From Art Nouveau to Surrealism: Belgian Modernity in the Making
Edited by Nathalie Aubert, Pierre-Philippe Fraiture and Patrick McGuinness
Legenda (General Series) •5 July 2007
- ‘Discerning insights typify this volume, that sensitively examines sixty years of visual, literary, musical, and political avant-garde expression.’ — Silvano Levy, Modern Language Review 103.4, October 2008, 1130-31 (full text online)
- ‘A welcome and wide-ranging picture of Belgian Modernity up to the Second World War.’ — Lénia Marques, Journal of Romance Studies 8.3, Winter 2008, 77-87
- ‘This collection of fifteen essays is the first in English to present a wide-ranging overview of Belgian modernity between 1880 and 1950. The result is a richly detailed assessment of specifically Belgian cultural production and of its European context, divided into two sections, the first spanning 1880-1918, and the second the inter-war years... an invaluable study of a period whose cultural production the editors describe as "awkward and intractable, but also enriching and full of unexpected possibilities".’ — unsigned, Forum for Modern Language Studies 46.1, January 2010, 113
The French Language and Questions of Identity
Edited by Wendy Ayres-Bennett and Mari C. Jones
Studies In Linguistics 4•5 July 2007
- ‘All in all, this volume is a stimulating contribution to the sociolinguistics of French.’ — Aidan Coveney, Modern Language Review 104.3, 2009, 855-56 (full text online)
- ‘All of these excellent articled examine important aspects of identity. However [...] only the hexagon is explored in detail.’ — Helene Ossipov, French Review 82.3, 2009, 678-79
- ‘En conclusion, on devra tout d'abord admirer les efforts des éditeurs pour intégrer en quatre parties ces dix-sept articles sensiblement variés... Le présent volume en est d'autant plus précieux.’ — Yuji Kawaguchi, Zeitschrift für französische Sprache und Literatur 118.3, 2008, 267-69
- ‘This is an exciting book because it looks at various sociolinguistic problems from an unusual angle: instead of explaining them in terms of social and demographic factors, the aim is to study the attitudes they evoke... Altogether a delightful book, full of fascinating information and new insights, presented in a highly readable form.’ — Anne Judge, French Language Studies 19, 2009, 135-50
- ‘This well-produced hardback presents 19 chapters written by scholars from a variety of backgrounds around the theme of the title... very enjoyable and very readable.’ — Richard Towell, French Studies 63.1, 2009, 125-26
- ‘Der sorgfältig redigierte Sammelband behandelt facettenreich die aktuellen Probleme der sprachlich-kulturellen Identifikation an überzeugenden Beispielen und macht verständlich, warum in Frankreich, wo er Staat für die Nationalsprache verantwortlich zu machen ist, vieles sich anders darstellt als in den übrigen mittel- und westeuropäischen Staaten.’ — Christian Schmitt, Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 125.4 (2009), 638-44
Negotiating Sainthood: Distinction, Cursilería and Saintliness in Spanish Novels
Kathy Bacon
Legenda (General Series) •5 July 2007
- ‘Altamente recomendable para los estudiosos interesados en el análisis del complejo engarce socio-estético del género sexual, las prácticas religiosas y la modernidad. [Highly recommended for scholars interested in analysis of the complex socio-aesthetic interweaving of gender, religious practices, and modernity.]’ — Iñigo Sánchez-Llama, Iberoamericana 8.29, March 2008, 228-31
- ‘Comprehensive studies of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century religious discourse have been rare in contemporary Spanish literary studies. Kathy Bacon’s Negotiating Sainthood seeks to alter this imbalance by contributing original, at times surprising, and ultimately convincing interpretations in this area. The text’s insightful connections between Bourdieu’s social theories, cursilería, and aspirations for saintly distinction provide invaluable theoretical tools and concepts for untangling the complexities of an historically polemical era.’ — Ruth J. Hoff, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 86, 2009, 551-52
