Published April 2019
A Modernist in Exile: The International Reception of H. G. Adler (1910-1988)
Edited by Lynn L. Wolff
Studies In Comparative Literature 42
- ‘A very impressive collection of moving and thought-provoking essays... Because the contributors to this book have such detailed and specialized knowledge of H. G.’s life and work, and such a masterly ability to contextualize his wide-ranging achievement and relate their new work to earlier critical work, they set a new standard in Adler scholarship. Consequently this fascinating volume will doubtless enhance H. G.’s reputation both as an intellectual and as a writer of prose fiction, and become necessary reading for anyone who has any kind of interest in him and his work.’ — Richard Sheppard, Journal of European Studies 50.3, Autumn 2020, 295–301 (full text online)
- ‘This volume dedicated to H.G. Adler will prove edifying to seasoned scholars and newcomers alike... In contrast to Adorno, who - similar to many postmodernists - collapses traditions of value into barbarity and admits no distinction between the two, Adler struggles to maintain, describe, and explain the possibility of human goodness in the face of overwhelming evil. It is certainly true for Adler that in the world of the camps much, if not most, of the ability for ethical action was destroyed - but not all. And since this is true, Adler’s work challenges his readers to face the truth in its entirety and to define the scale of human value they will adhere to in the face of barbarity.’ — Traci S. O’Brien, Monatshefte 112.4, Winter 2020, 747-50
Death Sentences: Literature and State Killing
Edited by Birte Christ and Ève Morisi
Studies In Comparative Literature 49
Freedom and the Subject of Theory: Essays in Honour of Christina Howells
Edited by Oliver Davis and Colin Davis
Legenda (General Series)
Published August 2019
From Doubt to Unbelief: Forms of Scepticism in the Iberian World
Edited by Mercedes García-Arenal and Stefania Pastore
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 42
- ‘This outstanding volume brings together thirteen essays on scepticism and religious dissent in late medieval and early modern Spain, Portugal and Italy... The joint enterprise represented by this exceptional volume ‘has led the way to a variety of new panoramas and unexpected itineraries’ (14). Anyone prompted to pursue these further will find here an indispensable resource and an inspiring example.’ — Eamonn Rodgers, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 98.3, 2021, 479-80
- ‘Scholars of early modern Europe will find much to draw upon in these two volumes [jointly reviewed was Fuchs and García-Arenal, eds, The Quest for Certainty in Early Modern Europe: From Inquisition to Inquiry, 1550–1700]. The strongest chapters focus on religious and theological issues of doubt and uncertainty, but we get many case studies in other areas of knowledge that found ways to navigate the murky waters of the early modern world. Most of the chapters will make fruitful material for graduate seminars and reading groups, but the books’ greatest merit is how well they work together both as individual volumes and as complementary conversations. Editors of collected volumes should take note.’ — Erudition and the Republic of Letters 7, 2022, 355-63 (María M. Portuondo)
Published September 2019
The Art of Cervantes in Don Quixote: Critical Essays
Edited by Stephen Boyd, Trudi L. Darby and Terence O'Reilly
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 27
- ‘El libro constituye pues, en mi opinión, un aporte significativo y novedoso del cervantismo británico para el estudio y la reevaluación de la obra maestra cervantina.’ — Ruth Fine, Hispanic Research Journal 21.4, 2020, 463-66 (full text online)
- ‘A welcome addition to the libraries of Cervantes scholars.’ — John T. Cull, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 98.4, 2021, 667-68
Published December 2019
Italy and the USA: Cultural Change Through Language and Narrative
Edited by Guido Bonsaver, Alessandro Carlucci and Matthew Reza
Italian Perspectives 44
- ‘A very holistic assessment of cultural change, even going beyond the disciplinary points of reference of language and narrative to the larger fields of politics and economics.’ — Anna Chichi, Modern Language Review 117.2, 2022, 303-04 (full text online)
Women, Men and Books: Issues of Gender in Yiddish Discourse
Edited by Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 16
- ‘The book presents the most recent research on the subject of gender in Yiddish literature and culture and paints a far more complex picture of gender roles in Eastern European Jewish life than is portrayed in traditional sources... As gender and sexuality are increasingly being understood as fluid, rather than determined categories, this kind of research is extremely significant for those of us who still speak, write and create in Yiddish, and want to hold on to it as a living language, capable of expressing all of our experiences.’ — Annabel Cohen, Forward 23 November 2020
Published January 2020
Prismatic Translation
Edited by Matthew Reynolds
Transcript 10
- ‘Prismatic Translation is a book of delights … there is unquestionably something here for everyone with an interest in translation, whether as an art form, an object of study, a field for radical experiments, or indeed all of the above.’ — Sarah Ekdawi, Σύγκριση 29, 2020, 162-168 (full text online)
- ‘'Prismatic' is a potent and productive metaphor for what translation can do and be, and the chapters collected in Prismatic Translation prove it. .. Just as the best translations resolve the tensions between philology and poetry, or acceptability and adequacy, these papers mediate between the demands of narrow and broad definitions of literary translation, illuminating intricacies of both text and context.’ — Lucas Klein, Translation Studies 12 Oct 2020 (full text online)
