Published July 2021

Affective Spaces: Migration in Scandinavian and German Transnational Narratives
Anja Tröger
Germanic Literatures 24

  • ‘Anja Tröger’s 2021 monograph Affective Spaces: Migration in Scandinavian and German Transnational Narratives examines twelve novels whose fairly recent publication dates are bookended by Vigdis Hjorth’s Snakk til meg (2011) and Zeshan Shakar’s Tante Ulrikkes vei (2017)... twelve very compelling transnational narratives that are well worth the engagement.’ — Thomas Herold, German Studies Review 46.2, May 2023, 328-30

Spatial Plots: Virtuality and the Embodied Mind in Baricco, Camilleri and Calvino
Marzia Beltrami
Italian Perspectives 45

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

  • ‘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

Published December 2021

Across Texts: Essays on Different Forms of French Textuality
Keith Reader
Selected Essays 13

  • ‘An anthology of some of Reader’s most vital essays, all of which demonstrate his careful erudition and distinctive writerly voice, tending towards digression but never lapsing into indulgence... Above all, these essays are humane, and touching when the neutral, analytical voice gives way to Reader’s personal accounts: his anxieties about his masculinity, his fascination for language and, ultimately, his love of France.’ — Russell Williams, Times Literary Supplement 14 October 2022
  • ‘What is all the more remarkable is that a scholar such as Reader masters so many varied discourses and manages to tie them together with his characteristic incisive style and biting wit. As a pioneering figure in French Cultural Studies in the UK, Reader helped open up the study of cinema, of literary theory, and of gender for countless new scholars, yet it would be difficult to find many who can match the breadth of his work or the verve of his writing.’ — Patrick Bray, H-France 23, April 2023, no. 69

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

  • ‘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)