reviews vol 25 cat review

REVIEWS

001-CATALAN REVIEW-25.indd 283 06/08/12 14:25

Catalan Review XXV (2011), 285-287 - issn 0213-5949

Aymar, ngels. Trueta. Trans. Montserrat Roser i Puig. Anglo-Catalan Society Occasional Papers. Nottingham: Five Leaves Publications, 2010. xxi + 124 pp.Cabr, Jaume. Winter Journey. Trans. Patricia Lunn. Chicago: Swan Isle Press, 2009. 182 pp.

We have in this small volume a curious hybrid. Its core is the play, by ngels Aymar, on the life of Doctor Josep Trueta i Raspall (Barcelona 1897-1977), the distinguished surgeon who was also one of the founders of the Anglo-Catalan Society (and thus it seems appropriate for this to appear in the ACS series of Occasional Papers). The original play, simply titled Trueta, is in Catalan (with some Spanish and some English) and appears here with a facing-page English translation by Professor Roser i Puig (who signs her name with her degree title of Dr.). Also Dr. Rosers (one assumes) are the four footnotes to the play. The volume is completed with one page of tiny photographs from a performance of the play and another page with equally-small archive photographs of Dr. Tru-eta and his family; biographies of Dr. Roser and Ms. Aymar complete the pub-lication, in addition to a 15-page Introduction, a note on the translation, and some bibliographical materials and notes.

Aymars play is a noble effort to make a heroic life theatrical. The epony-mous hero is presented with just enough fallibility to make him human. He is flanked by four supporting characters: Amelia, Truetas wife, provides the nec-essary tension regarding the couples private life; the Nun and the Miss (the latter a character inspired, the notes explain, by the English surgeon Josephine Collier) exemplify the tensions in Truetas professional life; and Salvador (in-spired by Salvador de Madariaga) brings out the political dimension. A bunch of minor characters complete the cast. Given how hard it is to write a play about a practically perfect person, Aymars work is quite accomplished. It reads with ease but, for those who know something about the life of Dr. Trueta and his times, offers few surprises and barely escapes the maudlin.

As Roser i Puig warns us in her note on the translation, given the high relevance of the dynamics of multilingualism in the play, the translation was not going to attempt a transculturalisation (xxii). Indeed, the characters in the play, which takes place in Barcelona and Oxford, speak in three languages, Catalan, Castilian, and English, and in different dialects and with varying de-grees of proficiency. This alone would make any translation a challenge and Roser i Puig is wise to avoid the danger by providing us with a gloss of the original, which assumes that the characters are speaking Catalan all the time (xxii), but notes otherwise in the stage directions and invites the director of an eventual performance in English to take heed and act accordingly. This note ends with a puzzling one-sentence paragraph: In the translation Castilian has been translated as Spanish and punctuation has been adapted to British conven-tions (xxii). Good to know, in any case.

The edition of Aymars play and the facing-page translation are preceded by a fifteen-page Introduction by Roser i Puig that sets the play in its historical


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contexts. The first context is that of the Spanish Civil War, a time when Truetabegan to develop his method of dealing with wounds from shrapnel, particu-larly in the extremities of soldiers and civilians. The second context is that ofWorldWar II and Truetas settling in Oxford during the years of Francos rule,and the third is his return to Catalonia and the lack of recognition of his meritshe was received with. This last context is the one Aymars play and Roser iPuigs edition and translation are seeking to redress.

The Catalan original, Viatge dhivern, is an engrossing collection of 14short stories, quite diverse in tone and content. The blurb on the back of mypaperback edition suggests that the stories form el canems duna novella sin-gular. There are a number of motifsSchuberts music, a painting by Rem-brandt, references to the Torahthat more or less centrally appear in the sto-ries and lend them an incidental rather than essential unity. If the book is amosaic, its interest rests more in each tile than in the total picture, although thefirst story, Opus pstum and the last, Winterreise, do seem like two chap-ters of one novel.

Patricia Lunn has translated the rich and very diverse Catalan of the storiesinto a sober English that valiantly reflects the jarring changes of style of theoriginal. She was (or her editors were) less vigilant with the titles. That of theopening story remains an enigmatic Opus postum instead of PosthumousOpus and the one titled Pac! (an onomatopoeia I would render as Bang!)has become a strange Poc! (true, neither pac nor poc appear in canonicaldictionaries), which, in the type chosen for titles, looks like POCI (I had toresort to a magnifying glass to see that the last symbol was in fact the exclama-tion point).

In general, however, the translation is elegant and, to be sure, accurate.Some of the stories are written in such idiosyncratic or slangy style as to sig-nify a tour de force for any translator. Finis Coronat Opus is written in aparadoxical admixture of street slang and pompous diction, and Lunn navi-gates those troubled waters expertly, perhaps too expertly. The original ispeppered with swearwords that have, as is typical of Catalan and other Ro-mance languages, a religious reference: lhstia de fcil, el viacrucis que haviade viure, la mateixa resignaci del masoca de Job, hstia si fa mal, es lligalhstia de fcil... you get the idea. In particular the word hstia, a referenceto the host of the Eucharist, gives the story its profane and irreverent color, acolor that runs a bit in the translation, perhaps inevitably. (The phrases quotedabove become: a piece of cake, how I was going to suffer, as patiently as thatmasochist Job, a hell of a bad idea, its easy to pick up girls. Not that I wouldhave done any better, but I speak here as critic, not as translator.) The sad, ifpredictable, Ballad also seems a little tamer in the translation: El seu es-guard shavia tornat de vinagre becomes her glance had grown so sour, lamort que els havia caigut al damunt en pocs anys is rendered in the wrongtense as the death that would shortly befall them, per rebentar la mala sangembotida durant noranta dies de rbia is in Lunns English to give vent to


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the rage that had built up in her for ninety days, la ganyota de la por is sim-plified to with fear as is no sen reia ni Du ni All, which becomes no-body messed with him.

Yet more than examples suggesting an abundance of such cases, the aboveare the few egregious cases where, as translator, I might dissent with Lunnschoices. It is important to stress the overall elegance and accuracy of this ver-sion, and Lunn must be given credit for having tackled a most difficult work inits dizzying diversity of registers. As Winter Journey, Cabrs work makes anexcellent and coherent read and the book will be a useful model for courses ofCatalan literature in translation. I mention this because it could be where themain interest of the readers of Catalan Review in books such as this one surelylies. It is nevertheless a pity that such a terrific collection did not get grabbed bya publisher with more publicizing clout than Swan Isle Press. But, outside of thePOC! infelicity, this publisher has produced a handsome book, which thoseof us with non-Catalan-speaking relatives ands friends will want to recommend.

JOSEP MIQUEL SOBRERIndiana University

Crameri, Kathryn, ed. Where the Rivers Meet: Jess Moncada. Nottingham:Five Leaves Publications, 2011. 161 pp.

Where the Rivers Meet: Jess Moncada is the first study of this contemporaryauthors work published in English. On this basis alone, it should be consid-ered a great contribution to the field, of not only Moncadas opus but alsoCatalan studies since Crameris book presents a good exploration of the biog-raphy, novels and short stories by Moncada in parallel with ContemporaryCatalan literature and culture.

The book offers a substantial overview of Jess Moncadas work, with aninternational approach. These essays from Europe and Australia are a welcomecomplement to previous studies that have come from Catalonia, Spain and theUnited States. Furthermore, the study is endorsed by very well known expertson this matter, who have previously published several articles either on Mon-cada or on Iberian Contemporary literature.

The fact that these scholars approach Moncadas work from a comparativ-ist, non-nationalist perspective, often reading him in translation, underscoresMoncadas recognized aesthetic merit as the author of novels and short storiesof great universality. Thus, while previous scholarship has demonstrated Mon-cadas value as a Catalan and Iberian writer,Where the Rivers Meet challengesus to read his works as transcending the local. Through the analysis of hisworks we can see how a not very prolific author from a small town in Spain canbecome absolutely universal and international.


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One of the strongest aspects of the study is that the authors deal with themost relevant and difficult issues of Moncadas work, such as the use of lan-guage, history, myth, memory, space and time, in a very straightforward way,simplifying its complexity and making its understanding easier to the reader.Therefore, the reader obtains a complete picture of Moncadas stories, enteringhis obstinate universe smoothly. While the concepts are crucial, the argumen-tation suffers from organizational problems that lead to repetition. The analy-sis of novels and short stories in separate chapters is a good idea and allows thereader to follow Moncadas production efficiently. However, it also causessome duplication of themes, especially in chapters 3 and 4, which are bothcompletely devoted to exploring specific literary matters.

Regarding the question of order, I believe that it would have been morehelpful to have chapter 4, which is devoted to the analysis of Moncadas threenovels, before chapter 3, which explores short stories. However, they have fol-lowed a chronological scheme, meaning that Moncada started his literary ca-reer publishing short stories, but I am positive that the study by KathrynCrameri (chapter 4) right after the analysis by Hctor Moret (chapter 2) wouldhave improved the work as a whole, because she offers a kind of examinationthat is taken from a wider approach, and also because she provides the readerwith information that Sandrine Ribes (chapter 3) fails to mention, such as whythe historical period covered by the fiction runs from 1860 up to 1971 (or per-haps these kinds of details should be presented in the Introduction).

Also, still talking about the structure of the book, the translations of ashort story (Old Sheet Music) and a fragment of Moncadas third novel (Es-tremida memria) are superfluous to this study, even though it is the first timethat are published. Chapters provide enough examples from the literary texts,and consequently I dont see the need to incorporate these translations. On thecontrary, the summary of works at the end of the book, as a select bibliogra-phy, is very helpful for all sorts of readers, as a reminder for experts or as a newlist for new researchers.