- ‘Imaginings of language, the mission of Creative Multilingualism, are the gifts of Prismatic Translation. They transform translation studies and make them immediately relevant to comparative literature by carving out a space for identifying untidy details, insertions, inventions, and anxieties which are initially felt in “a bristling of sense” but are now instrumental in the articulation of the various reading processes involving intercultural dialogues and exchanges.’ — Wen-chin Ouyang, Recherche littéraire/Literary Research 37, 2021, 351-55
- ‘Resulting from a long-term collaboration among several scholars and from investigations at various conferences, mostly from 2015 onwards, this ample volume edited by Matthew Reynolds bears the mark of in-depth discussions about a topic that has eventually been present in the collective literary awareness, but which has also been exposed to many contradictory – or complementary – interpretations and approaches.’ — Metka Zupančič, CompLit 3, 2022, 249-51 (full text online)
- ‘Prismatic Translation thus marks a new approach to translation that focuses on the creativity of translation. Differences between different translations reveal the creative dimension of human linguistic interaction. As a prism exudes white light into different colors of the rainbow, so translation activates the potential of the original to become the basis of different translations.’ — Leona Nikolaš, Primerjalna književnost 45.1, 2022, 211-16 (full text online)
Published February 2020
Translating Petrarch's Poetry: L’Aura del Petrarca from the Quattrocento to the 21st Century
Edited by Carole Birkan-Berz, Guillaume Coatalen and Thomas Vuong
Transcript 8
- ‘Ranging through five centuries of translations, adaptations and imitations of Petrarch, the father of Humanism, this transcultural, transdisciplinary study considers the echoes of this major figure, whose reach goes beyond borders, eras and literary genres to resonate singularly into our times and in our own resonating ears.’ — Robert Sheppard, Pages 16 September 2020
- ‘Translating Petrarch’s Poetry is a must-read book for anybody interested in the spread of Petrarch’s poetry in the Western world (and beyond) throughout modernity. It collects very thorough essays dealing with this theme in always original and engaging manners from a variety of modern critical standpoints.’ — Enrico Minardi, Annali d'Italianistica 38, 2020, 455-459
- ‘As its title suggests, this volume covers both “translating” in a conventional sense and freer, sometimes distanced, responses that are nevertheless redolent of Petrarch’s “aura” or distinctive atmosphere and of his portrayal of his beloved. By integrating a wide gamut of approaches on the part of academics from different disciplines and of poets, the collection of case studies presented here illustrates very effectively the endlessly imaginative ways in which Petrarch’s poetry has been transformed and repurposed across time.’ — Brian Richardson, Speculum 96.4, October 2021, 1153-54 (full text online)
- ‘This collection of fifteen essays by scholars and writers from a range of countries brings to bear on Petrarch recent interest not only in translation as normally conceived but also in reformulations and fragmentations of the original and its appropriation in other media, and in the roles translations and other responses play and have played socially and culturally.’ — Peter Hainsworth, Modern Language Review 117.3, July 2022, 505-07 (full text online)
Published September 2020
Confrontational Readings: Literary Neo-Avant-Gardes in Dutch and German
Edited by Inge Arteel, Lars Bernaerts and Olivier Couder
Germanic Literatures 21
Catalan Narrative 1875-2015
Edited by Jordi Larios and Montserrat Lunati
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 16
- ‘Two attractive features of the volume are its richness and the way it brings to life the wide variety of works analysed. Critical theory figures strongly in a number of the articles, but it is employed carefully and sometimes subtly as a framework that enhances rather than obscures the narrative texts under discussion. Finally, the editors’ succinct Introduction intelligently, clearly, and deftly ties together the diverse strands of the book’s eclectic content, inviting the casual reader to explore further.’ — David George, Modern Language Review 117.3, July 2022, 514-15 (full text online)
Mary Shelley and Europe: Essays in Honour of Jean de Palacio
Edited by Antonella Braida
Studies In Comparative Literature 55
- ‘A wonderful selection of essays which discusses an aspect of Mary Shelley’s life that was so important to her art and yet is perhaps under-emphasised in discussing her work.’ — Jacqueline Mulhallen, Women's Writing 6 March 2022
Adapting the Canon: Mediation, Visualization, Interpretation
Edited by Ann Lewis and Silke Arnold-de Simine
Transcript 1
- ‘A welcome addition to the thriving academic production in the field of adaptation studies; its chapters stimulate reflection on the adaptive process as a phenomenon which has always existed and that we must acknowledge as a main force in the production of new cultural prod- ucts, products that creatively engage with the sources and intermedially reactivate their vital force.’ — Maddalena Pennacchia, Journal of Adaptation in Literature and Performance 14.3, 2021, 345-47 (full text online)
- ‘An impressively large range of media is examined from a number of theoretical and methodological perspectives, all contributions working hard to move forward the study of adaptation. Their authors share an understanding of what it means to be historical, dialogic, and intermedial. We learn a lot about the artefacts, artists, and phenomena in question, as well as about the shape of adaptation studies in the 2020s.’ — Michael Stewart, Translation and Literature 31, 2022, 136-41 (full text online)