a lot of good material in Zola and the Art of Television. Its readings of Zola’s novels and short stories, especially in relation to their adaptations, are fresh, detailed, and nuanced. Electing to address television adaptations rather than film brings more attention to this more under-researched form of adaptation.’ — Jonathan Evans, Translation and Literature 30, 2021, 243-48 (full text online)
  • ‘Griffiths breaks new ground here in two ways which she explains in detail in her introduction. First, her focus on television adaptations ends what she calls the “critical silence” (p. 7) in this area by challenging viewers’ and scholars’ tendency to underappreciate both the artistry and the critical significance of televisual adaptation. Secondly, Griffiths convincingly argues that a deep understanding of creative processes and practices can be gained from treating televisual rewritings of literary texts as translations rather than (or as well as) adaptations; for her, reading these televisual texts through the lens of various translation theories opens up extremely fruitful modes of interpretation and ultimately calls for a reconsideration of what televisual art is or could be. By challenging adaptation studies’ traditional resistance to translation theory, Griffiths’s book importantly goes some way to bridging the intellectual and disciplinary divide between literary studies and media studies... As well as’ — Hannah Thompson, H-France 21.190, October 2021, 190
  • ‘Through her judiciously selected corpus, her appropriation of adaptation theory, and her ambitious but cogently articulated arguments, Griffiths’s groundbreaking study succeeds in demonstrating how these adaptations encourage viewers to reflect on television’s own technological, aesthetic, ideological, and commercial metamorphoses. Furthermore, Griffiths clearly demonstrates that, by probing the relationship between art and contemporary society, television has simultaneously lent continuity to Zola’s goals and renewed relevance to his texts in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.’ — Barry Nevin, French Studies online, 26 July 2022 (full text online)

Memory Across Borders: Nabokov, Perec, Chamoiseau
Sara-Louise Cooper
Transcript 6•19 December 2016

  • ‘Sara-Louise Cooper’s stimulating monograph convincingly approaches three writers whose lives and careers may at first seem disparate, and brings them together under the banner of border crossings, inter-generational memory, and its transmission.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 54.2, April 2018, 265
  • ‘Cooper’s approach encompasses a range of critical discussions, yet her incisive close reading of each author remains central. The book will be useful to students and scholars of any of the three authors, and to those interested in the concept of mobility more widely. Cooper’s future contributions are much anticipated.’ — Fabienne Cheung, French Studies 72.3, July 2018, 475-76
  • ‘A meticulous and finely drawn study, highlighting the links in the three works between histories of self and wider histories, and the presence of multiple language and cultural affiliations in a single text... At the end of the work, the author makes a convincing plea not only for the richness to be found in comparative studies, but also for the recognition by French Studies of the constitutive force of movement and of different languages and places within and outside literature written in French.’ — Siobhan Brownlie, Modern Language Review 113.4, October 2018, 855-56 (full text online)
  • ‘This monograph, the sixth to appear in Legenda’s exciting new “Transcript” series, is an ambitious and searching work, which fully realises the imprint’s commitment to intercultural and trans-linguistic analysis... This is a beautifully written and elegantly produced monograph, in which stimulating and sensitive close readings are enriched by a deftly handled theoretical apparatus. It is also an important book that opens out onto discussion of much broader themes of urgent contemporary significance: national identity, migration, universalism, francophonie... A significant intervention for those working in memory studies, autobiography, comparative literature and transnational French Studies.’ — Maeve McCusker, H-France 18.201, October 2018

Reading Dante and Proust by Analogy
Julia Caterina Hartley
Transcript 12•23 September 2019

  • ‘Hartley’s erudite, persuasive, and reader-friendly book is a powerful debut, an irresistible invitation to love literature. I confidently look forward to her future work.’ — Thomas Pavel, Modern Philology 24 August 2020 (full text online)
  • ‘Hartley’s book contributes significantly to the fields of Dante and Proust stu- dies. Moreover, it is persuasive in demonstrating the rich productive potential of this dynamic, interactive approach, setting an important example for literary comparisons to come.’ — Valentina Mele, Modern Language Review 115.4, October 2020, 891-92 (full text online)
  • ‘By practicing a meticulous close reading of selected passages from both the Commedia and the Recherche, Hartley’s intention is to read Dante in light of Proust and Proust in light of Dante, in a continuous change of perspective that keeps the interpreter’s attention receptive enough to uncover, in each author, thematic and stylistic aspects that would not otherwise have been noticed... A stimulating methodological contribution to the field of comparative literature.’ — Alessandra Aloisi, H-France 20.204, November 2020
  • ‘A scholar who grew up in a trilingual family (English, Italian, French) and who therefore can slip smoothly from one linguistic world to another, Julia Caterina Hartley performs an exquisitely comparatist analysis in Reading Dante and Proust by Analogy. Hartley’s conclusions are quite unexpected and shed new light on two authors who share more than one might think: Alighieri, as a medieval writer who anticipates modernity, and Proust, as a modern writer who engages with the weight of the past... In sum, this book is a meticulous comparative work at its best.’ — Ilaria Serra, Speculum 96.2, 2021, 509-10
  • ‘En plus d’être une brillante étude comparée de Proust et de Dante, ce livre offre un fin plaidoyer pour la littérature comparée considérée autant comme un art de la critique que comme une forme de critique littéraire... L’objectif est atteint, les deux œuvres sont lues ‘afresh’, dans une urgente réciprocité.’ — Hugues Azérad, French Studies 76.1, January 2022, 129–30 (full text online)
  • ‘An enlightening, original, and powerful book, addressed to Dante scholars and Proust scholars, as well as comparatists and scholars of literature in general... Besides the simple fact that Hartley’s work gives us the pleasure of looking at two masterpieces together, with an elegant and enjoyable style, this volume is an important example of how comparative literature, across space and time, can tell us something new even on texts about which everything has already been said, and on literary structures in general, by finely combining close and distant reading.’ — Serena Vandi, Italian Studies 77.2, 2022, 202-03 (full text online)

The First English Translations of Molière: Drama in Flux 1663-1732
Suzanne Jones
Transcript 13•28 September 2020