In sum, the analysis of themes and issues in his life, novels, and short sto-ries helps create an image of a global work. Nevertheless, and due to reitera-tions, I would have like to see more links among chapters to give a sense ofunion, rather than the work of different experts. Bearing in mind the com-pletely appropriate title of the study,Where the Rivers Meet: Jess Moncada, Iexpected more connection, a sort of teamwork avoiding reiterations and repeti-tions of subjects.

In conclusion,Where the Rivers Meet: Jess Moncada is a good explorationon Moncadas world, clearly exposed and presented.

PEPA NOVELLQueens University


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Coromines, Joan, and Joseph Gulsoy. Epistolari. Ed. Josep Ferrer and JoanPujadas. Textos i Estudis 15. Barcelona: Curial/Fundaciocoromines.cat, 2010.800 pp.

No member of the NACS, and hardly any reader of this journal, needs anintroduction to the two authors of the 278 letters transcribed in this fascinatingbook. Hispanists are frequent users of Coromines Diccionario crtico eti-molgico castellano e hispnico (6 vols, 1980-91) and if, as by definition theyshould, they are also Catalanists, they are quite familiar with the Diccionarietimolgic i complementari de la llengua catalanawritten, as stated on the cov-er of every one of its ten volumes, by Joan Coromines amb la collaboraci deJoseph Gulsoy. The Epistolari, well annotated and presented, offers us theprivilege to get to know intimately the whole story, with all its ups and downs,behind this collaboraci.

Gulsoy wrote his first letter to Coromines in February 1955, from Torontowhere he studied towards an MA degree, to introduce himself and express hisdesire to work under your guidance towards a PhD at the University of Chi-cago. He wrote this letter, and the next six, in English; but in the summer of1957, living in Spain to assemble research material for the thesis, he used Cata-lan and Spanish (letters 8,9,11). So it surprises that in letter 80, from 1965,Coromines should write to him: Li escric en catal pensant que sho estimarms, que vost ja s com si fos dels nostres, per vost escriguim en angls: laqesti s que ens donem notcies tan abundoses com puguem. Efficiency inthe exchange of useful information was more important than stylistic niceties,it seems. This letter was indeed the beginning of sustained scholarly discussionsof linguistic points between the master and his student, who will soon be toldLa seva carrera dinvestigador productiu est en plena marxa. Gulsoy, great-ly moved by your [Coromines] kindness in making me a confidant of yourscholarly reflections, gets a little carried away when he answers that kind,informative and interesting... inspiring letter, which I shall keep as a cherishedmemento (letter 81). He shares his mentors negative opinion of Yakov Malk-iel and laments the ignorance in matters toponomastic among Hispanists inAmerica, where wemay appear to be preaching in the desert, but preaching wemust continue. Your inspiration should multiply and replenish through us,your students, and pass on to the younger generations. Coromines writes back(82) and tells Gulsoy: Your letters do me a lot of good. My life here [in Chi-cago during the summer] is monotonous and lacking the stimulation of anyphysical activity or of interesting talk. He adds what Gulsoy calls in his an-swer a sheet outlining your explanation of the development of Sp. -D- be-tween vowels. In this same letter 84 he shows interest in the masters invitationto participate in a toponymical inquiry on boat around the Majorca [sic], butadds the question: But you still expect to visit Navarra, dont you? Here theeditors of the Espistolari add two footnotes where they transcribe the two com-ments Coromines wrote on the margin next to this passage in Gulsoys letter.


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The first, perhaps still one of this, probably none of the others, does not makesense at the place it is found. The second does: Not this year.

These marginal scribblings are very important. They represent Corominesreactions to what Gulsoy wrote and signal the points he was planning to com-ment on in his answer, and how. A little bit they make up for the loss of dozensof Coromines letters. In over thirty answers Gulsoy acknowledges receipt ofa letter, but the editors of the Epistolari have to add the sad footnote Cartaextraviada. What surprises is that also Coromines carbon copies of them havedisappeared. That he did make copies, and archived them, can be deduced frommarginal notes he wrote right on Gulsoys letters 68: Please return to me afterreadingI have no other copy, 153: contestades les tres cartes 12-xi-72; posola cpia a la camisa Subj.Pres. en ia, and 226: contesto, amb carbnica [aneologism of his?] i es tirar 14-iv-79. Marginal notes are often just questionor exclamation marks, or b-how?-potser-definitely no, but youwouldnt want to miss learning first-hand what the master wrote next to Gul-soys announcement in letter 167: I have a novel theory [about the change of-D-,TY-,-Ce to u-]: Fa por aix!, and how he reacted to Gulsoys invitationin letter 155 to participate in a homage volume: Josep Sol-Sol i jo tenim enprojecte un volum destudis catalans en memria de Miss de Boer: B menalegro, per que deixi crrer la idea de fer-men a mi. In letter 156we see themasters vehement opposition to Gulsoys plan to have Gredos publish aMiscellnia Coromines. He reminds him of famous linguists who did not wantto be honored with such amuntegaments dinpcies and offers him an alter-native: En canvi s que li agrair de cor que majudi a posar al fcil abast delpblic tota la meva obra dispersa.

Transcriptions of the marginal notes added by Coromines to Gulsoys let-ters are only one type of footnotes offered in the Epistolari. Ferrer and Pujadasmake an original contribution to it by adding information on every person orpublication alluded to in the letters. They are listed in the Taula de nomswhich follows theAnnex, where ten speeches and publications byGulsoy aboutCoromines and his work are reprinted (pp. 651-761). Gulsoys own contribu-tion to the edition of the Epistolari, in addition to careful proofreading andhelping the editors with biographical footnotes, are his notes where he lets usshare the many things which came to his mind when he reread all 278 old letters.The first letter led to a lengthy nota de J. Gulsoy: Sobre els meus estudis i latesi doctoral, where we learn, among other things, between what three thesistopics Coromines had let him chose: Arabismes de les llenges hispniques.Fer ledici i estudi lingstic dun text catal del segle xiii [which one?], o delDiccionario valenciano castellano de Manuel Sanelo. In his next nota (letter 5)he recalls his first weeks in Barcelona: The place he stayed at (selected byCoromines), the important and helpful people he was introduced to: Pere Bo-higas, Felip Mateu i Llopis, Francesc de B. Moll, Joan Fuster, Josep Giner iMarco, M. Sanchis Guarner (three valencians), the publisher Casacuberta, whoinvited him to his Sunday outings (which this reviewer also remembers vividly).


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In the nota to letter 6, where he informed Coromines that he will be join-ing him in Bo, Gulsoy gives more details about that experincia que va mar-car el meu inici en els estudis toponmics i dialectals. The nota to letter 7describes a weekend with Mr and Mrs Coromines at their place in Sant Pol deMar. Other monographic notes enlighten letters 62, 63, 66, 69, 74, 78, 80, 81,115, and more.

Reading the footnotes is quite a learning experience, while perusing just theletters offers the captivating possibility to observe, as in a novel or a movie, therelationship between Gulsoy and Coromines from the first letter written bythe thirty-year-old immigrant from Turkey about to get a MA in Toronto, tothe one numbered 274, in which the co-author of the DECat. regrets that hemperdut la comunicaci but adds: Molt sovint penso en vost... Tant de tempsque vam passar junts, treballant! Les nostres converses! les mostres damistat!He continues: Lamic Joan Ferrer, en la seva ltima carta, em deia que segonsel metge vost gaudia de perfecta salut. But his former teacher, and then col-league and friend, died three weeks later, la missi complerta, as Gulsoy sub-titled an obituary in the journal Avui two days later, listing the masters manyaccomplishments, especially the Diccionari and the Onomasticon, two mile-stones in Hispanic and Romance studies, cornerstones of Catalan culture.Coromines knew it and would have said so more often if this had not of-fended Gulsoys modesty that without his former students help he couldnot have finished those colossal projects. If Coromines had been deprived ofhelp (not just from Gulsoy) his fear of dying while leaving behind unfinishedwork in those milers de cdules would have caused him incapacitating psy-chological and physical problems, beyond those mild cases of insomnia, nerv-ousness, indigestion due to overwork, confessed to by both scholars in severalletters, sometimes regretting that this affected also their spouses. To what ex-tent Coromines became dependent on Gulsoys presence, and not just for phil-ological reasons, becomes movingly evident in his letters 192 and 198, from1975, in which he reacts to Gulsoys announcement that during his sabbaticalyear in 1976 he will stay with his family in Perpignan [so that his two daughterscould learn French], fromwhere he would commute de Pineda to help with theDECat. Coromines replies: Farien un gran error si sinstallessin a Perpiny.Llogar una casa o pis a Pineda, per tot lany, li sortiria molt ms barat, i la sevafamlia respiraria laire directe i iodurat del Mediterrani, adding in letter 198his English showing his emotional stress: Half of my sanguine fondhopes that you were going to take full advantage of this sabbatical year, andthat the planned dictionarywas going to profit strongly by your presence, havenow vanished. The most infortunate decision to settle at Perpignan will marmore than half of the profit. It is unrealistic to think that by coming [to Pineda]during 3 or 4 days every two weeks you are going to work efficiently here. Theloss will be bad for the dictionary; but I think this will be more unwise for yourcareer. If you had made a lot of way ahead... [for had involved yourself to thepoint of no return?] in a big scientific project [that is: not the survey of Catalan


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philology in Trends in Romance Linguistics -see nota to letter 172- nor thestudy of Juli AlartsCartulari, preserved in Perpignan -see nota to letter 115-] ...many occasions would have been easily found [for could then be found?]for getting future sabbatical years; hard strong objective reasons for being al-lowed to have the time and the money needed for coming during several peri-ods. You have seen the huge amount of unused scientific materials which lie inmy files; it is hopeless to imagine that I shall use most of them before I die. Ifyou had made a lot of way ahead in the exploitation of these materials, whocould prevent you from using them? Believe me, dearest friend: leave quicklyPerpignan! Gulsoy, in letter 200, reassures his master that shelving for thetime being all work on Castilian historical phonetics, and not even undertakingbookreviews, all my time will be given to the DECat and, after that, what oth-er project you may assign to me. My only desire will be to see your work soimportant for the humanity finished. Of course, Gulsoy kept helpingCoromines as much as he could, contributing to the DECat many entries be-ginning with B,C,E, and all entries beginning withN,O,Q,U, while Corominescontinued treballant frenticament, casi no dormint a la nit, overwhelmedby DECat (207 and 215). There were several moments of near despair, de-scribed by Gulsoy in long notes to letters 207 and 222. But there were alsomoments of joy: December 16, 1980, at two oclock in the morning, a phonerang in Toronto, and a voice exclaimed: Gulsoy, victria! Ja resta venuda laE! Two similar calls were repeated later on; and so, in 1988, vol.IX and last ofthe DECat was ready and could appear in 1991. Furthermore, by 1998 all eightvolumes of theOnomasticon Cataloniae had been published.