- ‘El manejo de una nutrida bibliografía que abarca diferentes disciplinas, así como el brillante análisis individual de cada novela, redundan asimismo en la coherencia de los argumentos esgrimidos por la profesora Bacon. Estamos, en suma, ante un libro que destaca por el rigor metodológico y que arroja nueva luz sobre las variadas manifestaciones del culto a la santidad en la novela española moderna.’ — Toni Dorca, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 86.3 (2009), 446-47
- ‘In short, Bacon casts a refreshingly new light on the novels in question, highlighting the complexities therein and inviting readers to revisit them. The study, as a whole, is a fascinating piece of work of clear relevance not merely for those interested in fin de siglo culture, but for a wide range of readers from disciplines both within and outside Hispanic Studies.’ — Rhian Davies, Modern Language Review 106.1, 2011, 269-70 (full text online)
Holocaust Intersections: Genocide and Visual Culture at the New Millennium
Edited by Axel Bangert, Robert S. C. Gordon and Libby Saxton
Moving Image 4•25 September 2013
- ‘The 'millennium' of this book's title stands for the reconstitution of Europe since the end of the Cold War - one effect of which has been an enhanced knowledge of the Holocaust based on archives in the former Eastern Bloc - and for the rise of digital media during the same period.’ — Henry K. Miller, Sight & Sound April 2014, 106
'Hitler's First Victim'? Memory and Representation in Post-War Austria
Edited by Judith Beniston and Robert Vilain
Austrian Studies 11•1 January 2003
Crossing Fields in Modern Spanish Culture
Edited by Federico Bonaddio and Xon de Ros
Legenda (General Series) •1 December 2003
- ‘Federico Bonaddio and Xon de Ros have put together a very useful series of short and punchy articles which span over a hundred and fifty years of Spanish culture, from the 1860s to the present day... Without doubt this collection would make an excellent addition to any university library. The essays on canonical texts may very well prove invaluable to undergraduate students while those on lesser-known writers, artists, and cinematographers will surely fulfil the same function for postgraduates and the academic community in general.’ — Jean Andrews, Modern Language Review 101.3, July 2006, 876-77 (full text online)
The Somali Within: Language, Race and Belonging in ‘Minor’ Italian Literature
Simone Brioni
Italian Perspectives 33•11 September 2015
- ‘A very welcome and significant contribution to the growing field of Italian postcolonial studies... offering a convincing in-depth textual analysis of a specifically postcolonial literature (though many of his insights could usefully also be stretched out to apply to the wider ‘migration’ field), as well as contributing an important linguistic study, which draws Translation Studies into productive proximity with a potential transcultural turn in Italian Studies in general.’ — Emma Bond, Modern Language Review 116.2, April 2017, 524-25 (full text online)
- ‘inserisce pienamente all'interno degli studi postcoloniali che negli ultimi vent'anni hanno iniziato a interessare la critica letteraria italiana. Attraverso l'analisi di un corpus eterogeneo di testi, Brioni esamina il ruolo che nel grande quadro della letteratura nazionale italiana ha la letteratura italo-somala, cioè scritta in italiano da autori e autrici italiani che provengono dalla Somalia, o le cui origini familiari sono somale.’ — Serena Alessi, Incontri 31.2, 2016, 152-54
- ‘A new and original analysis... From how the Somali writers describe race and colour it is, in fact, possible to start a reflection that, from the colonial adventures and through the racial laws of 1938 and the apparent neglect of the colonies after World War II, reaches contemporary Italy and the current problems with racism.’ — Daniele Comberiati, Crossings: Journal of Migration & Culture 2016, 247-49
- ‘The postcolonial and transnational perspective of this work... calls for fresh and stimulating elaborations, making it a com- pelling reading also for readers who are not well acquainted with the body of literature here analysed.’ — Lorenzo Mari, Interventions 2 September 2016 (full text online)
