In recent years, much Spanish literary criticism has been characterized by debates about collective and historical memory, stemming from a national obsession with the past that has seen an explosion of novels and films about the Spanish Civil War and Franco dictatorship. This growth of so-called memory studies in literary scholarship has focused on the representation of memory and trauma in contemporary narratives dealing with the Civil War and ensuing dictatorship. In contrast, the novel of the postwar period has received relatively little critical attention of late, despite the fact that memory and trauma also feature, in different ways and to varying degrees, in many works written during the Franco years. The essays in this study argue that such novels merit a fresh critical approach, and that contemporary scholarship relating to the representation of memory and trauma in literature can enhance our understanding of the postwar Spanish novel. The volume opens with essays that engage with aspects of contemporary theoretical approaches to memory in order to reveal the ways in which these are pertinent to Spanish novels written in the first postwar decades, with studies on novels by Camilo Jose Cela, Carmen Laforet, Arturo Barea and Ana Maria Matute. Its second section focuses on the representation of trauma in specific postwar novels, drawing on elements from trauma studies scholarship to discuss neglected works by Mercedes Salisachs, Dolores Medio and Ignacio Aldecoa. The final essays continue the focus on the theme of trauma and revisit works by women writers, namely Carmen Laforet, Rosa Chacel, Ana Maria Matute and Maria Zambrano, that foreground the experiences of female protagonists who are seeking to deal with a traumatic past. The essays in this volume thus propose a new direction for the study of Spanish literature of 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, enhancing existing approaches to the postwar Spanish novel through an engagement with contemporary scholarship on memory and trauma in literature."

In recent years, much Spanish literary criticism has been characterized by debates about collective and historical memory, stemming from a national obsession with the past that has seen an explosion of novels and films about the Spanish Civil War and Franco dictatorship. This growth of so-called memory studies in literary scholarship has focused on the representation of memory and trauma in contemporary narratives dealing with the Civil War and ensuing dictatorship. In contrast, the novel of the postwar period has received relatively little critical attention of late, despite the fact that memory and trauma also feature, in different ways and to varying degrees, in many works written during the Franco years. The essays in this study argue that such novels merit a fresh critical approach, and that contemporary scholarship relating to the representation of memory and trauma in literature can enhance our understanding of the postwar Spanish novel. The volume opens with essays that engage with aspects of contemporary theoretical approaches to memory in order to reveal the ways in which these are pertinent to Spanish novels written in the first postwar decades, with studies on novels by Camilo Jose Cela, Carmen Laforet, Arturo Barea and Ana Maria Matute. Its second section focuses on the representation of trauma in specific postwar novels, drawing on elements from trauma studies scholarship to discuss neglected works by Mercedes Salisachs, Dolores Medio and Ignacio Aldecoa. The final essays continue the focus on the theme of trauma and revisit works by women writers, namely Carmen Laforet, Rosa Chacel, Ana Maria Matute and Maria Zambrano, that foreground the experiences of female protagonists who are seeking to deal with a traumatic past. The essays in this volume thus propose a new direction for the study of Spanish literature of 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s, enhancing existing approaches to the postwar Spanish novel through an engagement with contemporary scholarship on memory and trauma in literature.

Feted by his contemporaries, Federico Garcia Lorca's status has only grown since his death in 1936. This book shows just why his fame has endured, through an exploration of his most popular works: Romancero Gitano, Poeta en Nueva York and the trilogy of tragic plays - Blood Wedding, Yerma and The House of Bernarda Alba.

A study of Lorca's poetic trajectory. This volume is one of few surveys in English of the whole of Lorca's poetry and the first to concentrate entirely on self-consciousness, a subject which it sees as central to our understanding of the work of a poet writing in themost self-conscious of literary periods: the Modernist era. Focusing on poems which have the poet, art and creativity as their subject, or which draw attention at a formal level to issues of practice or style, it shows how these poems speak for or against contemporary aesthetic doctrine, thereby revealing the extent of the poet's allegiance to it and the positions he takes up in the process of making his own mark in the literary field. In so doing itcharts the development of a poet whose self-conscious engagement with his art offers an explanation as to why his work, in the space of little more than a decade and a half, should have been so singular and diverse. FEDERICO BONADDIO lectures in Modern Spanish Studies at King's College London.

Lorca, icon and polymath in all his manifestations. A Companion to Federico Garcia Lorca provides a clear, critical appraisal of the issues and debates surrounding the work of Spain's most celebrated poet and dramatist. It considers past and current approaches to the study of Lorca, and also suggests new directions for further investigation. An introduction on the often contentious subject of Lorca's biography is followed by five chapters - poetry, theatre, music, drawing and cinema - which togetheracknowledge the polymath in Lorca. A further three chapters - religion, gender and sexuality, and politics - complete the volume by covering important thematic concerns across a number of texts, concerns which must be considered in the context of the iconic status that Lorca has acquired and against the background of the cultural shifts affecting his readership. The Companion is a testament to Lorca's enduring appeal and, through its explication oftexts and investigation of the man, demonstrates just why he continues, and should continue, to attract scholarly interest. FEDERICO BONADDIO lectures in Modern Spanish Studies at King's College London. CONTRIBUTORS: FEDERICO BONADDIO, JACQUELINE COCKBURN, NIGEL DENNIS, CHRISTOPHER MAURER, ALBERTO MIRA, ANTONIO MONEGAL, CHRIS PERRIAM, XON DE ROS, ERIC SOUTHWORTH, D. GARETH WALTERS, SARAH WRIGHT