When in 1968Coromines sent Gulsoy a copy of his edition of the Libro deBuen Amor, he inscribed it with this dedication: A Joseph Gulsoy, gran amic,seguidor fidel, ja mestre, i amb lesperana de veurel encara quan ja sigui granmestre!

Coromines was too blunt to ever give false praise to anyone. He tells thetruth when he writes to Gulsoy in a letter from 1972: Quantes vegades hemcomentat amb la meva dona que fou per un voler de Du que vost va venir aestudiar a Xicago! The reader of all letters will remember here the one from1961, where Gulsoy expresses his gratitude to his mentor for putting me onthe right track and guiding me all through the thesis with patience and under-standing. Above all, however, I owe you the love for enquiry and learning. Itwas an act of Providence that I came to Chicago six years ago. Taken out ofcontext, these statements might sound melodramatic. But after reading the let-ters exchanged between Coromines and Gulsoy during the many years of theircollaboration, it becomes obvious they were a team made in Heaven.

CURTWITTLINEmeritus, Univ. of Saskatchewan


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Christoph, Gabriel and Conxita Lle, eds. Intonational Phrasing in Ro-mance and Germanic. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 2011. 237 pp.

Intonational Phrasing in Romance and Germanic (IPRG) is an eight chapteredited volumewhich groups together a good number of high-quality articles thatanalyze prosodic phrasing patterns in languages that belong to the Romance andGermanic families. The books chapters are based on the presentations given atthe workshop on Intonational Phrasing in Romance and Germanic, held at theUniversity of Hamburg in 2009, in which authors had the opportunity to ex-change ideas and results about their respective phrasing projects.

It is important to note that all of the articles share a common framework ofprosodic analysis, namely, the autosegmental-metrical approach to intonation-al phonology. The articles included in the volume deal with the phonologicaland phonetic analysis of prosodic grouping patterns in several languages be-longing to the Romance and Germanic families. Specifically, the languages un-der investigation are Catalan, French, Italian, Occitan, Spanish, and German.Moreover, some of the articles included in the second part of the book dealwith prosodic influences in situations of language contact. Specifically, the ar-ticles deal with the following situations of present-day and historical languagecontact: Spanish-Catalan contact in Catalunya, French-Occitan contact inSouthern France, Italian-Spanish in Argentina, and finally German-Spanish inmonolingual and bilingual acquisition.

The Introduction to IPRG by the editors Christoph Gabriel and ConxitaLle is very informative. It provides a brief history and outline of the volume, aswell as a summary of the papers included in it. The first part of the book includesthree articles that deal with patterns of phrasing in four different languages. First,the article byCaroline Fry, RobinHrning and Serge Pahaut examines the pho-netic correlates of phrasing in French and German in semispontaneous speech.The two languages display a difference in phrasing patterns that is attributed tothe tonal association properties: while in French tones have a demarcative func-tion and are associated with peripheral positions in prosodic phrases, in Germanthey are associated with metrical heads. Additional differences between the twolanguages relate to the absence of lexical stress in French and to the consistentdeaccentuation patterns in German. The second article by Brechtje Post dealswith the constraints that phrasing patterns impose on intonation in French. Theresults of a production experiment show that speech rate has an expected effecton prosodic grouping but not on the underlying system of intonational forms.The third article in this part of the book is by Mariapaola DImperio and Franc-esco Cangemi. They analyze a corpus of Neapolitan Italian sentences and showthat register level downstep across prosodic constituents is directly influenced byinformation structure and specific discourse strategies.

The second part of the book concentrates on the patterns of phrasing foundin languages in a situation of language contact. The first article by Ariadna Benet,Conxita Lle and Susana Corts deals with the patterns of phrasing found in the


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spontaneous speech of both Spanish and Catalan speakers coming from urbandistricts in Barcelona in which Catalan is more or less dominant than Spanish. Itis shown that Spanish-dominant speakers make a stronger use of sustained pitchand pitch reset than Catalan-dominant speakers. The article by Trudel Meisen-burg aims at testing the effects of language contact on the intonation of Occitanand French. She analyzes prosodically the recordings of anOccitan/French bilin-gual who acquiredOccitan as an L1. The results of the analysis reveal thatOccitanis an intermediate language between Catalan and Spanish on the one hand andFrench on the other (as the latter has substituted lexical pitch accents by phrase-final and phrase-initial intonational rises). In this sense, the results of the analysisshow that while Occitan displays phrase-initial rises, they do not appear in un-stressed syllables. The third article on this part is by Christoph Gabriel, IngoFeldhausen, and Andrea Peskova. Their paper deals with the patterns of prosodicphrasing found in Buenos Aires Spanish using recordings of read controlled ma-terials. The results show that the phrasing patterns found in Porteo Spanish fol-low an Italian model, though to a lesser extent than it is the case of the shape ofpitch accents. The article by Laura Colantoni reconsiders the claim that the earlypeak alignment and downstep found in Buenos Aires Spanish are the result ofcontact with Italian. To do this, she compares Buenos Aires Spanish with othercontact and non-contact Argentine Spanish varieties (one of them in contact withGuarani). The results largely confirm that these Argentine Spanish varieties differfrom Buenos Aires Spanish, which is unique in showing an early peak alignmentof prenuclear accents. Thus tentatively the author attributes this uniqueness tolanguage contact with Italian. The last article byMartin Rakow and Conxita Llecompares the phrasing phonetic correlates found in the early speech of three Ger-manmonolingual children, with those of three Spanish monolingual children andthreeGerman-Spanish bilingual children.While monolingual children signal pro-sodic boundaries following adult-like patterns, bilingual children exhibit moreindividual variation. Two of the children separate the prosodic systems the twolanguages, while the other child applies the German cues to the two languages.

I would like to highlight two main contributions of the book in the sceneof prosodic studies. First, the book expands our crosslinguistic knowledge onpatterns of phrasing by concentrating on languages belonging to the Romanceand Germanic families, as well as on their crosslinguistic interactions. Second,many of the articles investigate crosslinguistic influences in situations of lan-guage contact. As a result, IPRG adds important cross-linguistic and lan-guage-contact perspectives to a topic that is central in prosodic analysis.Throughout the book, the reader will especially enjoy the fruitful interfacebetween the disciplines of prosody and syntax. In sum, IPRG stands to serveas an important reference in the studies of prosodic phrasing across languagesand especially in situations of language contact.

PILAR PRIETOUniversitat Pompeu Fabra


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Davidson, Robert A. Jazz Age Barcelona. Toronto/Buffalo/London: Univer-sity of Toronto Press, 2009. 248 pp.

The twofold objective of this book as explained in the Introduction (4) is in-novative in the Catalan context. Thus assessing how what the author calls theJazz Age manifested itself in Barcelona identifies a field in which an assess-ment like Davidsons was much needed. The authors goal is also to establishhow journalistic and intellectual engagement with the Jazz Age civilization ac-quired a political dimension. On this front in recent years Catalan publicationshave included mostly monographs on specific journalists or collections of theirarticles. What is unique to Davidsons book is the panoramic coverage of anevolution from 1914 to 1932. The selection made to this end is coherent, thusbeyond an initial Introduction (3-10), and a chapter 1, Barcelona BoomTown (11-26), where the foundational aspects of the referred-to Jazz Age areaddressed in the context of earlier Catalan journalism, the subsequent topicschosen are the weekly newspaper El Escndalo (1925-6) and Sangre en Atara-zanas (1926) by F. Madrid, editor of the above, comprised in chapter 3 (69-103); Sebasti Gaschs criticism published between 1926 and 1931, addressed inchapter 4 (104-140); the graphic weekly Imatges (1930), in chapter 5 (141-181);and J. M. de Sagarras section Laperitiu in Mirador and his novel Vida pri-vada (1932), in chapter 6. The final sections in the book concern Notes (215-230), Works Cited (231-240) and an Index (241-248).

