The Spanish novel in a turbulent century. This collection of studies by eighteen prominent theorists and critics offers a diverse panorama of the modern Spanish novel seen through the prism of Spain's recent political, cultural and ideological history. It considers the development of the novel as a social mirror and as a changing literary form, torn between the tradition of stern realism and the aesthetics of rupture affecting all Western literature from the Avant-Garde to the Postmodern age. While some essays emphasise the Spanish cultural context and canonical writers, others are of a broader nature, grouping lesser-known writers under certain literary tendencies: the metaphysical novel, the urban novel, recuperative accounts of the Civil War, feminine first-person narrations, and the rise of the popular detective, historical, and erotic novels. Three studies address the resurgence of the Catalan, Basque and Galician novel and their departure from a poetics of identity to one of global concerns. Interdisciplinary approaches address the reciprocal impacts of literature and cinema, and the effects of the marketplace on the consumption of fiction are not forgotten. The Companion provides ample bibliographies and a valuable chronology, while all titles and quotations are translated into English. Contributors: Marta E. Altisent, Katarzyna Olga Beilin, Ramon Buckley, Jose F. Colmeiro, Stacey Dolgin Casado, Sebastiaan Faber, David K. Herzberger, Carlos Alex Longhurst, Kathleen N. March, Cristina Martinez-Carazo, Alfredo Martinez Exposito, Nina L. Molinaro, Gonzalo Navajas, Mari Jose Olaziregi, Janet D. Perez, Randolph D. Pope, Josep Miquel Sobrer, H. Rosi Song.

La primera revision critica de la vasta obra creativa de Manuel Vazquez Montalban Escritor prolifico como novelista, poeta, periodista y analista cultural, Manuel Vazquez Montalban (1939-2003) fue tambien un pionero en el area de estudios sobre la cultura popular espanola y la memoria historica. Estena coleccion de 16 ensayos originales sobre la obra de una de las principales figuras intelectuales en la Espana de los ultimos 40 anos, representa un esfuerzo colectivo de valoracion de sus mas importantes contribuciones endefinicion de la cultura de la Espana democratica. El hilo comun a todos los articulos es la exploracion del tema de la memoria individual y colectiva, el analisis de la memoria cultural y la recuperacion de larica, contra el legado de olvido del franquismo y las corrientes de la globalizacion. El libro incluye tambien un estudio introductorio y una entrevista inedita a fondo con Vazquez Montalban por el editor del volumen. JOSE F. COLMEIRO es catedratico de espanol en la Universidad de Michigan State. OTHER CONTRIBUTORS: Eugenia Afinoguenova, Francesc Arroyo, Mari Paz Balibrea, Frances Cate-Arries, Joseba Gabilondo, Patricia Hart, Hado Lyra, James Mandrell, Jorge Mari, Jaume Marti-Olivella, William Nichols, Kay Pritchett, Gustavo Rodriguez-Moran, Serge Salaun, Georges Tyras, Daniel Vazquez Salles, Kathleen M. Vernon