Recent Reviews of MHRA Books
MHRA books are regularly reviewed in scholarly journals across the world, and sometimes also in literary papers such as the Times Literary Supplement. From time to time, our books also appear in Europe’s newspapers, from The Independent and the Daily Telegraph to El Imparcial and Gazeta Shqiptare. The following excerpts are from the 20 most recently received reviews:
- Regionalisms and Resistance in the Twentieth-Century Portuguese Novel: Spatialized Ideologies — Peter Haysom-Rodríguez, Franklin Nelson, Times Literary Supplement 20 September 2024
- Making Space in Post-War France: The Dreams, Realities and Aftermath of State Planning — Edward Welch, ‘An invaluable introduction to one of the most important dimensions of France’s post-war transformation... Accessibly written and imaginatively constructed, this book shows how making space, in all its technical, political, cultural and moral complexity, lay at the very heart of that grand project, the modernisation of post-war France.’ — Nicholas Bullock, H-France 45.75, December 2024
- The Integrity of the Avant-Garde: Karel Teige and the Biography of an Ambition — Peter Zusi, ‘Zusi’s excellent and very readable work will, of course, be of interest to the abovementioned ‘aficionados’ of the central European avant-garde, but it also deserves to be read much more widely. It is the product of many years of close engagement with the work of Teige, the Czech and broader European avant- gardes, and represents a significant contribution to scholarly understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of avant-garde culture.’ — Julia Sutton-Mattocks, Slavonic and East European Review 102.4, October 2024, 759-60 (full text online)
- The Law of Poetry: Studies in Hölderlin’s Poetics — Charles Lewis, ‘A rewarding series of essays that explore Hölderlin’s poetics, whilst stressing the interconnection between poetry and philosophy for Hölderlin... the fruits of Lewis’s study derive from his careful textual attention and analysis.’ — Joanna Raisbeck, The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies 81, 2021, 551-63
- Petrarch Commentary and Exegesis in Renaissance Italy and Beyond: Materiality, Paratexts and Interpretative Strategies — Edited by Guyda Armstrong, Simon A. Gilson and Federica Pich, ‘Brief notice of contents.’ — Tommaso Forni, Medium Aevum 93.1, 2024, 247-48
- Writing Across Time in the Twelfth Century: Historical Distance and Difference in the Kaiserchronik — Christoph J. Pretzer, ‘Concise and stimulating monograph... Pretzer demonstrates comprehensive knowledge both of the Kaiserchronik and the history of its scholarly consideration.’ — Lea Braun, Medium Aevum 93.1, 2024, 207-08
- Genet's Genres of Politics — Mairéad Hanrahan, ‘Mairéad Hanrahan’s new book posits and indeed comprehensively demonstrates that Genet’s profound concern with power, whether in the structure of class, gender, sexuality, or racialization, is evident from his earliest writings... Chapters three and four, frequently founded on unpublished archival documents from the Institut Mémoire de l’Édition Contemporaine, including letters, speeches, and notes in various stages of completion ranging from comments scribbled in an immediate reaction to something, to substantial texts clearly written with a view to publication, are most revelatory.’ — Clare Finburgh Delijani, H-France 24.71, December 2024
- Staging the Soul: Allegorical Drama as Spiritual Practice in Baroque Italy — Eugenio Refini, ‘Refini offers us a superbly informed, tightly argued volume that casts a novel light on a period of Italian culture often cast aside from consideration for ideological reasons. Time might have finally come for a holistic analysis of lay and religious texts in several genres, and this monograph advances the field in meaningful ways.’ — Maria Galli Stampino, Italica 100.4, 2023, 617-20 (full text online)
- Dante’s Blood — Anne C. Leone, ‘Dante's Blood costituisce un contributo original e fertile allo studio della rappresentazione della corporeità nell'opera dantesca, offrendo chiavi di lettura interessanti e trasversali.’ — Elsina Caponetti, L'Alighieri 63.1, 2024, 144-47
- Petrarch Commentary and Exegesis in Renaissance Italy and Beyond: Materiality, Paratexts and Interpretative Strategies — Edited by Guyda Armstrong, Simon A. Gilson and Federica Pich, ‘This volume is a very valuable resource and succeeds in addressing many lacunae in our knowledge of Petrarch' reception in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries and in revealing new areas for further study... I hope to see more studies like this one on Petrarch's vernacular poetry and its significant influence in the future.’ — Sarah Faggioli, Annali d'Italianistica 42, 2024, 543-46
- Fragments, Genius and Madness: Masks and Mask-Making in the fin-de-siècle Imagination — Elisa Segnini, ‘In conclusion, Fragments, Genius and Madness provides valuable insights into fin-de-siècle mask-related discourses and their connection to the paradigm of regression. The book adopts a genuinely comparative perspective on the matter while drawing on more sectoral studies of the subject. Segnini shows an acute understanding of the cultural significance of each object by emphasising the range of meanings and practices associated with it.’ — Enrica Leydi, Annali d'Italianistica 42, 2024, 701-04