Chapter 1 traces a context for the early stages of that Jazz Age in Barcelonaduring Spains neutrality in WWI, when jazz reached Europe as the US joinedthe war. Here the author gives a syncretic example of the convergence of vio-lence and frivolity in the rubble of working class theatre Pompeya (21), wherea bomb exploded in 1920. However, the intimate connection between vio-lence and the new age of frivolity requires further discussion, as does the linkbetween what is rather vaguely described as a sense of struggle and the Cat-alan nationalist desire allegedly attached to it. The discussion on early twenti-eth-century Catalan journalism that follows provides key names like Gaziel,whose war reporting would have acted as a plausible precedent for the newtype of journalism. Yet what is not made explicit is how this new type of jour-nalism, particularly in the case of Pla and Sagarra, was representative of a newphenomenon across the world, the birth of the writer-journalist, which also inthe Catalan case was to yield the best prose writing ever. The relevant exampleprovided of the 1926 book by F. Madrid Sangre en Atarazanas, whose journal-istic narrative approach made the sordid Barrio Chino closer to the reader isnot extrapolated to a wider context. Davidson wonders whether the fact thatscholars have mostly ignored El Escndalo is to do with its language. Perhapsthe brief life of the newspaper, the shallow depth of many of its pieces and theirsensationalist pursuit also account for it. The following chapter, with criticSebasti Gasch at its core, is possibly the least original, particularly given thatit frequently relies on Minguet and Batllori for key points. This chapters key


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contributions by Davidson concern the use of jazz and rhythm as a valid meta-phor and critical tool to assess urban modernity, and Gaschs capacity to con-nect the urban experience of the Jazz Age to the political renaissance of Cata-lanism (103). Mirador (1929-1937) has also been studied by Carles Singla(2005), particularly as regards the political dimension that Davidson also pointsout in chapter 4 as he establishes that this weekly acted as a mediator for po-litical desire, popular entertainment and the future urban experiences of thecity (105). Here the treatment of the multiple dimensions of the 1929 Exposi-tion is shrewdly assessed as an intersection of foreign (Castilian) authority,international entertainment, and an intervention into local urban concerns(119). The graphical images of Barcelona in Imatges are at the core of the fol-lowing chapter 5, which excels at pinpointing the originality of a modern Bar-celona in which objects acquired an unusual prominence over human subjects,providing also a highly opinionated editorial line on new urban developments.Here the author offers yet another dimension of the gentrification of the JazzAge in Barcelona through the myth-dispelling pieces by J. M. Planes on 5thDistrict, where he sees dirt rather than excitement (157-159). What remainsuncertain though is whether Planes would have shared with Davidson what thelatter considers in an academic urge to theorise Planes belief in the readersmaturity vis--vis the international codes that the Jazz Age had brought withit in the previous decade (178). Similarly, Sagarra in chapter 6 seems to sharewith Davidson what is implied in the term Jazz Age when the author won-ders: what specific sites of the Jazz Age city does Sagarra engage? (192). In-deed, this term often becomes blurred due to the all-embracing nature acquired.Complementary concepts like style, spirit, aesthetics, code or spacedo not necessarily render it more tangible. However, this final chapter alsoprovides some of its finest close reading interpretations, particularly as regardsthe stuffed dog in Vida privada, a striking metaphor for a frivolous, decadentand corrupt upper class, which collaborated with the dictator (195-197). Andthis is so despite some occasional wobblier references on the historical side, tooreliable on Carr and apparently ignorant of a reality closer to the issues dis-cussed. Thus, had the author become acquainted with SagarrasMemries, withsubstantial evidence of his fervent militancy in the Lliga, or with the liberalrather than leftist nature of Acci Catalana, or had he reflected more on thenature of Sagarras 1936 self-exile or on his relatively easy life under Franco,official posts included, perhaps he would not have stated that [p]olitically,Sagarra is firmly on the republican left (183). Similarly, if Francesc PujolsCamb had been taken into account, he would have had little doubt that theLliga collaborated with Primo also before the coup (196). Yet this is an excel-lent book, worth translating into Catalan, where the frequent Castilian accentsand spellings in Catalan transcriptions will no doubt be duly re-Catalanized.

FREDERIC BARBERLancaster University


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Desclot, Bernat. Llibre del rei En Pere. Ed. Stefano Maria Cingolani. Biblio-teca Barcino 6. Barcelona: Editorial Barcino, 2010. 483 pp.

The Italian medievalist and philologist Stefano Cingolani, a frequent visit-ing professor at Barcelonese universities, has made a remarkable career asCatalanist, well known not only for his academic output, but also for hisbonhomie at conventions and other gatherings. Once he had decided to makemedieval Catalan chronicles his main field of research, no year went by with-out one or two publications of his, culminating, in 2006 with an introductoryvolume to the reprint of Colls and Soldevilas edition of Les 4 grans Cr-niques, first published in 1971 by the Editorial Selecta, and in 2007 withJaume I, Histria i mite dun rei (Barcelona, Edicions 62). Yet another vol-ume of high vulgarization appeared in 2010: Pere el Gran, Vida, Actes iParaules (Editorial Barcino, 488 pages).

Cingolani was well prepared to write that biography. Having discoveredthat manuscript 152 of the Biblioteca de Catalunya, known among the nearlytwenty manuscripts of the Crnica del rei Pere as ms. O, was not just an-other copy of the original but actually its first version, he engaged in revisingColls edition published between 1949-1951 in five volumes of Els NostresClssics. Without trying to turn Colls transcription of ms. A into a criticaledition based on all testimonies, Cingolani made Colls text more philologi-cally correct, amending it in over 350 passages, while making it more legible bymodernizing spelling, and more useful by adding hundreds of footnotes of aphilological or historical nature.

Nicely printed in the series Biblioteca Barcino the volume opens witha thorough Introduction (5-52) and ends with a list of the changes made toColl, a bibliography, and a glossary (443, 459, 467-72). Some words of thetext are explained in footnotesalways a good idea, I think, but some ofthe explanations seem superfluous, in my opinion. Since my opinion appliesalso to many other editions, Ill offer here an extended example. On page 225,some barons and knights foren albergats en una esglsia... e no hi hac mata-lafs, sin molt fe que hi hagren mes (Nota: fe: fenc). Catalan readers do notneed this note, and anglophones are not helped by fenc. However, visual-izing the scene of being lodged in a church, and guessing that a matalaf is amatress, they get it right. A second example comes from chapter 4, the fa-mous story of how a plan was contrived and executed to bring to King Petersbed not his new bella paramour he had sent for, but his own wife whom heconsidered ugly and wanted to divorce. Later that night Queen Maria,molt svia e certa..., sempre conec que era prenys. Cingolani points out ina footnote that Desclot based his version of this story on two chapters in theLlibre dels reis but that he turned the queen into the protagonist. For moredetails on this he sends the reader to an article of his. To be able to control hisassertions one would wish for quotations of the supporting passages right inthe footnote. Also, while few readers consider the passage to mean she al-


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ways knew that whe was pregnant, some might wish to learn how semprecan also mean right away. References to enlightening publications would bea pedagogical plus. A look in the Diccionari Catal Valenci Balear at mean-ing II.2 of the word cert shows that molt svia and certa does not meanhere wise, and sure (that she had conceived) but wise and shrewd (to makethe King believe he got her pregnant).

And indeed, on that day and hour she asked Peter to write them down(to be remembered nine months later) she had conceived James, the futureConqueror, who, as a baby, survived being killed in his cradle by the granpra an enemy trams-li davall... per una trapa feta endret del bressol. How-ever, that big stone only don tal al copol del bressol que el trenc. Esters,non ho poc hom apercebre, (delete this comma!) qui ho fu. In this passageanglophone readers are likely to give trapa the meaning of trap, not seeingthat endret can not be the usual opposite horizontally but the rare oppositeabove refering to a trap-door in the ceiling over the cradle. The best way forCingolani to help the reader would have been to quote here James autobio-graphicalCrnica. Peters son says nothing about the switch in his fathers bedof his mother and the paramour, but he relates how ns jaent en lo bressoltiraren per una trapa sobre ns un cantal, e caec prop del bressol. Desclotmakes the story more captivating by making that rock break a part of the cra-dle, the copol, the headboard. The word no longer exists, and Cingolanicould have suggested to the reader to find it in the entry CPOL in JoanCoromines DECat. The next word in the above quotation that made it intoCingolanis glossary is Esters, translated as altrament, malgrat aix, wordswhich do not seem to fit the context. The word appears elsewhere in Desclot,as the glossary should show by quoting more passages (and adding precisereferences to the text, and to dictionaries). In the very same chapter 4 we readthat King Peters majordomo era son privat daitals coses... (was his confidantand go-between in his extramarital affairs) ...esters hombo e lleial. Cingolanisgloss of esters to mean altrament seems to fit this passage: He lacked mor-als but (or however) he was a loyal servant.

That this reviewer found in Cingolanis edition only lexicological andpedagogical points to harp on shows, first, that he is not a medievalist histo-rian, second, that he was well pleased with the books and texts presentationand readability and methodological underpinnings. The Old-Catalan quatregrans crniques should be available in every university library. Professorsand students wishing to concentrate on (Bernat Escriv) Desclots Llibre delrei En Pere will be well served studying Cingolanis edition in vol. 6 of theBiblioteca Barcino.

CURTWITTLINEmeritus, University of Saskatchewan


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El Europeo (Barcelona, 1823-1824). Prensa, modernidad y universalismo. Ed.Paula Sprague. Madrid/Frankfurt am Main: Iberoamericana/Vervuert, 2009.364 pp. Estudio, ndices y notas + 947 pp. reproduccin facsmil de El Europeo.

