Literary Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia in Britain and the Low Countries (1550-1850)
Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Amsterdam University Press
Published:22nd Jan '20
Should be back in stock very soon
Spain has been a fruitful locus for the European imagination for centuries, and it has been most often perceived in black-and-white oppositions -- either as a tyrannical and fanatical force in the early modern period or as an imaginary geography of a ‘Romantic’ Spain in later centuries. However, the image of Spain, its culture and its inhabitants did not evolve inexorably from negative to positive. From the early modern period onwards, it responded to an ambiguous matrix of conflicting Hispanophobic and Hispanophilic representations. Just as in the nineteenth century latent negative stereotypes continued to resurface, even in the Romantic heyday, in the early modern period appreciation for Spain was equally undeniable. When Spain was a political and military superpower, it also enjoyed cultural hegemony with a literary Golden Age producing internationally hailed masterpieces. Literary Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia in Britain and the Low Countries (1550-1850) explores the protracted interest in Spain and its culture, and it exposes the co-existent ambiguity between scorn and fascination that characterizes Western historical perceptions, in particular in Britain and the Low Countries, two geographical spaces with a shared sense of historical connectedness and an overlapping, sometimes complicated, history with Spain.
'[A]s the volume unfolds, one cannot but sense that there is important interdisciplinary work taking place between its covers. [...] The volume will thus be of interest to scholars interested in exploring the international dynamics of literary history, as well the ways literature and drama may figure in processes of national becoming that far exceed the contexts of their originating production and consumption."
- Eric J. Griffin, Millsaps College, Early Modern Low Countries 5 (2021) 2
"Reading Literary Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia in Britain and the Low Countries (1550–1850) is an illuminating experience, a master class even, for understanding in depth how Anglo-Dutch relations developed in relationship to the depictions of hispanophobia and hispanophilia. [...] Rodríguez Pérez has crafted an impeccable compilation, the model of what an edited volume should be. All of the studies share a strong intersectionality between literature and history, and they complement each other perfectly, such that together they resemble a monograph more than a collection of essays."
- Esther Fernández, Rice University, Journal of British Studies (2021)
"Literary Hispanophobia and Hispanophilia in Britain and the Low Countries (1550-1850) es un volumen rico y complejo, con unas contribuciones variadas e instructivas. Por su enfoque audaz e innovador, este libro ofrece nuevas perspectivas y suscita muchas preguntas fascinantes, y será de interés para estudiosos de diversos campos, tal como el hispanismo, la literatura comparada, el romanticismo europeo, la historia de la modernidad, y la imagología."
- Nettah Yoeli-Rimmer, Cuadernos de Ilustración y Romanticismo, No. 26 (2020)
"La historia de las múltiples declinaciones de la hispanofilia y la hispanofobia como fenómenos históricos y no como evidencias morales invita a pensar una reflexión global del pasado y hacerlo desde la aportación de nuevos objetos y nuevas reflexiones, sin menoscabar todo lo ya aprendido. Un libro como el de Yolanda Rodríguez Pérez es un avance significativo en dicha línea, un excelente volumen que junto a la información que suministra nos invita a pensar una historia más global, a abrir las ventanas de nuestras reflexiones y nuestras historiografías."
- José Javier Ruiz Ibáñez, Universidad de Murcia, Cuadernos de Historia Moderna (2020)
ISBN: 9789462989375
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
348 pages