‘”Quoiqu’elle ne pousse ni grands gestes ni grands cris . . . “: Comparative Literature in Great Britain’

Following a synopsis of landmarks in the development of comparative literature in the UK, this essay considers the current situation of the field. It reviews in particular debates about the “crisis” of comparative literature, its relation to translation studies, postcolonial studies, and world literature; its response to hegemonic English; and possible future orientations

‘Practical Kabbala’: A translation into English of Leopoldo Lugones’s ‘Kábala práctica’ (1897)

This article presents a translation from the Spanish of ‘Kábala práctica’/‘Practical Kabbala’, a short story in the fantastic mode published in 1897, preceded by an essay that considers the place and function of translation in the British literary system based on a case study of this story and its Argentinian author, Leopoldo Lugones (1874–1938). The introductory essay explores the possibility that the limited and only recent reception of Lugones’s work in the United Kingdom is related, albeit not exclusively, to a persistent British intercultural myopia as far as non-anglophone literatures are concerned that may be attributed to the anglophone linguistic exclusivism that is one consequence of the hegemonic status of English. This leads, it is argued, to a consecratory approach, based on iconic ‘snapshots’, to incorporation of translation into the British literary system, rather than an exploratory approach that seeks to uncover the hinterland; in other words, an approach that treats non-anglophone literatures as the cultural equivalents of holiday hotspots rather than fully stipulated cultural-discursive systems in their own right. The case of Lugones serves to demonstrate that an exploratory approach (by translators) to non-anglophone literatures reveals writers and literary traditions whose significance places ‘consecrated’ writers such as fellow Argentinian but now ‘World’ Borges in a context necessary to the elucidation of their own significance

Response to the work of Charles Baudelaire in the literary criticism and chronicles of Rubén Darío: a spanish perspective

Rubén DarÍo's infIuence on Spanish "modernismo" and his extensive knowledge of French literature are longstanding commonplaces of literary history. It might therefore be supposed that Darío was in a position to be an infIuential agent of diffusion for the French literary sources in which the "modernistas" sought inspiration. Study of allusions to the work of Charles Baudelaire in the Nicaraguan's literary criticism and chronicles, however, reveals a significantly different picture. For Darío, the self-styled priest of the religion of Art and champion of a pseudo-Christian idealism, Baudelaire was never more than the devil-worshipping poet of vice and spiritual anguish reviled by opponents of the "new literature". Darío's critical response to Baudelaire shows little critical sophistication or originality, yet the esteem in which he was held by the writers of Spain's Fin-de-Siècle does not appear to have prevented them, or at least some of them, from undertaking more penetrating and enlightened readings of the work of the poet of Les Fleurs du Mal.La influencia que ejerció Rubén Darío en el modernismo español así como los extensos conocimientos de la literatura francesa que poseía el nicaragüense son tópicos ya viejos de la historia literaria. La suposición de que Darío pudiera por tanto desempeñar un importante papel de difusor de las fuentes de inspiración galas a las que acudían los modernistas españoles se ve desmentida al estudiar las alusiones que hizo el portaestandarte del modernismo hispánico a la obra de Charles Baudelaire. Para Darío, sacerdote del arte, paladín de un idealismo seudocristiano, Baudelaire nunca pasó de ser el poeta satánico, del vicio y de la angustia espiritual vilipendiado por la crítica enemiga de la "nueva literatura".Lo que escribió el "maestro" sobre Baudelaire poco tiene pues de maestría crítica, ni de originalidad. El respeto que imponía DarÍo no impidió con todo que los literatos españoles de la generación finisecular, o por lo menos algunos de ellos, realizasen una lectura más penetrante y más comprensiva de la obra del poeta de Las flores del mal

Gallovirus or Blood Transfusion? : a Fin-de-Siècle Response to French Cultural Hegemony on Europe's Periphery

El traslado de España al margen cultural de la Europa finisecular se debe en gran parte a que la crítica se ha empeñado y se empeña todavía en evocar las relaciones literarias internacionales en términos de la llamada 'influencia' de las literaturas nacionales 'fuertes' sobre las 'débiles'. El debate crítico en torno a la influencia de la literatura francesa en el modernismo español demuestra claramente este fenómeno. Sin embargo, un examen más detenido de la recepción crítica de la literatura francesa por parte de los modernistas no descubre la imitación servil de fuentes francesas, sino una reflexión crítica juiciosa, lo cual constituye la superación del concepto del receptor pasivo. Desde esta perspectiva el centro hegemónico también se convierte en un espacio donde obran las influencias y que es enriquecido gracias a ellas.____________________________________Spain's relegation to the cultural periphery of fin-de-siècle Europe has been facilitated by an insistence on describing international literary relations in terms of the 'influence' of 'strong' national literatures on 'weak' ones. Critical allusion to the influence of French literature in Spanish modernismo is a case in point. Closer examination of modernista reception of French literature, however, reveals not slavish imitation of French sources but discriminating critical evaluation. This challenges the traditional assumption according to which the so-called recipient of influence is a passive entity in the influence process, and by extension allows the hegemonic centre itself to be seen as a site open to and enriched by influences. Exemplari

Welfare Collection – material in the Archive Room

Welfare Collection - a list of the papers and documents that may be requested for consultation in the Special Collections Reading Roo

Finding anthropology journals and journal articles

A guide to finding anthropology journals and journal article