- ‘Una delle questioni più rilevanti risulta essere sicuramente quello del colore della pelle: particolare importanza viene data da Brioni ai personaggi meticci presenti nei diversi romanzi presi in esame e che diventano sempre più numerosi nel corso delle successive pubblicazioni. Questi testimoniano la presenza di una problematica culturale che era rimasta relegata nella penombra della memoria storica del colonialismo italiano.’ — Michele Pandolfo, Between VI.11, May 2016
- ‘The Somali Within is an innovative volume that discusses the Somali-Italian encounter, from the colonial period to the subsequent historical events intertwining the histories of Somalia and Italy well into their postcolonial present... Brioni’s volume is indeed a much needed and complex contribution to the study of Italian Somali literature which engages masterfully with these texts while redefining multiple theoretical problems.’ — Elena Benelli, Italian Studies Online, 3 October 2018 (full text online)
- ‘Simone Brioni’s The Somali Within signals perhaps a new direction in the field of Italian migration literature in Italy... A valuable resource to scholars of Italian, minor, post-colonial, and migration literatures as well as those interested in how Italy’s colonial past can help explain contemporary views in Italy of language, race, and identity.’ — Francesca Minonne, Quaderni d'Italianistica 38.2, 2018, 277-79
- ‘Rich in its theoretical approaches, Brioni’s study will be of immense interest to scholars of contemporary Italian culture, Italian postcolonialism and, indeed, to anyone interested in the ongoing debates surrounding ‘minor literature.’’ — Renata Redford, Italica 93.4, Winter 2016, 849-51
Literary Scholarship in Late Imperial Russia: Rituals of Academic Institutionalization
Andy Byford
Legenda (General Series) •14 November 2007
- ‘A thoroughly researched, thoughtfully conceptualized, and highly informative book that will hopefully lead to further interest in the remarkable yet in many cases still underrecognized scholarship that emerged just before and after the turn of the twentieth century.’ — Barry P. Scherr, Russian Review 67.3, July 2008, 500-01
- ‘This elegantly written account of the development of Russian literary scholarship is distinctive for its focus on academics and university professors (kabinetnye uchenye) rather than the more familiar, civic-minded criticism associated with the names of Chernyshevskii or Belinskii... it affords a number of extremely valuable insights that are highly pertinent for the student of Russian intellectual culture more broadly.’ — Frances Nethercott, Revolutionary Russia 22.1, 2009, 97-99
- ‘Byford’s monograph makes two extremely important systemic contributions. First, it is part of a process of reassessment of the Russian nineteenth century, whereby cultural historians attempt to step out of the teleological shadow cast by the gargantuan events of the early twentieth century, and indeed, to redress the methodological blindspots that grew from the Soviet era; second, Byford also joins those few (in the UK, largely Bakhtin Circle-oriented Russianists) who strive to contextualize the insights of early twentieth-century Russian literary theorists.’ — Carol Adlam, Modern Language Review 105.2, 2010, 620-21 (full text online)
- ‘Ces quelques remarques n'enlèvent rien à la qualité de cet ouvrage, le premier à aborder les études littéraires en Russie sous l'angle des processus d'institutionnalisation et qui, à ce titre, constitue une étude véritablement pionnière.’ — Catherine Depretto, Cahiers du Monde Russe 2010, 794-96
Rome: Modernity, Postmodernity and Beyond
Edited by Lesley Caldwell and Fabio Camilletti
Italian Perspectives 39•30 September 2018
- ‘As the seat of the Roman Empire, the Catholic Church, Mussolini’s Fascism, and Silvio Berlusconi’s neoliberalism, and as a site of immigration and social diversity, Rome is characterized by complexity... A valuable contribution to the scholarship of one of Europe’s most historically significant and cathected cities and will no doubt be of value to scholars of the Eternal City within both urban and Italian studies.’ — Damien Pollard, Modern Language Review 115.1, 2020, 190-91 (full text online)
Language, the Novelist and National Identity in Post-Franco Catalonia
Kathryn Crameri
Legenda (General Series) •1 July 2000
- Modern Language Review 97.3, 2002, 741-42) (full text online)
