Encounters with Albion: Britain and the British in Texts by Jewish Refugees from Nazism
Anthony Grenville
Germanic Literatures 17•22 August 2018
- ‘Some of the most moving stories, though, are written by less well-known figures: tales of loneliness; the humiliating treatment of domestic servants; stories of loss by children who arrived with the Kindertransport... Grenville has trawled the archives of the AJR and numerous books and diaries for stories which help us understand the experience of refugees. It is hard to think of anyone who has done more to open up their world and bring it to life.’ — David Herman, Jewish Chronicle 26 October 2018
- ‘By examining the writings of Jews who had escaped to the UK, Grenville has pieced together an invaluable account of the feelings of shock, anger and confusion which those who were interned experienced.’ — Robert Philpot, The Times of Israel 2 December 2018
- ‘Unusually for an academic publication, Grenville’s book will move its readers in several ways: the plight of the refugees in a strange country; their differing degrees of success; the crude and unfeeling ways in which the British authorities dealt with so many internees; the incomprehension towards refugees that was displayed by a large number of British citizens; and, conversely, the kindness, generosity and warm-heartedness that was shown by so many ordinary people to total strangers whose language they did not speak and for whose culture they often had little comprehension.’ — Richard Sheppard, Journal of European Studies 51.2, June 2021, 157-59 (full text online)
- ‘Grenvilles Methode der Darstellung beruht auf einem close reading und de- taillierter Textinterpretation, wobei Grenville hier literarische und historische, oft kulturwissenschaftliche Analyse kombiniert. Durch die Zitate und Kommentare können LeserInnen sich einen guten Einblick in die Textgrundlage verschaffen, was besonders wichtig ist, denn die herangezogenen Texte wurden meistens auf Englisch geschrieben, sind aber nicht immer leicht zugänglich.’ — Eva-Maria Thüne, Jahrbuch für Internationale Germanistik 53.1, 2021, 226-29
Fulvio Tomizza: Writing the Trauma of Exile
Marianna Deganutti
Italian Perspectives 38•30 September 2018
- ‘Deganutti’s monograph is a fine and original book whose ultimate merit is to reclaim multilingual, multicultural Tomizza and the exilic predicament of the Istrian borderlands for Italian literature. It is to be hoped that her study will inspire further cross-cultural research on this still contentious and yet incredibly generative literary, historical, and memorial field.’ — Katia Pizzi, Modern Language Review 115.3, July 2020, 736-37 (full text online)
Breaking with Tradition: Belarusian Short Prose in the Early Twenty-First Century
Arnold McMillin
Publications of the Modern Humanities Research Association 20•12 January 2018
- ‘This book aims to show the powerful creative urges that continue to mark literature in Belarus, despite the continued denigration of the national language and culture. In this the author has succeeded magnificently.’ — Jim Dingley, Slavonic and East European Review 96.4, 2018, 770-71 (full text online)
- ‘McMillin’s work makes an invaluable contribution to scholarship on Belarusian literature. Considering the difficulties with accessing the texts (often hard to find in print, as well as on the Internet), McMillin’s successful inclusion of these rare works in his analysis allows him to shed light not only on the writing of the more famous representatives of the Belarusian literary scene, but also on the subtle undercurrents of the literary process.’ — Palina Urban, Australian Slavonic and East European Studies 32, December 2018, 122-25
France, Algeria and the Moving Image: Screening Histories of Violence 1963–2010
Maria Flood
Research Monographs in French Studies 49•26 February 2018
- ‘Combining scholarly precision with formal concision, Flood’s volume ranges widely and innovatively across the highlighted representations of Franco-Algerian violence from the colonial period to the present, providing valuable insights into the broader landscape of relations between the two countries, and specifically the violence, both punctual and systemic, that has historically underpinned them. In the process, it justifies her foundational argument, namely the capacity of the imagined spaces of cinema not only to reflect critically on the colonial past and the postcolonial present, but also actively to imagine alternative futures, in France, Algeria, and beyond.’ — Philip Dine, French Studies 73.3, July 2019, 494-95 (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)
Utopian Identities: A Cognitive Approach to Literary Competitions
Clementina Osti
Studies In Comparative Literature 41•22 August 2018