Published January 2015
Christophe Colomb par Népomucène Louis Lemercier
Edited by Vincenzo De Santis
Phoenix 7
- ‘Grâce à cette édition, Vincenzo De Santis met en lumière, à travers la redécouverte d’une pièce emblématique de l’expérimentation dramatique sous l’Empire, les enjeux d’un théâtre à la recherche d’une identité nouvelle au seuil de la modernité.’ — Maurizio Melai, Studi francesi 178, 2016, 134
Conceptualizing and Utilizing the Natural Environment: Critical Reflections from Imperial and Soviet Russia
Edited by Jonathan Oldfield, Julia Lajus and Denis J. B. Shaw
Slavonic and East European Review 93.1
The History of the Book
Edited by Sandro Jung and Stephen Colclough
Yearbook of English Studies 45
Literature and Art: Conversations and Collaborations
Edited by Elizabeth Benjamin and Sophie Corser
MHRA Working Papers in the Humanities 9
Published March 2015
Louisa Waterford and John Ruskin: 'For you have not Falsely Praised'
Caroline Ings-Chambers
Legenda (General Series)
- ‘This book is a valuable revelation of a little-known figure. Lady Waterford is shown both to have been acutely sensitive to the cultural currents of her day and to have been a strong talent in her own right.’ — John Batchelor, Modern Language Review 111.4, October 2016, 1128-29 (full text online)
- ‘Ings‐Chambers builds a strong case for reintegrating this artist in the wider Pre‐Raphaelite canon. Her writing makes Waterford’s art come across as essential thanks to its charm, vision and social/gender relevance.’ — Nic Peeters, Pre-Raphaelite Society Journal XXIII, 2015, 63-66
Regarding Manneken Pis: Culture, Celebration and Conflict in Brussels
Catherine Emerson
Research Monographs in French Studies 42
- ‘In this detailed and investigative study, the multiplicity of interpretations to which the statue has been subjected comes to the fore... The iconic Manneken Pis straddles French-speaking and Flemish-speaking communities and cultures, and Emerson teases out these narratives and their ramifications.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 52.2, 2016, 235
- ‘To arrive at the heart of understanding how this two-foot statue has come to mean so much to the people of Brussels and to express the wide variety of social relations and tensions of a complex city and a modern nation as a whole, Regarding Manneken Pis is an ideal resource.’ — Eileen M. Angelini, French Review 89.3, 2016, 60
The Art of Ana Clavel: Ghosts, Urinals, Dolls, Shadows and Outlaw Desires
Jane Elizabeth Lavery
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 6
- ‘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
Samuel Butler against the Professionals: Rethinking Lamarckism 1860–1900
David Gillott
Studies In Comparative Literature 32
- ‘Gillott’s book provides a convincing and well-structured analysis of the work of the novelist, art historian and amateur scientist Samuel Butler in the late nineteenth-century British context, focus- ing in particular on his research on art and literature.’ — Cristiano Turbil, British Journal for the History of Science 49.2, 2006, 300-01
Byron, Shelley, and Goethe’s Faust: An Epic Connection
Ben Hewitt
Studies In Comparative Literature 33
- ‘This is not the first study of the relationship of Goethe's Faust to English Romantic writing, but it is an original contribution in its own right by virtue of the particular texts it focuses on and the wide-ranging, complex picture that emerges... the material is carefully assembled, and the twists and turns of the discussion are full of valuable insights.’ — David Hill, British Association for Romantic Studies Review 47, 2016, 32
- ‘Hewitt’s study is a thoughtful and fascinating discussion of the complex interconnections between the three authors... this thoughtful and knowledgeable study which successfully brings together a wealth of theories and innovative ideas.’ — Dagmar Paulus, Comparative Critical Studies 13.3, October 2016, 397-400