- ‘The global rebirth of nationality studies in the humanities, now well into its second decade, has largely coincided with attempts in Catalonia to flesh out the decentralizing provisions of Spain's 1978 Constitution... Crameri provides us with a valuable new tool for enhancing our understanding of these important and ongoing processes.’ — Bulletin of Spanish Studies LXXX, 2003, 385-7)
Mediterranean Travels: Writing Self and Other from the Ancient World to Contemporary Society
Edited by Patrick Crowley, Noreen Humble and Silvia Ross
Legenda (General Series) •26 August 2011
Britain, Spain and the Treaty of Utrecht 1713-2013
Edited by Trevor J. Dadson and J. H. Elliott
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 8•10 December 2014
- ‘A concise, well-grounded and up-to-date synthesis of a topic in international relations and law, both ancient and contemporary, which will be an indispensable work of reference for further studies on Utrecht, Gibraltar and British–Spanish relations in early modern times.’ — Juan Eloy Gelabert Gonzalez, European History Quarterly 46.2, May 2016, 340-41
- ‘This volume will prove invaluable for anyone interested in early modern Europe or Anglo-Spanish relations, particularly the rocky issue of Gibraltar.’ — Linda S. Frey and Marsha L. Frey, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 93.9, 2016, 1638-39
Divided Loyalties: East German Writers and the Politics of German Division 1945-1953
Peter Davies
Bithell Series of Dissertations 24 / MHRA Texts and Dissertations 49•1 January 2000
Psychoanalysis, Ideology and Commitment in Italy 1945-1975: Edoardo Sanguineti, Ottiero Ottieri, Andrea Zanzotto
Alessandra Diazzi
Italian Perspectives 51•13 September 2022
- ‘Through her three case studies Diazzi has successfully demonstrated how psychoanalysis penetrated literature and culture in post-war Italy. As she confirms: “The assimilation of psychoanalysis into literature actively contributed to this rewriting of the discipline”.’ — 606-08, Annali d'Italianistica 2023, 41, Katja Liimatta
Portuguese Modernisms: Multiple Perspectives on Literature and the Visual Arts
Edited by Steffen Dix and Jerónimo Pizarro
Legenda (General Series) •4 February 2011
Regarding Manneken Pis: Culture, Celebration and Conflict in Brussels
Catherine Emerson
Research Monographs in French Studies 42•16 March 2015
- ‘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
Yiddish in the Contemporary World: Papers of the First Mendel Friedman International Conference on Yiddish
Edited by Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 1•1 July 1999
The Shtetl: Image and Reality
Edited by Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 2•1 July 2000
Yiddish and the Left: Papers of the Third Mendel Friedman International Conference on Yiddish
Edited by Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 3•1 July 2001
- ‘The international roster of contributors covers an impressively broad range of topics... linked by a common thematic thread, the attempt of progressive Yiddish-language writers, intellectuals and activists to reconcile their competing allegiances to the Jewish poeple or religion and their leftist politics. The uniformly high quality of the collection and its breadth of topics and approaches makes it an important contribution to interdisciplinary Yiddish studies and to related fields of enquiry (foreign language and immigrant journalism, bilingual education, minority and exile literatures, African colonial literature, Soviet studies).’ — Elizabeth Loentz, Modern Language Review 98.4, 2003, 1066-7 (full text online)
- ‘The quality of all the essays is no less than would be expected from the list of contributors, but particularly worthy of mention are Estraikh's analysis of the presence and representation of the Soviet Union in the New York-based communist daily Morga-frayhayt, Dafna Clifford's reflections on the Berlin period of author David Bergelson, and Efraim Zadoff's exploration of the educational systems of the Ashkenazi communities of Argentina and Mexico.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies XL.1, 2004, 120
Yiddish in Weimar Berlin: At the Crossroads of Diaspora Politics and Culture
Edited by Gennady Estraikh and Mikhail Krutikov
Studies In Yiddish 8•12 April 2010