This is the first complete facsimile edition of El Europeo, the weekly journalpublished for six months in Barcelona from 1823 to 1824 by an eclectic group oflettered men who made common cause at the close of the Liberal Triennium inorder to disseminate contemporary European thinking on literature, science andthe arts. References toEl Europeowithin nineteenth-century studies have for themost part been limited and highly selective. Few scholars have read the journal inits entirety, and only a handful of articles have been anthologized. In addition,critical interest inEl Europeo has been strongly conditioned by relatively narrowresearch interests. Scholars of Romanticism in Spain have turned to the journalfor early articles on the movement, and those interested in the Renaixena havelooked to it, with little success, for signs of Catalan nationalism. Neither ap-proach has given the journal its due as a cultural phenomenon in its own right,and both have painted a partial picture of its significance. With this edition PaulaSprague aims to offer a new, broader interpretive framework for the journal. Sheargues that El Europeos historical importance was predicated, not on romanticparticularities, but rather on its embrace of the universalizing, cosmopolitanethos of enlightenment thinking and its ideal of progressive modernization.

The volume is comprised of a brief Prologue by Carme Riera (11-17), a crit-ical Introduction (17-72), a series of indexes, critical notes for each article (73-290), an extensive Bibliography (291-364), and a facsimile of the three boundvolumes of El Europeo (original pagination). Spragues Introduction recontextu-alizes the journal within the historical moment it sought to address. El Europeowas founded just as Barcelona, which had become an international haven forliberals across Europe, was bracing itself for the end of the Liberal Triennium. Itsfive collaborators, Carles Bonaventura Aribau, Ramon Lpez Soler, Luigi Mon-teggia, Carlos Ernest Cook, and Fiorenzo Galli reflect the internationalist thrustof liberal political ideology in the early 1800s. Shared commitment to liberalprinciples brought these men together, above and beyond national differences,and Sprague notes that their moderado brand of liberalism was a function of anumber of circumstances: disappointment over the schisms within Spanish liber-alism during the Triennium, caution in the face a return to Fernandine absolut-ism, and reformist rather than revolutionary political convictions.

The Introduction also makes much clearer the distinctive personalities andareas of expertise that each contributor brought to the journal. Sprague recon-structs and updates the biographies of each editor, providing fascinating insightsinto each figure. Cook was largely responsible for scientific articles (56-57);Galli was more a man of action, and he often focused on political philosophy(57-58); Monteggia sought to Europeanize Barcelona through articles oncontemporary literature, moral philosophy and social theory (58-60); LpezSoler discovered in journalism a mode of struggle that came to replace direct


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action (60-62); and the pre-Renaixena Aribau was el que ms aport a crearese trasvase de informacin puntual desde Europa que enlaza con una tradicinilustrada ya existente en la sociedad catalana del siglo xviii (63). In the aggre-gate, all five men participated in a project in which Europe, Enlightenment, Lib-eralism and Modernity were fused together to form an organizing ideal ofprogress in the midst of tumultuous political change. Sprague does an admirablejob repositioning the journal within these parameters. Her Introduction alsoreminds readers that during the Liberal Triennium, Barcelona was perceived byother Europeans as a beacon of modernity, precisely because liberalism seemedto flourish there while it was very much on the retreat elsewhere.

ReframingEl Europeowithin the discourses ofmodernity is a salutary enter-prise, and after this edition it will no longer be possible to entertain vague gener-alizations about El Europeo. At the same time, for many readers the interpretivetemplate Sprague proposes will no doubt raise a familiar set of questions con-cerning the historical particularities that in fact underpinned modern universal-izing. Throughout much of the nineteenth-century, in Barcelona and elsewhere,the universal, for example, was mostly limited to white, propertied, men ofletters. Similarly, what separated exaltado liberals from theirmoderado counter-parts was precisely disagreement over how universal liberal freedoms and rightsshould be. Themoderados opted for a more restricted understanding, and muchof Spains nineteenth-century history was subsequently marked by moderadopolitical hegemony. Such topics, however, fall outside of Spragues critical pur-view. Her aim is not to analyze or critique the discourses of modernity as suchbut rather to provide a descriptive reconstruction of the conceptual universe ofEl Europeos editors. On this front she does a superb job, making clear that, al-though short-lived, the journal was an important vehicle for disseminating thecultural discourses of European modernity in Barcelona. In short, Paula Spraguehas brought El Europeo out of the archives in a highly useful and welcomed edi-tion. Coupled with an extensive and meticulous critical apparatusextremelyuseful indexes, author attributions, and erudite notes for each articlethis edi-tion will no doubt become a standard reference in nineteenth-century studies.

MICHAEL IAROCCIUniversity of California, Berkeley

Feldman, Sharon G. In the Eye of the Storm. Contemporary Theater in Barce-lona. Lewisburg: Bucknell University Press, 2009. 411 pp.

Sharon G. Feldmans study puts forward the view that the Barcelona stage is atthe core of Catalan theatres hurricane-like activity of the 1980s and posits that itis a nucleus that, although not immune to problems of financing and feasability,is overflowing with vitality and creativity (12). In order to prove this, she pref-


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aces her analysis with a panoramic of contemporary Catalan theatre homing inon the highly emblematic Sala Beckett, a venue founded by Jos Sanchis Sinis-terra in 1989, and which nurtured and stimulated in varying degrees the careersof several prominent Barcelona actors, directors and playwrights (13), some ofwhom are then studied in the later part of the present volume. The Introductionthat follows studies the resurgence of Catalan theatre in democratic Spain, onceagain focusing on two venues: the Teatre Nacional de Catalunya and the TeatreLliure. Here Feldman develops the concept of Catalunya invisible, that is, theelusive presence of anything directly linked to Barcelona or Catalonia or to anycultural specificity in the text-based plays of the 1980s and 1990s in contrast withthe cutting irony used by the performance-based Catalan groups before theeighties and since. Chapter 1, From the Political to the Spectacular, not onlytraces the transformation undergone by the independent theatre group ElsJoglars from the years of Francos repressive regime to its post-transition firmlyestablished professional status, but also the changes and tensions within it and itscontroversial success as a theatre of resistance, even within the emerging modernSpain. Chapter 2, An Aspiration to the Authentic, addresses the evolution ofLa Fura dels Baus highlighting their fascination with the rapport between thehuman being and his or her post-industrial surroundings (77) in their search ofauthenticity. It looks at how the group has excelled in setting up unmediatedexperiences such as acts of violence, obscenity, etc. and become an innovativebranch of the experimental theatre scene (80), descending from the 1940s thea-tre of Joan Brossa but also epitomizing the counter-cultural language of themovida in Madrid (84), given the intensely participatory nature of their specta-cles which gave the spectators the sensation of being plunged into a barrage ofactivity (85). Chapter 3, A Phenomenological Gaze, centres on the work ofJosep Maria Benet i Jornet (1940) and his interest in popular genres as well as inmany mostly-contemporary literary sources, which have developed in him apenchant for melodrama, a theatrical paradigm that he has repeatedly cultivated,betrayed, undermined and explored (108). Often isolated from his contempo-raries, his more recent involvement with TV series as screenwriter and producerand as lecturer at the Institut del Teatre are seen by Feldman as reasons for hismore recent plays inwardly direction to reflect upon an individualized or inte-rior world (119). Chapter 4, Theatre of Pain, studies the work of Sergi Belbel(1963), offering an account of his artistic trajectory and of the circumstances thatgave rise to his relentless investigation of the rapport between visibility and in-visibility, between what is representable and what is not (167). The detailedanalysis of his key plays places him at the forefront of his theatrical generation,especially when his concerns the process of communication. Chapter 5, TheTheatre of Enigma, on Llusa Cunill (1961), describes her productions as hav-ing seemingly unassuming and delicate aesthetic lines, frequently inspiring avast degree of doubt, hesitation, and even suspicion on the part of the spectator(231) and producing either complete acceptance or total rejection because oftheir totally literal approach to theatrical realism. Chapter 6, European Land-


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scapes, is on Carles Batlle (1963): a playwright, professor, theatre critic anddramaturge for whom the notion of localityboth its presence and absencecan communicate certain anxieties and preoccupations with regard to culturalidentity (256). In this respect, Feldman sees Catalunya and contemporary Eu-rope as continually reconfigured and redefined (256) in an unstable dialecticalimpulse, developing what Batlle calls a relative drama, that is, a non-affirma-tive one which requires an active spectator who is compelled to create storiesto navigate his or her way through subjective fragments of plot, slices of interiorreality and shreds of exterior landscape (259). Chapter 7, Scenes of Miscom-munication shows Josep Pere Peyr (1959) as a top example of the seamlessintegration of acting, directing and playwriting, as well as working in TV screen-ing and teaching. His originality is presented as stemming from the discursivedilemmas that exist when men and women attempt to communicate with eachother (209) and identifies his quasi-poetic discourse as the primary form of dra-matic action. The book closes with the epilogue New Spaces andNewVisions,putting forward some ideas on current trends and future developments. HereFeldman describes the changes endured by the Catalan theatre scene in the lasttwelve years, including the demise of key figures, the closure of key venues andthe emergence of new groups and initiatives outside the Catalan capital, but go-ing back to Barcelonas new venues and promising new names, declares her hopethat the project of creating a Council of Art in Catalunya will ensure a stablearena within which Catalan theatre can thrive. All in all, one can say that Feld-mans study, which does not purport to be a history of contemporary Catalantheatre, does go to great lengths to contextualize all its analysis and capitalizes onthe process of communication (the degree to which language determines dra-matic action) and the phenomenology of theatrical space (the relationship be-tween physical space and invisible, subjective, psychic realities) (14), which arewhat give her approach its originality. Feldman offers us not only clear and con-cise information, but also her long experience as a sharp analytical mind, an as-siduous and discerning theater-goer and an accomplished translator. And if thatwas not sufficient, the Catalan translation of the book will be published by Edi-torial lAven this autumn.

MONTSERRAT ROSER I PUIGUniversity of Kent

Francs Dez, M. ngels. Literatura i Feminisme: Lhora violeta, de Montser-rat Roig. Tarragona: Arola, 2010. 318 pp.

