Modern Literatures in Spain

by Jo Labanyi, Luisa Elena Delgado, Helena Buffery (Contribution by), Kirsty Hooper (Contribution by), Mari Jose Olaziregi (Contribution by)

Overview

Jo Labanyi and Luisa Elena Delgado provide the first cultural history of modern literatures in Spain. With contributors Helena Buffery, Kirsty Hooper, and Mari Jose Olaziregi, they showcase the country’s cultural richness and complexity by working across its four major literary cultures – Castilian, Catalan, Galician, and Basque – from the eighteenth century to the present.

Engaging critically with the concept of the “national”, Modern Literatures in Spain traces the uneven institutionalization of Spain’s diverse literatures in a context of Castilian literary hegemony, as well as examining diasporic and exile writing . The thematically organized chapters explore literary constructions of subjectivity, gender, and sexuality; urban and rural imaginaries; intersections between high and popular culture; and the formation of a public sphere. Throughout, readings are attentive to the multiple ways in which literature serves as a barometer of cultural responses to historical change.

An introduction to major cultural debates as well as an original analysis of key texts, this book is essential  reading for students and scholars with an interest in the literatures and cultures of Spain.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780745634951
Publisher:	Polity Press
Publication date:	01/24/2023
Series:	Cultural History of Literature
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Jo Labanyi is Professor Emerita of Spanish at New York University.

Luisa Elena Delgado is Professor of Spanish, Criticism and Interpretive Theory, and Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Helena Buffery is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at University College Cork.

Kirsty Hooper is Professor of Hispanic Studies at the University of Warwick.

Mari Jose Olaziregi is Professor in the Department of Linguistics and Basque Studies at the Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1 Modernity and the Singular Nation (1700-1840s)

2 From Sensibility to Desire: The Construction of the Modern Subject (1730s-1880s)

3 The Rise of the Public Sphere and the Professionalization of the Writer (1730s-1890s)

4 Countering Castilian: From Retrenchment to the Renaissance of Peripheral National Literatures (1710s-1890s)

5 The Uses of the Past: Writing the Nation (1760s-1890s)

6 Popular Culture: Exclusion and Appropriation (1760s-1930s)

7 Urban Modernity and the Provincial: Changing Concepts of Time and Space (1830s-1930s)

8 The Nation Called into Question (1890s-1920s)

9 Writers and Political Commitment (1930s-1960s)

10 Spain beyond Spain: Exile and Diaspora (1939-1980s)

11 Catalan, Galician, and Basque Literatures: Recovery and Institutionalization (1960s-1990s)

12 Rewriting Gender and Sexuality (1970s-2020)

13 Memory and Forgetting (1970s-2020)

14 Normalization, Crisis, and the Search for New Paradigms (1975-2021)



Works Cited

Index

Editorial Reviews

This is a book that, as only outstanding books are able to do, opens up the horizon for its readers and invites new forms of thought and critical inquiry.”
Maite Zubiaurre, UCLA

“Crisp, refreshing, dramatic, informative, thoughtful, and ambitious, this is a must-have for the modern period in Spain. It breaks new ground through its energetic and even-handed attention to the four cultures of the Peninsula, changes the landscape, and opens new doors for all.”
Alison Sinclair, University of Cambridge

“Writing a compelling review of a national literature in modern times is complex, if not impos­sible, especially in a context such as that of the Iberian Peninsula, which is known for its lin­guistic diversity. However, Modern Literatures in Spain confronts that challenge. … a suggestive and inspiring cultural history of the major national literary spheres, suit­able for scholars, professors, and students… Modern Literatures in Spain serves as an excellent compilation of modern literary production: one that points to the pivotal themes and historical processes that defined modernity in Spain, explains the literary trends that resulted from them, and articulates a new paradigm for studying and understanding its national literatures.”
Hispania

From the Publisher