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Fernando Pessoa: A Quasi Memoir
Writing a biography about Pessoa is a seemingly impossible task. The great Portuguese poet did not have just one life, but his existence virtually exploded in over a hundred different personalities. Only by placing oneself close to Pessoa, only by becoming almost one with him, is it possible to trace the life of this poet who was himself a multitude.
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Alfonso X of Castile-León
Today, the literary patronage of Alfonso X 'the Learned' of Castile (1252-1284) seems extraordinary for its time in the context of Europe. His cultural programme, which promoted his royal status and imperial ambitions, was hugely ambitious, and the paucity of information about the intellectual circumstances in which it took place magnifies the scope of Alfonso's achievements still further.
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John Dos Passos and Cinema
The book features previously unpublished manuscripts and correspondence illustrating case studies of John Dos Passos' screen writing for Paramount Pictures (1934) and his role in writing and filming The Spanish Earth (1937), a Spanish Civil War relief project whose circumstances culminated in his public break from the Left.
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The Spanish Frustration
A ruinous empire made a weak state, which built an incomplete nation, which sustains a minority democracy. That, in a nutshell, is the political history of modern Spain.
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Portugal’s Guerilla Wars in Africa
Portugal's three wars in Africa in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea (Guiné-Bissau today) lasted almost 13 years - longer than the United States Army fought in Vietnam. Yet they are among the most underreported conflicts of the modern era.
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The Sacred Space of the Virgin Mary in Medieval Hispanic Literature
This book takes a fresh look at some of the seemingly tired images of the Virgin Mary across the medieval and early Golden Age period in Hispanic literatures.
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Barrier and Bridge
Brexit looms ever closer one of the many problem raised by the UK’s departure from the EU is the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar which shares a land border with Spain across which approximately 40 per cent of Gibraltar’s labour force cross daily. Real questions are being raised on the future of this border and how it will be managed but one can only understand its future based on a sound knowledge of its evolution.
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Lisbon, City of the Sea
Lisbon: City of the Sea is a beautifully written portrait of a much loved city, from its origins in Greek legend to the present day. Malcolm Jack vividly captures the rich and unique history of this haunting and attractive port whose prominent position on the Tagus estuary has inextricably bound its character with the sea.
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