In her prologue, Isabel-Clara Sim mentions the major axes of this compre-hensive study: intertextuality, a broad feminism and the feminine, multiplepoints of view, and womens creativity. The prologuist is well chosen and apt,


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since Sim herself is a writer and was a friend of Roig; Sims comments arecited frequently within the text.

The study is broader than the subtitle suggests. Francs divides the workinto three sections: the first echoes the title of the book and constitutes a com-prehensive analysis of feminist criticism from Simone de Beauvoirs The Sec-ond Sex (1949) to the present. Francs had access to Roigs archive near Barce-lona and offers the reader Roigs comments on her own holdings: she preferredthe Anglo-Saxon approach to the French, considering the former more practi-cal, less theoretical and elitist, but her library and her work reflect an amalgamof many points of view. Imbued with Marxism as well as feminism, Roig seesthe latter as an ideology, equivalent to any other. Roig seeks to develop thethree phases described by Julia Kristeva: criticism of the male canon; a searchfor female literary tradition in a reevaluation of womens work; and an analysisof gender differences in writings by men and women. Francs considers Lhoravioleta (1980) as the point of convergence of a crisis of values, which reflectsconflicts between Marxism and feminism, socialism and Catalanism, silencesand polyphony, and she underscores Roigs efforts to describe and create soli-darity among women throughout her work.

The second section is called Les primeres obres, and offers a detailedstudy of Molta roba i poc sab...i tan neta que la volen (1971), Ramona, adu(1972), and El temps de les cireres (1977). While Francs rightly sees these worksas precursors to Lhora violeta, she gives them a comprehensive analysis in theirown right. The first book of related stories introduces characters, themes, andtechniques that will continue in Roigs later works the use of testimonial lit-erature such as diaries and letters, multiple voices and points of view but of-fers a cyclical structure that nonetheless leads to a unitary whole. In this sectionas well as in those to follow, Francs offers the reader graphs and outlines toindicate relationships among the many characters and to identify voices, pointsof view, and sources within the texts. InRamona, adu, the emphasis is on frag-mentation, parallelism, and repetition, and Francs sees these techniques as away to analyze intersections of class, religion, and sexism. El temps de les cir-eres, written five years later, reflects the influence of popular culture, especiallymusic and film, which point to the ongoing conflict between the independencewomen seek and their continuing search for romantic love, along with a need tomask themselves in various ways. The heteroglossia of earlier works is less evi-dent here, but it still aids in the construction of the identity of characters, whileat the same time looking to the possibility of change, of building another world.

Francs considersLhora violeta a turning point that culminates un procsde construcci intertextual que enllaa les quatre primeres obres de Roig, i sig-nifica un punt dinflexi envers una nova vessant literria, que obres comLpera quotidiana o La veu melodiosa sencarreguen de confirmar (201). Thenovel represents a unification of Roigs previous work, and Francs rightlyemphasizes the writers efforts to concentrate on a single theme in order tostudy it profoundly. The novel begins with a frame in which the protagonist /


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writer, Norma, is asked to piece together letters, diaries, and notes left behindby her friends mother to write a story about the women of the previous gen-eration. This prologue of sorts offers a setting for the many voices that make upthe following narrative. The construction of identities includes two genera-tions: those who lived the war and its aftermath, and those whose lives form thepresent of the story. A major theme is maternity, or lack of it, in an analysisthat debunks the traditional, idealized views of marriage and family. Francsfocuses on the poles of intertextuality here, from a reinterpretation of theOd-yssey to Roigs own previous work and certain Ressons autobiogrfics (280).Women study their own condition through a mirada brnia (294) that looksinward and outward at the same time, using a sort of interior dialogue in aneffort to establish identity in the face of conflicting voices.

This profound, detailed, and well-written book will greatly advance stud-ies of this complex writer, and can be considered the definitive critique ofRoigs work up to 1980. Francs mentions the later novels, but leaves them asthe nova vessant, to be analyzed in a later context.

KATHLEENMCNERNEYWest Virginia University

Gimeno Ugalde, Esther. La identidad nacional catalana. Ideologas lingsti-cas entre 1833 y 1932. Madrid/Frankfurt am Main: Iberoamericana/Vervuert,2010. 371 pp.

La identitat nacional catalana. Ideologas lingsticas entre 1833 y 1932 s unadocumentada anlisi dels discursos entorn de la llengua catalana entre els anys1833 i 1932. Les dates escollides sn prou significatives pel que fa al propsitdel llibre. Duna banda, la histria literria ens diu que el 1833 sinicia oficial-ment la Renaixena amb la publicaci del poema Oda a la ptria de Bonaven-tura Carles Aribau. De laltra, el 1932 apareix elDiccionari general de la llenguacatalana de Pompeu Fabra i saprova lEstatut republic que reconeix la coofi-cialitat del catal. Com molt b reconeix la professora Esther Gimeno Ugalde,es tracta dun perode absolutament decisiu en la recuperaci del catal que al-hora s inseparable del sorgiment i consolidaci del moviment poltic del cata-lanisme. Lautora assenyala tres etapes en aquest procs, tot seguint el modeltrifsic de Miroslav Hroch: 1. 1833-1879: dignificaci i glorificaci de la llen-gua; 2. 1880-1900: establiment com a llengua de cultura i extensi del seu ssocial; 3. 1901-1932: consolidaci com a llengua nacional.

Les tres primeres seccions del llibre sn de caire introductori. Aix doncs,al captol 1 es defineix una srie de conceptes claus per a largumentaci poste-rior: diglssia, conflicte lingstic, estatus, prestigi i valor comunicatiu de lesllenges, ideologia lingstica i llengua nacional. Al captol 2 es proposa un


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marc teric en qu es defensa una noci constructivista de la naci fonamenta-da tant en elements objectius (territori, cultura, economia, etc.) com subjectius(smbols i mites). Finalment, al captol 3 sesbossen lorigen i levoluci del ca-talanisme, els quals coincideixen gaireb amb les esmentades etapes de Hroch:1. 1833-1873: federalisme democrtic que aspira a aconseguir una certa autono-mia dintre de lEstat espanyol; 2. 1875-1898, des de linici de la Restauraci finsal Gran Desastre: naixement del catalanisme com a doctrina poltica; 3. 1899-1932: creaci, entre daltres partits i organismes oficials, de la Lliga Regionalis-ta el 1901 i la Mancomunitat de Catalunya el 1906.

Al captol 4 sexamina a bastament levoluci de la identitat catalana al llargdel segle xix i comenaments del segle xx, a partir del model de Hroch:

1. Recuperaci de la llengua i la identitat catalanes (1833-1879). Des de laRenaixena la llengua esdev el factor decisiu en la construcci de la iden-titat catalana. La restauraci dels Jocs Florals el 1859 impulsa definitiva-ment la recuperaci del catal com a eina vlida per a la literatura. Homcomena a plantejar-se tamb la qesti ortogrfica, si b des de punts devista oposats que oscillen entre el popularisme i lacademicisme.

2. Reivindicaci i defensa del catal com a llengua nacional (1880-1898).Sintenta de normalitzar ls del catal escrit en tots els mbits, no no-ms el literari, per tal de superar la situaci de diglssia. Cal enumerar enaquest respecte les segents fites: la fundaci delDiari Catal de Valen-t Almirall el 1879; la celebraci del Primer Congrs Catalanista el 1880,a iniciativa tamb dAlmirall; les temptatives de codificaci lingstica acrrec de lAcadmia de la Llengua Catalana i la revista LAven; lesBases de Manresa (1892).

3. Construcci duna llengua moderna cultural i nacional (1899-1932). En-tre les iniciatives ms destacables daquesta fase hi figuren la Lletra deConvit dAntoni M. Alcover (1901); la celebraci del Primer CongrsInternacional de la Llengua Catalana (1906); i, com a culminaci, lex-traordinria obra codificadora de Pompeu Fabra des de la Secci Filol-gica de lInstitut dEstudis Catalans (1907): Normes ortogrfiques(1913),Diccionari ortogrfic (1917),Gramtica catalana (1918) iDiccio-nari general de la llengua catalana (1932).

A la segona part del captol 4 es fa una sntesis de lideari lingstic i polticde nou autors representatius de levoluci del discurs catalanista entre 1833 i1932: Joan Cortada, Manuel Mil i Fontanals, Francesc Pi i Margall, VctorBalaguer, Valent Almirall, Josep Torras i Bages, Pompeu Fabra, Enric Prat dela Riba i Antoni Rovira i Virgili. Finalment, al captol 5 es resumeixen les con-clusions fonamentals de lestudi, entre les quals en destacarem dues: la relaciindissoluble entre catalanisme lingstic i catalanisme poltic, aix com la que esprodueix entre llengua i identidat catalanes; i laparici dun discurs espanyo-lista amb distints graus de virulncia, parallel al propi desenvolupament del


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catalanisme. No cal afegir que el procs histric de recuperaci del catal des-crit en aquest llibre es trenca abruptament a conseqncia dels esdevenimentspoltics que marquen la histria del segle xx a lEstat espanyol: Guerra Civil,triomf del bndol nacionalista i persecuci de les llenges minoritries durantla Dictadura franquista.

