The development of basic textual strategies in Spanish fiction from 1902 to 1926 is the focus of this study. Challenging traditional views of the relationships between the literature produced by the Generation of 1898 and the Spanish vanguard movement, Spires traces through analyses of select works a process of evolution beginning at the turn of the century and continuing into the 1920s. Spires demonstrates how the somewhat tentative strategies of the first decade became more daring in the second. As opposed to the extant historical, autobiographical, and thematic surveys of this period, Transparent Simulacra features structuralist and post-structuralist readings of fiction by Baroja, Azorín, Unamuno, Pérez de Ayala, Gómez de Serna, Jarnés, and Salinas. These approaches offer not only revisionist views of a literary period but also revisionist readings of some of Spain's best-known fiction.

Develops a theory of contemporary culture that relies on displacing economic notions of cultural production with notions of cultural expenditure. This book represents an effort to rethink cultural theory from the perspective of a concept of cultural materialism, one that radically redefines postmodern formulations of the body.

"The book provides a compact theoretical account of the hidden functioning logic of the ideal of transparency. Transparency as a concept has become hugely popular in legal discourse and beyond. The book argues that there are underlying optical, conceptual, and social reasons why transparency makes sense to us: it promises immediate seeing and understanding. That is why it can form a powerful metaphor of controllability: in the state, for example, the governed are able to monitor the inner workings of the governor through transparency practices. The modern push for transparency is premised on the notion that the truth about governance is key to its legitimacy, and transparency can provide legitimacy through access to truth. The book argues that this premise is false. Instead of accessing legitimacy by providing truth, transparency is labelled by either-or logic, which is referred to as 'the truth-legitimacy trade-off' in the book: transparency can provide either truth or legitimacy. Through this argument, the book questions the neutrality promise vested in transparency and claims that transparency is primarily a tool for creating appearances. The book consists of nine chapters divided into three parts: The Opacity of Transparency, The Promise of Transparency, and The Reality of Transparency. It combines legal and policy themes and research with interdisciplinary inputs, such as social philosophy and cultural and media studies, contributing to the growing literature on critical transparency studies"--

"The Log of a Sea-Waif: Being Recollections of the First Four Years of My Sea Life" penned by Frank Thomas Bullen offers gripping firsthand accounts of his experiences as a young seaman. Bullen's vivid storytelling transports readers into the trials and adventures of life at sea during the 19th century, leaving a lasting impression on those who relish tales of maritime exploration.

By taking Dali's "paranoiac-critical method" to the delirious extents Dali himself recommended, LaFountain demonstrates that Dali's Surrealism anticipates tactics practiced by postmodern and poststructural critics. In particular, LaFountain advances the notion that "phantom meaning" displaced Surrealism's "phantom object," thereby creating a crisis of the subject and the object far in excess of that sought by Surrealist revolutionaries. Focusing on Dali's magnificent painting, Endless Enigma, LaFountain inaugurates "New Dali Studies" by offering an original interpretation of Dali's close, yet strained, relationship with André Breton and the Surrealist canon.

This book offers a comprehensive account of modern Spanish culture, tracing its dramatic and often unexpected development from its beginnings after the Revolution of 1868 to the present day. Specially-commissioned essays by leading experts provide analyses of the historical and political background of modern Spain, the culture of the major autonomous regions (notably Castile, Catalonia, and the Basque Country), and the country's literature: narrative, poetry, theatre and the essay. Spain's recent development is divided into three main phases: from 1868 to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War; the period of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco; and the post-Franco arrival of democracy. The concept of 'Spanish culture' is investigated, and there are studies of Spanish painting and sculpture, architecture, cinema, dance, music, and the modern media. A chronology and guides to further reading are provided, making the volume an invaluable introduction to the politics, literature and culture of modern Spain.