- Staging the Soul: Allegorical Drama as Spiritual Practice in Baroque Italy — Eugenio Refini, ‘The significance and pervasiveness of the literary and theatrical genre of fables or moral dramas cannot be overstated in the context of theater studies, and this monograph addresses that gap while opening new and crucial lines of research. The author's insight into establishing a link between this rich dramaturgical-literary-iconographic world and the equally important moral dramaturgy of Northern Europe is noteworthy. The abundance of sources and the reconstruction of the historical context allow for an original exploration of the theatrical and literary form of 'drammi morali' which represents a significant contribution of this profound and original book.’ — Gianni Cicali, Annali d'Italianistica 42, 2024, 605-08
- Dante’s Blood — Anne C. Leone, ‘An extraordinarily erudite, comprehensive, and insightful study of blood — real, symbolic, metaphorical in Dante's oeuvre. The very learned author demonstrates the many purposes of her investigation most effectively. She engages the reader from beginning to end. The bibliography is vast. Her style is eminently elegant. Of this study can be stated what can be said of very few books: from now on, no one can write on blood in Dante's oeuvre without first perusing Ann C. Leone's Dante's Blood.’ — Dino Cervigni, Annali d'Italianistica 42, 2024, 535-39
- Spatial Plots: Virtuality and the Embodied Mind in Baricco, Camilleri and Calvino — Marzia Beltrami, ‘Beltrami skillfully navigates the willed confusion and ambiguity in the hall of mirrors that is Se una notte, showing how Calvino writes a book that, although read sequentially, manages to create a non-linearity in the reading experience whereby the reader shifts between textual levels and landscapes... For a book on a book full of voids, Beltrami's analysis is full of very concrete textual detail and important insights.’ — Elio Baldi, Annali d'Italianistica 42, 2024, 518-19
- Italo Calvino and Japan: A Journey through the Shallow Depths of Signs — Claudia Dellacasa, ‘As the title shows, the book does not merely aim to uncover Calvino's Japan, or Calvino's (real and mental) travels in Japan, but offers a portrait of Calvino and Japan, whereby both parts of the title carry the same weight. All chapters shift from Calvino to Japan, offering a broad scope that includes Zen, Buddhist, and Taoist belief systems as well as Japanese architecture, gardens, art, and writing. Paying detailed attention to the explorations and ruminations that Calvino dedicated to the country, both through his well-stocked Japanese library and his travels to Japan in 1976, Dellacasa's volume provides intriguing philosophical, literary, and existential reflections that manage to avoid Manichean discussions in terms of black and white, wrong or right, East and West... There is little doubt that Dellacasa's volume enriches Calvino scholarship for its surprising, refreshing, and creatively precise outlook on the multifarious engagements of Calvino with human and non-human environments.’ — Elio Baldi, Annali d'Italianistica 42, 2024, 513-16
- Stefan George: The Homosexual Imaginary — Peter Morgan, ‘A new departure for research into the ‘body poetic’ of modern German literature, and its combination of wide-ranging conceptual ambition and detailed, close-textual analysis is truly inspiring.’ — Christophe Fricker, Oxford German Studies 53.3, 379-81 (full text online)
- Crossings: Essays on Poetry and Translation from Hölderlin to Jaccottet — Charlie Louth, ‘These essays promise, and deliver, a ‘strong involvement with the weave of the poem’... The close readings are beautiful, treating the poems themselves with precision and care. But Louth is also adept at giving just the right amount of context, which, rather than seeming finicky, comes across as an act of generosity towards the reader.’ — Nicola Thomas, Times Literary Supplement 4 October 2024, 25
- Zola's Painters — Robert Lethbridge, ‘There could be no better-qualified a Zola scholar than Robert Lethbridge to take on this major appraisal of Émile Zola’s art criticism as a quintessential component in understanding the many figurations of artists across his fictional works... This inspiring book therefore raises the stakes for subject-defining academic criticism that fully accounts for and challenges ‘modern’ critical fashions.’ — Mary Orr, Forum for Modern Language Studies 60, July 2024, 403 (full text online)
- Psychoanalysis, Ideology and Commitment in Italy 1945-1975: Edoardo Sanguineti, Ottiero Ottieri, Andrea Zanzotto — Alessandra Diazzi, ‘As Diazzi’s three case studies evince, the relationship between psychoanalysis and Italian culture can be more fruitfully understood in terms of reciprocal ‘diffraction’ than as a conflictual opposition. Diazzi creates a suitable environment for understanding the topic thanks to her ability to offer clear summaries of the sociocultural contexts in which the three authors worked.’ — Roberta Passaghe, Modern Language Review October 2024, 119.4, 572-74 (full text online)
- Interpreting and Judging Petrarch’s Canzoniere in Early Modern Italy — Edited by Maiko Favaro, ‘Favaro’s edited volume [...] successfully contributes to enriching the body of scholarship on the reception of Petrarch’s vernacular poetry in the early modern period.’ — Niccolò Morelli, Modern Language Review October 2024, 119.4, 567-69 (full text online)