El mrit principal daquesta monografia s el doferir una panormica deta-llada, acurada i til sobre els metadiscursos de la llengua catalana dins un marchistric que va des de la Renaixena fins a laprovaci de lEstatut de 1932. Estracta duna tesi doctoral molt ben documentada, fruit duna recerca laboriosa,que empra una metodologia adequada i que proposa a ms una tesi convincent.No obstant aix, creiem que shauria dhaver revisat i escurat convenientmentamb vista a la publicaci. El llibre peca de prolix, ja que tarda massa a entrar enmatria i les mateixes idees es van reiterant una i altra vegada fins a provocar uncert enuig en el lector. Tot i aquestes mancances de tipus sobretot estructural,el resultat final no s en absolut decebedor. Ens trobem, en summa, davantduna aportaci important al tema que hauria de contribuir a una millor com-prensi de la problemtica inserci de Catalunya a Espanya, qesti pendent icandent de la democrcia postfranquista que no ha fet ms que aguditzar-se enels darrers anys. Tant de bo que sigui aix.

TONI DORCAMacalester College

Llull, Ramon. A Contemporary Life. Ed. and trans. Anthony Bonner. Barce-lona/New York: Barcino/Tamesis, 2010. 88 pp. + 15 illustrations.

Les editorials Barcino i Tamesis han elaborat conjuntament una altra edici itraducci a langls dun text clssic catal, la Vita coaetanea (o Vida coetnia)de Ramon Llull. Aquesta nova edici safegeix a la ja fora extensa llista dedi-cions que fan accessibles els nostres clssics al lector que sacosta al catal atravs de langls. Aquesta srie editorial, anomenada Serie B: Textos es vainaugurar amb els versos dAusis March i ha continuat una prometedora tra-jectria amb textos de Muntaner, Eiximenis i del Llibre de Sent Sov.

El volum que tinc avui entre les mans fa avinent al pblic anglfon el textllat i la traducci anglesa de la Vita coaetanea, un interessantssim relat de lavida de Llull recitada per ell mateix als seus amics o deixebles a Paris el 1311 iposteriorment redactada en llat per un daquests estudiants o amics del beatmallorqu. Tot i que la Vita coaetanea no es pot considerar una biografia verta-dera de Llull sino, ms aviat una recreaci fictcia i propagandstica, aquest textconstitueix un document inestimable per entendre tant la figura de Llull com elseu pensament filosfic, aix com la dinmica social, poltica i religiosa de lasocietat en la qual va viure i sobre la qual Llull va intentar influir poderosament.


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Anthony Bonner explica a la seva introduci que aquesta Vita de RamonLlull sha preservat en tres versions. Dues daquestes versions, en llat, frenpublicades uns deu anys desprs de la mort de Llull pel seu deixeble, Thomas LeMesier. La ms cabdal daquestes dues versions aparagu a una vasta compila-ci de totes les obres de Llull feta per Le Mesier i intitulada Electorium i s laque trobem traduda en aquest volum que ens ocupa. El mateix Le Mesier fouresponsable tamb de la tercera de les versions conegudes, anomenda Brevicu-lum, la qual es caracteritza per sser una versi abreujada de la Vita coaetanea iper presentar una collecci de luxoses miniatures que illustren els episodis de lavida de Ramon Llull. Aquestes illuminacions ren de tal bellesa, originalitat idestresa artstica que el manuscrit fou, fins i tot, ofert com a present a la reina deFrana, Jeanne de Borgonya-Artois, esposa del rei Felip V.

Sortosament per a nosaltres, aquesta edici de Bonner cont les reproduccionsfacsimilars en color daquestesminiatures, veritables textos pictrics que no nomscomplementen la narraci escrita de la vida de Llull sino que, a ms, enriqueixenla percepci de la figura i el pensament de RamonLlull per part del lectormodern.

La traducci feta per Bonner en aquesta edici prov de dues obres sevesanteriors, publicades als Estats Units per Princeton University Press, SelectedWorks (1985) iDoctor Illuminatus (1993), les quals van fer possible, ja en aque-lles dates, que estudiosos de la cultura medieval tingueren accs als textos lul-lians. El text angls de Bonner reflecteix molt b loriginal llat i crea una prosadun estil am i sintcticament fluid, tot i conservant un registre formal queintenta emular lestil retric medieval.

Tal com es pot apreciar en els altres volums ja publicats daquesta colleccide Barcino-Tamesis, el llibre que ressenyo aqu ha estat elaborat amb moltacura. Es tracta dun volum prim que t un format cmode, fcil de manejar. Tuna portada molt elegant de color negre a la qual, en aquest cas, shi ha afegituna de les belles illuminacions del Breviculum. La part interior s igualmentatractiva i de gran qualitat, amb les pgines que reprodueixen el text emmarca-des entre fulls gruixuts de brillant color vermell. s, per tant, un llibre que potser utilitzat fcilment com a llibre de text per a estudiants.

Lobra cont una introducci, una secci a on es reprodueixen les illumina-cions i, a continuaci, lapartat que cont el text de laVita coaetanea, en llat i enangls. La cara verso o esquerra de la pgina cont el text en llat, mentre que ala cara recto o dreta de la pgina hi trobem la traducci a langls. Bonner tambinclou en aquesta part de ledici breus i utilssimes notes a peu de pgina queaclareixen conceptes, contrasten el text de la Vita a fets histrics o detalls geo-grfics, i tamb fan referncia a les investigacions daltres estudiosos.

Lobra acaba amb una succinta pero excellent bibliografia que pretn ofe-rir una primera mostra de les obres generals que hauria de tenir en comptequalsevol lector que estigui iniciant-se en la coneixena de la vida i obra deRamon Llull.

Aquesta nova edici i traducci de la Vita coaetanea de Llull servir, sensdubte, per a una ms mplia difusi del llegat del beat mallorqu, personatge cab-


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dal per encara massa desconegut de la cultura medieval europea. Hem dagrair aleditor i traductor, Anthony Bonner, i a les dues editorials, Barcino i Tamesis,que hagin escoms i portat a bon terme aquesta tasca tan positiva com necessria.

MONTSERRAT PIERATemple University

Mil, Llus del. El cortesano. Estudi introductori i edici a cura de Vicent J.Escart. Valncia: Instituci Alfons el Magnnim, 2010. 464 pp.

The professor of Catalan philology Vicent Josep Escart reexamines in a veryinsightful way the text entitled El cortesano (1561)The Courtierwritten inCastilian by the Valencian author Llus Mil (1507-1559). This dialoguepresents the essential characteristics that a knight of noble lineage must possessin order to behave properly in Valencias royal courts during the viceroyalty ofDukes of Calabria (1526-1550). Mil used an idealized perspective and a cheer-ful voice throughout the entire story. Escart explains: El cortesano no deixade ser una crnica dialogada amb interrupcions de caire teatral o parateatral,fcils didentificar al text (40). That is why this work has strongly interestedcritics since the Modern Ages. Therefore, El cortesano is the best work of Mil,who is considered the most famous Valencian Renaissance author.

Escart, a specialist in medieval and Catalan literature, proposes a new ap-proach for understanding the text ofMil. The philologist had previously studiedthis work, resulting in one edition in 2001. This publication updates the first edi-tion; he also includes an Introduction to cultural, historical, and social contexts,which exhaustively outlines some of Escarts thoughts during these nine years.The text begins with an excellent Introduction, which explains in a concise anddetailed way the social, cultural, and literary background of Mils work (9-48),and endswith a complete bibliography (49-56). After the Introduction comes theactual edition of the text (57-457), which ends with a glossary (458-464).

In the first part of the Introduction Escart provides a deep and completehistorical context for a better understanding of the content. From my point ofview, this historical description is critical, and the author covers the topic com-pletely. For example, we must bear in mind the existence of different spellings,characters, and punctuation in 1874, which led to a number of alterations.Moreover, Escart simplifies and updates the original for todays reader. Also,the edition happens to be part of a legitimate and accurate copy of Mils orig-inal text. It is necessary to note that the validity of this new edition comes fromthe fact that Escart renews the language of the Valencian author, but maintainshis essential peculiarities, which are explained in the glossary. Escart presentshistorical moments of Valencias Renaissance court; the following are a fewpoints from the detailed contextual information that the editor outlines in the


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Introduction: the Dukes of Calabria are appointed viceroys of Valencia by theEmperor Charles V. Germana de Foix, who is the widow of King Ferdinandthe Catholic, is familiar with palace life at the Royal Palace of Valencia. Sheenjoyed a comfortable life and wealth, far from the plague, the 800 death sen-tences and the conflict in the Germanies (1519-1523), all of which was happen-ing in Valencia. This way of life is well reflected in the story, as its ideologicalintention is to explain how a nobleman must interact in various social events.The work serves to show the centrality, but also the decline of Valencia ascapital city of the Crown of Aragon using an idealized scenario.

At the same time, Escart outlines the influence and connection with Italy.He reflects: Si ens fixem en alguns dels temes que interessaven Castiglione,veurem fins a quin punt la cort valenciana italianitzava les seues formes de vida;i tamb, com s fcil de suposar, la seua literatura (15). Hence, the Europeanworldview of Mils work arises, and Escart remarks on it in the Introduction.Also, this work has a direct connection with Baldassare Castiglione (14781529), and his previous book Il cortegiano (1528). This similar text is also adidactic manual that shows the steps to become a great aristocrat: tractavadadaptar lhumanisme a la noblesa (21).

The books language is crucial. It is written in Castilian, although there aresome short dialogues in Catalan. It is also important to note that the language ofthe aristocrats and their contemporaries changed from Catalan to Spanish. Themultilingualism of the work is a source of great interest. For instance, apart fromCastilian and Catalan, there are conversations in Portuguese, French, and Italian.Another important issue is the concise explanation of the different genres. Milswork can be considered a dialogue between many genres: Renaissance narrativeand theater; chronicles; Italian songs of love, poetry and verse that follows thetroubadour-provenal tradition. The combination of multilingualism and multi-ple genres helps to show the idealized life of Germana de Foixs viceroyalty.

