This book explores multilingualism as an imaginative articulation of the experience of modernity in twentieth-century Spanish and American literature. It argues that while individual multilingual practices are highly singular, literary multilingualism exceeds the conventional bounds of modernism to become emblematic of the modern age. The book explores the confluence of multilingualism and modernity in the theme of barbarism, examining the significance of this theme to the relationship between language and modernity in the Spanish-speaking world, and the work of five authors in particular. These authors - Ramon del Valle-Inclan, Ernest Hemingway, Jose Maria Arguedas, Jorge Semprun and Juan Goytisolo - explore the stylistic and conceptual potential of the interaction between languages, including Spanish, French, English, Galician, Quechua and Arabic, their work reflecting the eclecticism of literary multilingualism while revealing its significance as a mode of response to modernity.

Ramon del Valle-Inclan is one of Spain s greatest dramatists. His particular legacy is the esperpento, a satirical mode combining tragedy and farce and characterised by its use of the grotesque. The Dead Man s Finery (1926) and The Captain s Daughter (1927) are two short esperpentos that satirise the military, which for Valle-Inclan encapsulated the worst and most retrogressive qualities of the Spanish nation. In The Dead Man s Finery, Johnny Bluster is a decommissioned veteran of the Spanish American War who steals a dead man s clothes in order to woo a prostitute. A parody of the Don Juan legend, the play takes the problematic, protean and devilish Don Juan and sets his outrageous behaviour in a very particular social and historical context. The Captain s Daughter is the most historically and politically oriented of Valle-Inclain s works for the theatre. A man is killed and the accident of his death sets off a chain of events in which exploitation and self-interest are the orchestrating forces, concluding in a military coup that topples the government. An overt satire of the rise to power of General Primo de Rivera in 1923, the play dispenses with the individual protagonist and portrays a society in crisis. Notorious for his recondite use of language, Valle-Inclain emphasises the popular idiom without ever falling into picturesque realism. Rather than recreate accurate modes of speech he creates a mode of expression that highlights incongruity and contrast, emphasising the puppet-like quality of his characters. Translated here for the first time into English, the plays are accompanied by a critical introduction and notes to guide the reader or director of these plays. Notorious for his recondite use of language, in these plays Valle-Inclan emphasises the popular idiom without ever falling into picturesque realism; rather than recreate accurate modes of speech he creates a mode of expression that brings together all the play's characters, regardless of their status or place in society. The emphasis on incongruity and contrast creates a peculiarly sarcastic tone that permeates the dialogue. The plays are accompanied by a critical introduction and notes to guide the reader or director of these plays, both fine examples of Valle-Inclan's expressionistic and experimental theatre."

This book explores multilingualism as an imaginative articulation of the experience of modernity in twentieth-century Spanish and American literature. It argues that while individual multilingual practices are highly singular, literary multilingualism exceeds the conventional bounds of modernism to become emblematic of the modern age. The book explores the confluence of multilingualism and modernity in the theme of barbarism, examining the significance of this theme to the relationship between language and modernity in the Spanish-speaking world, and the work of five authors in particular. These authors - Ramon del Valle-Inclan, Ernest Hemingway, Jose Maria Arguedas, Jorge Semprun and Juan Goytisolo - explore the stylistic and conceptual potential of the interaction between languages, including Spanish, French, English, Galician, Quechua and Arabic, their work reflecting the eclecticism of literary multilingualism while revealing its significance as a mode of response to modernity.

The Routledge Companion to Iberian Studies takes an important place in the scholarly landscape by bringing together a compelling collection of essays that reflect the evolving ways in which researchers think and write about the Iberian Peninsula. Features include: A comprehensive approach to the different languages and cultural traditions of the Iberian Peninsula; Five chronological sections spanning the period from the Middle Ages to the 21st century; A state-of-the-art account of the field, reaffirming Iberian Studies as a dynamic and evolving discipline with promising areas for future research; An array of topics of an interdisciplinary nature (history and politics, language and literature, cultural studies and visual arts), focusing on the cultural distinctiveness of Iberian traditions; New perspectives and avenues of inquiry that aim to promote a comparative mode within Iberian Studies and Hispanism. The fifty authoritative, original essays will provide readers with a diverse cross-section of texts that will enrich their knowledge of Iberian Studies from an international perspective.

The Routledge Companion to Iberian Studies takes an important place in the scholarly landscape by bringing together a compelling collection of essays that reflect the evolving ways in which researchers think and write about the Iberian Peninsula. Features include: A comprehensive approach to the different languages and cultural traditions of the Iberian Peninsula; Five chronological sections spanning the period from the Middle Ages to the 21st century; A state-of-the-art account of the field, reaffirming Iberian Studies as a dynamic and evolving discipline with promising areas for future research; An array of topics of an interdisciplinary nature (history and politics, language and literature, cultural studies and visual arts), focusing on the cultural distinctiveness of Iberian traditions; New perspectives and avenues of inquiry that aim to promote a comparative mode within Iberian Studies and Hispanism. The fifty authoritative, original essays will provide readers with a diverse cross-section of texts that will enrich their knowledge of Iberian Studies from an international perspective.

'This is an old and wicked island. An island of Phoenicians and merchants, of bloodsuckers and frauds' Expelled from her convent school for kicking the prioress, and abandoned by her father when her mother dies, rebellious teenager Matia is sent to live with her domineering grandmother on the island of Mallorca. In the hot, oppressive stillness of an adolescent summer, she learns to scheme with her cousin Borja, and finds herself increasingly drawn to the strange outsider Manuel. But civil war has come to Spain, and it will teach Matia about the adult world in ways she could not foresee. This powerful, lyrical coming-of-age novel depicts Mallorca as an enchanted island, a lost Eden and a Never Land combined, where ancient hatreds and present-day passions collide. 'brilliant, devastating . . . every character is remarkable and captivating' The Times Literary Supplement 'a feverish, dramatic brew . . . the style is intoxicating . . . it offers a unique view of a part of Spain usually overlooked by literature' The Irish Times