Francisco Nieva and Postmodernist Theatre


Book Description

Francisco Nieva and Postmodernist Theatre will engage with and advance the debate on the viability of postmodernist theatre in general by presenting the works of Francisco Nieva as a bona-fide postmodernist theatre formulated on avant-garde foundations.The study will also redefine the existing historical boundaries of literary postmodernism by asserting Spain's role in shaping that history through the 1940s neo-avant-garde Movement, Postismo. The author argues that Postismo is the earliest systematic manifestation in the Iberian Peninsula of literary postmodernism as we know it, a fact often ignored on account of Franco's suppression of it, and that Nieva is not only Postismo's chief proponent but also the only legitimate postist playwright.




Francisco Nieva: Coronada y el toro


Book Description

Coronada y el toro (Coronada and the Bull) is a play written in 1974 by Francisco Morales Nieva (1924–2016), a prominent figure in the history of Spanish theatre. Even though the aesthetic quality of his drama competed with that of his contemporaries, with many of whom he interacted (Ionesco, Genet, Brecht, Grotowski, et al.), Nieva’s recognition was unduly delayed within Spain and, on the international scene, his name remains eclipsed by playwrights such as Federico García Lorca and Antonio Buero Vallejo. Traditionalist and populist yet cosmopolitan and neo-avant-garde, Nieva began writing plays in the late 1940s but never got the chance to perform any on the commercial stage until 1976, a few months after the death of General Francisco Franco, whose censorship machine forced his work underground. Hard to subject to any single classification, Nieva’s theatre is as complex as it is innovative in its combination of resources from a wide range of artistic trends, from the género chico to the Baroque to postmodernism. Coronada y el toro is a sophisticated masterpiece, rich in intertextuality, humour, and suspense.




The Cultural Politics of Twentieth-century Spanish Theatre


Book Description

The Cultural Politics of Twentieth-Century Spanish Theater argues that twentieth-century artists used the Golden Age Eucharist plays called autos sacramentales to reassess the way politics and the arts interact in the Spanish nation's past and present, and to posit new ideas for future relations between the state and the national culture industry. The book traces the phenomenon of the twentieth-century auto to show how theater practitioners revisited this national genre to manifest different, oftentimes opposing, ideological and aesthetic agendas. It follows the auto from the avant-garde stagings and rewritings of the form in the early twentieth century, to the Francoist productions by the Teatro Nacional de la Falange, to postmodern parodies of the form in the era following Franco's death to demonstrate how twentieth-century Spanish dramatists use the auto in their reassessment of the nation's political and artistic past, and as a way of envisioning its future.




Postmodernity in Spanish Fiction and Culture


Book Description

"Postmodernity in Spanish Fiction and Culture" is a compelling study that combines elements of cultural studies and literary studies in order to present an integrated cultural representation of the emergence of a postmodern social constitution of contemporary Spain. Marking a sweeping reposition from earlier works about postmodernity and postmodernism in Spain, "Postmodernity in Spanish Fiction and Culture" makes a strong connection between postmodernity as social and economic conditions that are the result of unique features of a Spain of the 20th and 21st century, and postmodernism as life-style experiences that manifest new cultural and artistic practices of the 1980s and beyond. The study examines postmodernity by relating it to those exclusive social and cultural experiences that are patently Spanish (the movida, desencanto, immigration, globalization, and terrorism) and concludes that by virtue of Spain's unique socio-cultural, economic, and political history, not only does the country emerge as one of the most postmodern of all European nations but also that the conditions that define the country's evolution from the mid 1980s to the present constitute a distinctively authentic postmodernity.







World Literature in Spanish [3 volumes]


Book Description

Containing roughly 850 entries about Spanish-language literature throughout the world, this expansive work provides coverage of the varied countries, ethnicities, time periods, literary movements, and genres of these writings. Providing a thorough introduction to Spanish-language literature worldwide and across time is a tall order. However, World Literature in Spanish: An Encyclopedia contains roughly 850 entries on both major and minor authors, themes, genres, and topics of Spanish literature from the Middle Ages to the present day, affording an amazingly comprehensive reference collection in a single work. This encyclopedia describes the growing diversity within national borders, the increasing interdependence among nations, and the myriad impacts of Spanish literature across the globe. All countries that produce literature in Spanish in Europe, Africa, the Americas, and Asia are represented, covering both canonical authors and emerging contemporary writers and trends. Underrepresented writings—such as texts by women writers, queer and Afro-Hispanic texts, children's literature, and works on relevant but less studied topics such as sports and nationalism—also appear. While writings throughout the centuries are covered, those of the 20th and 21st centuries receive special consideration.




Encyclopedia of Contemporary Spanish Culture


Book Description

Some 750 alphabetically-arranged entries provide insights into recent cultural and political developments within Spain, including the cultures of Catalonia, Galicia and the Basque country. Coverage spans from the end of the Civil War in 1939 to the present day, with emphasis on the changes following the demise of the Franco dictatorship in 1975. Entries range from shorter, factual articles to longer overview essays offering in-depth treatment of major issues. Culture is defined in its broadest sense. Entries include: *Antonio Gaudí * science * Antonio Banderas * golf * dance * education * politics * racism * urbanization This Encyclopedia is essential reading for anyone interested in Spanish culture. It provides essential cultural context for students of Spanish, European History, Comparative European Studies and Cultural Studies.










Allegories of Dissent


Book Description

Allegories of Dissent, the first book devoted to the literature of Agustin Gomez-Arcos, is a case study of the relationship between art and oppression. It positions his theater in relation to the historical trajectories of twentieth-century Spanish and European drama, and in so doing, traces the allegorical strategies and thematic transformations that emerge in his work during the course of his radical move from censored artist to bilingual exile. Gomez-Arcos's threefold experience with censorship, exile, and bilingualism has left a lasting imprint on his literary production. As he embarks on an artistic journey from censored playwright living in dictatorial Spain to bilingual exile writer residing in democratic France, his gradual employment of the French language comes to allegorize his quest for freedom of expression.