All that is left to do, then, is to congratulate Vicent Josep Escart. He madean exhaustive work that connects and establishes the existence of the variousaspects and features that settle the existence of Humanism in the Crown ofAragon. The reader will find a detailed and thorough critical edition, althoughit is general enough to suit all types of audiences. Escart puts together all theseaspects to provide a broad reading of the work, archival research, and a success-ful methodology. Furthermore, the support of Instituci Alfons el Magnnimhas to be highlighted. El cortesano is an exemplary effort to bring to light theexistence of Humanism at the Catalan and Spanish literature. Last but not least,it has to be said that this is another example of the peninsular literature put intodialogue with the European context. Escart points out all these aspects in aclear, succinct, and satisfying manner in this critical edition.

SCAR SANTOS-SOPENAUniversity of Maryland College Park

UNED Madrid


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Miralles, Eullia, ed. Del Cinccents al Setcents. Tres-cents anys de literaturacatalana. Bellcaire dEmpord: Edicions Vitella, 2010. 574 pp.

Tres sn els segles ms desprestigiats de la literatura catalana, i daquests tressegles el Cinccents, el Siscents i el Setcents sencarrega el recull de catorzearticles dirigit per Eullia Miralles. Molts dels treballs aqu recopilats shavienpublicat anteriorment, i ara, editats i millorats, tornen a aparixer per, aix, po-der gaudir en un sol volum duna panormica de la prosa, del teatre i de la po-esia durant el renaixement, el barroc i els corrents illuministes als pasos dellengua catalana. Tots el articles, a part del darrer dedicat a Vicent Garcia, tenenun carcter general i tracten de diversos autors i obres de lpoca.

Leditora comena amb la presentaci del llibre, on ens recorda els esforoslliurats des dels anys vuitanta fins els nostres dies per esborrar els clixs histo-riogrfics dun perode malents i anomenat errniament Decadncia. El re-cull suposa un altre daquests esforos, i fins i tot un esfor superior, perquagrupa articles que individualment ja havien aconseguit un gran aven durant laseva primera publicaci. Miralles divideix el volum en quatre parts: la primeras introductria, la segona est designada a la prosa, la tercera estudia el teatre iacaba amb la part ms llarga assignada a la poesia.

Albert Rossich inicia el bloc introductori assenyalant les raons de la crisidel segle xvi. No es pot negar que durant el Cinccents sn escasses les mostresliterries en catal. Ara b: ls literari del castell no es pot considerar comcausa de decadncia perqu el plurilingisme havia aparegut dcades abans. Launi de la corona dArag a la de Castella tampoc es pot apuntar com la causaprincipal de la crisi, per s que comporta una desvinculaci dels territoris deparla catalana. Amb tot, Rossich proposa una altra ra concloent: una ra demercat, s a dir, la impremta. Rossich continua amb un recorregut per la litera-tura catalana moderna. Aquest recorregut sintegra perfectament amb el se-gent article: el treball historiogrfic de Pep Valsalobre. Lestudi cientfic de laliteratura catalana sinicia amb lanomenada escola histrica. Mil i Fonta-nals, Rubi i Lluch i Nicolau dOlwer es centren en el perode medieval, i avuien dia, la literatura catalana medieval es troba ben normalitzada. No s pas lamateixa situaci per la literatura catalana moderna. Shan fet obres panormi-ques i edicions de textos per encara resta molt per fer. I sobretot hi ha molt perfer en la prosa catalana moderna. La ra, segons Albert Rossich i Modest Prats,s que els estudiosos noms shan ocupat de la literatura de creaci, i han deixatde banda textos escrits en catal que no es consideren estrictament literaris perque posseeixen un registre culte. La literatura memorialstica tanca el bloc de laprosa. Un gnere amb conscincia de gnere literari des de fa ben poc i amb unslmits difcils de marcar. Tot i aix, la memorialstica ofereix moltes possibili-tats i uns autors com Jeroni Pujades, Miquel Parets i el bar del Mald que esdediquen a descriure extensament el clima social i poltic de Barcelona.

Passem al teatre, i especficament al teatre del barroc, on trobem una mica detot: comdies de sants, passions, obres burlesques i histriques. Cal no oblidar


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les obres de Vicent Garcia i de Francesc Fontanella. Rossich tamb inclou el te-atre breu, per s Gabriel Sansano qui sencarrega del teatre breu al Pas Valen-ci. Sansano proposa un nou enfocament i estudia la dramatrgia autctona delsegle xviii: un teatre popular, improvisat i que utilitzava la llengua del poble.

La mtrica italiana obre lapartat de poesia. Quan pensem amb lendecasi-llabo itali rpidament lassociem amb Bosc, i s per aix que hi ha un abans iun desprs de Bosc a larticle de Rossich. Sha considerat la dificultat dintro-duir el vers itali a la poesia catalana com un signe arcaic. Tanmateix, a Franaes produeix el mateix fenomen. Tant en el catal com en el francs no es vaconsiderar necessari eliminar la pausa interna del decasllab tradicional. Valsa-lobre segueix amb la poesia catalana del Cinccents, que qualifica de segle err-tic pel Principat i de poetes emmudits i desorientats a Valncia. Molt alcontrari s la poesia que genera la guerra dels Segadors. Certament, els abun-dants poemes esdevendran armes poltiques i propagandstiques. Per acabar,Mireia Campabadal presenta lltima panormica del volum dedicada a la poe-sia catalana del Setcents. Les apologies que apareixen durant el segle xviii insis-teixen en que sescrigui en catal i proposen com a models els autors medievals.

Del Cinccents al Setcents. Tres-cents anys de literatura catalana s un llibreessencial per lestudi de la literatura catalana del renaixement, del barroc i delscorrents illuministes. Sens dubte, estem davant dun recull dels millors articlesproduts fins ara, i amb els investigadors ms actius en la recerca de la literaturacatalana dels segles xvi, xvii i xviii. Esperem que aquest llibre promogui lestu-di daquests segles, i que ms especialistes suneixin al grup de recerca. Tamb,esperem que apareguin ms projectes i que finalment deixem de fixar-nos en elmaltractament rebut per la historiografia tradicional.

CONXITA DOMNECHUniversity of Wyoming

Montany, Llus.Defensa de lavantguardisme. Ed. Joan Herrero Sens. Bar-celona: Acontravent, 2010. 357 pp.

Si la crtica sense cincia no t ms que la valor duna impressi, el sol exa-men tcnic de lobra crtica t menys de valor encara. This is what book criticLlus Montany, the focus of the present edition by Joan Herrero Sens andarguably the lesser known author of the Manifest groc, thought of his profes-sion (224). Writing a book review which deals with a literature critic places usin an interesting position, as we feel compelled to reflect on our own way toreview the work by others. This book, the first devoted entirely to Montanysoeuvre, allows us to encounter or revisit numerous European authors of the1920s and 1930s, while acting as a mirror in which critics will find themselvesidentified in different degrees.


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According to Herrero, there is only one brief compilation of works byMontany:Notes sobre el superrealisme i altres escrits by Esther Centelles, pub-lished in 1977 (12), which is indicative of the value of his book. Herreros aimis to find a place for the production of one of the most remarkable critics of theCatalan avant-garde, and to rescue his revealing texts about a number of influ-ential authors of a decisive period of the twentieth century (29). Whether Mon-tany offers a critical overview of French literature in 1926 or whether he prais-es J.V. FoixsGertrudis, the volume succeeds in presenting the Barcelona-bornauthor as a European critic who is worth listening to. The scope of his knowl-edge, ranging from his awareness of Ortega y Gassets dehumanization of art(183) to his understanding of the origins and principles of Surrealism (164-69),to mention just a few examples, situates Montany at the heart of the Catalan,Spanish and European Avant-garde.

The volume includes an Introduction by Herrero, forty-seven critical arti-cles by Montany spanning from 1926 to 1938, a section with bibliographicalinformation about the original sources, and an appendix with photos, drawings,invitations and a letter from Marguerite Yourcenar. Mostly extracted fromLAmic de les Arts and La Publicitat, the forty-seven pieces roughly cover threetopics: the engagement with the Avant-garde, the intellectuals contribution tothe development of modern European society, and the discussions on the socialinvolvement of art and poetry. When necessary, the articles are footnoted withdetails of the book/s under scrutiny. Moreover, Cinema i literatura has notbeen published before, which also contributes to the interest of the volume.

Regarding the topic of the Avant-garde, Proselitisme, no, Manifestgroc and Les arts. Guia sinptica were already included in Molas 1983, andthe two other texts co-authored with Dal (Les arts. Cinema and El cadverinsepult) appeared in Fans 1995. The presence of Proselitisme, no helps usto focus on the Sitges meeting in a different light, as this is mainly known forthe contribution by Dal. Furthermore, I would argue that the inclusion of allthese co-authored pieces in the volume equalizes Montany and Dals contri-bution, and as a whole the edition presents this author beyond his involvementin the Manifest groc. More particularly, Herreros collection highlights thatMontanys criticism ofLaNova Revista in the Manifest groc is at odds withhis own contribution to this publication on a number of occasions.

The second topic comprises a commentary on Dfense de lOccident byHenri Massis, which Montany praises for its realization of the dangers of suc-cumbing to the spiritual impassibility of the East following the First WorldWar (103-14). The third block sees the direct account of the Spanish Civil Warthrough the text on the assassination of Lorca and the piece on several youngEnglish poets. Montanys pieces also provide numerous comments on the na-ture of modern literary criticism, which sinteressa ms per la personalitat delescriptor que per la construcci de les seves obres; ms per la seva posicitica i intellectual que pels seus personatges i llurs aventures (99). This i

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