- ‘Hewitt’s approach to the relationship between these three writers is certainly speculative, not least about what Byron and Shelley knew of Faust I and how they read it. But its speculations are interesting and persuasive, and allow Hewitt to achieve something exciting and original: a comparative study of ‘similar aspects’ in the work of three major Romantic-period thinkers that has ‘nothing to do with the palpable influence of one writer upon another’ but does have ‘real significance for our understanding’ of the international ‘Romantic heritage’ handed down to our own time and especially its ‘struggle for the soul [...] not just of a modernity emergent, as it was, during our writers’ lifetimes, but of our modern world also’.’ — Alan Rawes, The Byron Journal 45.1, 2017, 97-99
- ‘A wide-ranging and stimulating account of Anglo-German Romantic literary exchange... Hewitt’s study generates a number of perceptive readings that shed new light on its primary texts. Covering an epic range of topics itself, Byron, Shelley, and Goethe’s ‘Faust’ demonstrates the potential of an approach that, taking the idea of influence as its point of departure, uses a more ‘conjectural’ or ‘suggestive’ (1) method to read texts comparatively and thus discover ‘epic connections’ where none were seen before.’ — Tim Sommer, Romanticism 23.2, July 2017, 196-98
The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies, Volume 75: Survey Year 2013
Edited by Stephen Parkinson
Published April 2015
Alfonso X the Learned, Cantigas de Santa Maria
Edited by Stephen Parkinson
Critical Texts 40
- ‘A new scholarly anthology with a balanced selection of songs—fresh, complete and competent—is welcome and overdue. Moreover, this preliminary view, in hard copy, of the promised full edition offers extraordinary value for the price.’ — Martha E. Schaffer, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 94, 2017, 1222-23
- ‘Le scelte editoriali di P. appaiono nel complesso ade guate e contribuiscono a fornire un testo valido, che riesce nell’intento di rivolgersi con profitto sia al pubblico non specialistico, sia, grazie alla scrupolosità dell’analisi metrica e alla completezza degli apparati, a studenti universitari o a specialisti della letteratura romanza e galego-portoghese.’ — Simone Marcenaro, Medioevo Romanzo XLII.2, 2018, 466-69
Slavonic and East European Review 93.2
Published June 2015
Edward Kimber, The Happy Orphans
Edited by Jan Herman and Beatrijs Vanacker
Critical Texts 29
Lodovico Dolce, Dialogo della instituzion delle donne secondo li tre stati che cadono nella vita umana (1545)
Edited by Helena Sanson
Critical Texts 30
Agostino Valier, Instituzione d'ogni stato lodevole delle donne cristiane
Edited by Francesco Lucioli
Critical Texts 43
Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, Voyage en Normandie
Edited by Malcolm Cook
Critical Texts 49
- ‘1775 was a crucial year for Bernardin, and his trip represents a return to his homeland after an absence of ten years; the account gives a vivid description of the landscape and settlements visited, food eaten, plants and topographical features, and his own experiences, including his dreams and quality of sleep, feelings, sociological observations of those he meets, among other issues.’ — Mark Darlow, Modern Language Review 111.3, 2016, 870-71 (full text online)
- ‘There is value in resurrecting little-known texts, and we can be grateful that this manuscript has been newly edited. Voyage will be of primary interest to Bernardin scholars, and it will appeal more broadly to scholars of French history, and to scholars of green studies.’ — Annie K. Smart, French Studies 70.4, October 2016, 600-01
German Narratives of Belonging: Writing Generation and Place in the Twenty-First Century
Linda Shortt
Germanic Literatures 4
- ‘The texts are frequently autobiographical, consisting of diary entries and lived family experience. Methodological approaches range from feminist, memory and cultural studies to humanist geography, engaging with the writers’ often experimental use of language. This book will appeal to all those interested in contemporary German literature and identity.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 52.2, 2016, 239-40
- ‘A helpful overview and nuanced discussion of literary, essayistic, and autobiographical texts that explore the multiple obstacles — historical, social, political, familial, global — complicating or curtailing the human desire to belong, but that also ponder new forms of fluid or changing attachments in contemporary society.’ — Friederike Eigler, GegenwartsLiteratur 16, 2016, 350-51