- ‘In the 1920s, Yiddish was more than just a lingua franca for East European Jewish émigrés; it was also a language of high culture, as demonstrated by a brilliant new book, Yiddish in Weimar Berlin: At the Crossroads of Diaspora Politics and Culture.’ — Benjamin Ivry, The Arty Semite online
- ‘To be commended for keeping alive the names, literary output, and civilization of a Yiddish world that is lost forever.’ — Ellen Share, Association of Jewish Libraries Reviews February/March 2011, 15
- ‘There are many interesting articles in this volume. It is clear that in this brief period of flourishing Yiddish cultural activity there is much to disentangle. Berlin is a cultural and political hub in the Weimar period. An influx of multilingual Jews... enter a German Jewish world within a German world. Each of these ‘migrants’ arrives with existing cultural attachments into a war-time/post-war landscape which is signalling all kinds of modernisms. Some Yiddish writers in Berlin acknowledge the city in their literary work, others do not or only minimally. Berlin often emerges later once writers have moved elsewhere and begin to ‘recreate their past’.’ — Helen Beer, Slavonic and East European Review 90.2, April 2012, 332-34 (full text online)
Italy in Crisis: 1494
Edited by Jane Everson and Diego Zancani
Legenda (General Series) •1 November 2000
- ‘The eight chapters are prefaced by a stimulating introduction, and rounded off by a helpful index: in all a splendid collection of original and scholarly essays.’ — Paul Diffley, Italian Studies LVII, 2002, 167-8
- notice, The Year's Work in Modern Language Studies 62, 2000, 395
Another Country: Sexuality and National Identity in Catalan Gay Fiction
Josep-Anton Fernàndez
MHRA Texts and Dissertations 50•1 January 2000
Urban Space, Identity and Postmodernity in 1980s Spain: Rethinking the Movida
Maite Usoz de la Fuente
Studies in Hispanic and Lusophone Cultures 11•11 October 2015
- ‘This is a great book for revisiting the years of cultural explosion in a Madrid—and a Spain—which had just emerged from nearly forty years of dictatorship. Madrid had always seemed to lag behind Barcelona as a culturally avant-garde city. La movida madrileña changed the way people looked at the capital, which had previously been seen as the home of conservatism and the political elite. Young people who had been born during the dictatorship and had never experienced real freedom in their lives embraced this new freedom... The book is well written, readable and accessible. The detailed analysis of La Luna de Madrid will prove to be a valuable resource for researchers studying the cultural output of la movida as well as others interested in the period of the Spanish Transition.’ — María José Blanco, Bulletin of Spanish Studies 95.4, May 2018, 370-71
- ‘A substantial reflection on an epoch that continues to deserve critical attention from both scholars and members of the public.’ — unsigned notice, Forum for Modern Language Studies 54.4, October 2018, 506-07 (full text online)
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•28 August 2019
- ‘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)
Structures of Subjugation in Dutch Literature
Judit Gera
Germanic Literatures 12•19 December 2016
- ‘This informative, insightful, confident, and provocative account of Dutch literature, which focuses on the complex ways in which it embodies and embeds subjugation, deserves to be read by any scholar of European literature interested in an intersectional approach to reading literature. To those teaching and studying Dutch literature, Structures of Subjugation in Dutch Literature provides a worthwhile and lively addition to the literary histories available in English.’ — Jane Fenoulhet, Modern Language Review 113.3, July 2018, 675-77 (full text online)
- ‘Above all, Gera’s analyses are impressive examples of the development and use of new reading strategies. Her analyses gave me a sense of liberation. The fact that messages can be so hidden in the language of social and literary reality gives an explanation of the persistence of the established order in gender and race-biased inequalities. With a growing awareness of our literary heritage, a critical attitude towards ingrained ideas and their wording becomes possible. We enter a new era.’ — Den Haag Agnes Sneller, Dutch Crossing Online, 2018 (full text online)