- ‘In this slim and rich volume, Linda Shortt analyzes narratives of belonging in post-Wende German literature that represent a variety of generations, attitudes towards belonging (e.g., longing or anxiety), and relationships with German-speaking regions... This excellent book provides much food for thought.’ — Alexandra M. Hill, Monatshefte 109.1, 2017, 175-77
- ‘Shortt offers an engaging and convincing interrogation of belonging as a flexible and resilient concept in contemporary literature. In addressing how belonging shifts across generations and responds to change, she demonstrates new negotiations of belonging that move beyond the conceptual constraints imposed by Heimat. In doing so, Shortt articulates a concept that undoubtedly has a greater relevance beyond the texts under consideration and the immediate concerns of contemporary German Studies.’ — Richard McLelland, Modern Language Review 112.3, July 2017, 753-54 (full text online)
Rome Eternal: The City As Fatherland
Guy Lanoue
Italian Perspectives 32
The Reinvention of Theatre in Sixteenth-Century Europe: Traditions, Texts and Performance
Edited by T. F. Earle and Catarina Fouto
Legenda (General Series)
- ‘Sem dúvida, uma perspectiva rica e bastante abrangente do fenómeno teatral na Europa do séc. XVI.’ — Manuel José De Sousa Barbosa, Euphrosyne 45, 2017, 658-60
Politics and the Individual in France 1930-1950
Edited by Jessica Wardhaugh
Legenda (General Series)
- ‘This collection offers stimulating insights into mid-twentieth century political life... More important, the contributions illustrate how the political polarization that preceded and followed the Second World War compelled many people to commit to a party or cause, even when this resulted in disrupted family life and professional life or class and ethnic identities, producing the competing memories of the period that persist today.’ — Rebecca Scales, European History Quarterly 46.2, May 2016, 413-15
- ‘With its wide range of case studies, embracing a large number of different aspects of political engagement during the period between the 1930s and the 1950s, this book offers an interesting perspective on relationships between the individual and political movements, how this has been portrayed both at the time and in more recent analyses, and the limits of individual agency during these decades. As the conclusion states, much work remains to be done in this area. This book makes an important contribution towards achieving this aim.’ — William H. E. Rispin, French History 30.2, June 2016, 276-77
Between Two Worlds: The autos sacramentales of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
Amy Fuller
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 100
Published July 2015
Algernon Swinburne and Walter Pater: Victorian Aestheticism, Doubt and Secularisation
Sara Lyons
Legenda (General Series)
- ‘As British aestheticism continues to enjoy a revival of interest, it becomes ever more urgent to reassess the metaphysical work that Pater and Swinburne have done for us in their search for a way beyond doubt. Algernon Swinburne and Walter Pater is a timely reminder of our intellectual inheritance from this moment of crisis in Western religion.’ — Orla Polten, Essays in Criticism 66.3, July 2016, 390-96
- ‘Sara Lyons’s admirable monograph will prove a cornerstone in Victorian studies and will soon become invaluable to students and scholars alike working on 19th-century literature and culture.’ — Charlotte Ribeyrol, Cahiers victoriens et édouardiens 83, Printemps 2016
- ‘Lyons’s rethinking of Swinburne’s and Pater’s relationship to religion is absolutely necessary in light of recent revisions of the secularization thesis. She productively complicates the oversimplified binary between belief and unbelief that still too often plagues our readings of Victorian literature, and provocatively asks us to rethink the reasons underlying the Aesthetic Movement’s embrace of an ‘art for art’s sake’ philosophy. Algernon Swinburne and Walter Pater should be read by scholars of aestheticism, nine- teenth-century religion, and Victorian literature more generally.’ — Dustin Friedman, Review of English Studies Advance Access 4 October 2016
- ‘A valuable addition to scholarship on Swinburne, Pater and aestheticism.’ — Beth Newman, Victorian Studies 60.1, Autumn 2017, 126-28