Farewell Spain

The only certainty in life is death. Even the most powerful leaders throughout history were unable to cheat the Grim Reaper. World leaders, whether revered or reviled, are rarely allowed to exit gracefully from life but instead receive a state funeral, a major international event incorporating splendid symbols and messages, religious faith, and tradition. The body of Tsar Alexander III was carried across half of Russia before finally being buried in St. Petersburg. People paid obscene amounts of money for a room that gave a glimpse of Queen Victoria’s fascinating State funeral. The cortège for China’s Empress-Dowager Cixi was not to be photographed – nevertheless photos showed up a century later. For political reasons Generalissimo Franco’s body was exhumed decades after his death. The world became acquainted with a rather unusual ancient Roman Catholic ritual, when Pope John Paul I died. The body of India’s Indira Gandhi was confined to sacred flames. The last journey of Marshal Tito turned into an event of “Funeral Diplomacy”, whilst Khomeini’s funeral ended in frenzy and tumult. In 2021 the massive restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic meant a rigid downsizing of Prince Philip’s funeral, hardly any guests were allowed to attend. This revealing and entertaining book provides an insight into unique obsequies from across the world, seen as both a celebration of life and the honouring of death.

The Eve of Spain demonstrates how the telling and retelling of one of Spain’s founding myths played a central role in the formation of that country’s national identity. King Roderigo, the last Visigoth king of Spain, rapes (or possibly seduces) La Cava, the daughter of his friend and counselor, Count Julian. In revenge, the count travels to North Africa and conspires with its Berber rulers to send an invading army into Spain. So begins the Muslim conquest and the end of Visigothic rule. A few years later, in Northern Spain, Pelayo initiates a Christian resistance and starts a new line of kings to which the present-day Spanish monarchy traces its roots. Patricia E. Grieve follows the evolution of this story from the Middle Ages into the modern era, as shifts in religious tolerance and cultural acceptance influenced its retelling. She explains how increasing anti-Semitism came to be woven into the tale during the Christian conquest of the peninsula—in the form of traitorous Jewish conspirators. In the sixteenth century, the tale was linked to the looming threat of the Ottoman Turks. The story continued to resonate through the Enlightenment and into modern historiography, revealing the complex interactions of racial and religious conflict and evolving ideas of women’s sexuality. In following the story of La Cava, Rodrigo, and Pelayo, Grieve explains how foundational myths and popular legends articulate struggles for national identity. She explores how myths are developed around few historical facts, how they come to be written into history, and how they are exploited politically, as in the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 followed by that of the Moriscos in 1609. Finally, Grieve focuses on the misogynistic elements of the story and asks why the fall of Spain is figured as a cautionary tale about a woman’s sexuality.

The island of Ireland, north and south, has produced a great diversity of writing in both English and Irish for hundreds of years, often using the memories embodied in its competing views of history as a fruitful source of literary inspiration. Placing Irish literature in an international context, these two volumes explore the connection between Irish history and literature, in particular the Rebellion of 1798, in a more comprehensive, diverse and multi-faceted way than has often been the case in the past. The fifty-three authors bring their national and personal viewpoints as well as their critical judgements to bear on Irish literature in these stimulating articles. The contributions also deal with topics such as Gothic literature, ideology, and identity, as well as gender issues, connections with the other arts, regional Irish literature, in particular that of the city of Limerick, translations, the works of Joyce, and comparisons with the literature of other nations. The contributors are all members of IASIL (International Association for the Study of Irish Literatures). Back to the Present: Forward to the Past. Irish Writing and History since 1798 will be of interest to both literary scholars and professional historians, but also to the general student of Irish writing and Irish culture.

This original study focusing on four Irish writers – Leslie Daiken, Charles Donnelly, Ewart Milne and Michael Sayers – retrieves a hitherto neglected episode of Thirties literary history which highlights the local and global aspects of Popular Front cultural movements. From interwar London to the Spanish Civil War and the USSR, the book examines the lives and work of Irish writers through their writings, their witness texts and their political activism. The relationships of these writers to George Orwell, Samuel Beckett, T.S. Eliot, Nancy Cunard, William Carlos Williams and other figures of cultural significance within the interwar period sheds new light on the internationalist aspects of a Leftist cultural history. The book also explores how Irish literary women on the Left defied marginalization. The impetus of the book is not merely to perform an act of literary salvage but to find new ways of re-imagining what might be said to constitute Irish literature mid-twentieth century; and to illustrate how Irish writers played a role in a transforming political moment of the twentieth century. It will be of interest to scholars and students of cultural history and literature, Irish diaspora studies, Jewish studies, and the social and literary history of the Thirties.

Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations fighting for the POUM militia of the Republican army during the Spanish Civil War. The war was one of the defining events of his political outlook and a significant part of what led him to write in 1946, "Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for Democratic Socialism, as I understand it." The first edition was published in the United Kingdom in 1938. The book was not published in the United States until February 1952, when it appeared with an influential preface by Lionel Trilling. The only translation published in Orwell's lifetime was into Italian, in December 1948. A French translation by Yvonne Davet-with whom Orwell corresponded, commenting on her translation and providing explanatory notes-in 1938-39, was not published until five years after Orwell's death. Book Summary: Orwell served as a private, a corporal (cabo) and-when the informal command structure of the militia gave way to a conventional hierarchy in May 1937-as a lieutenant, on a provisional basis, in Catalonia and Aragon from December 1936 until June 1937. In June 1937, the leftist political party with whose militia he served (the POUM, the Workers' Party of Marxist Unification, an anti-Stalinist communist party) was declared an illegal organisation, and Orwell was consequently forced to flee. Having arrived in Barcelona on 26 December 1936, Orwell told John McNair, the Independent Labour Party's (ILP) representative there, that he had "come to Spain to join the militia to fight against Fascism." He also told McNair that "he would like to write about the situation and endeavour to stir working class opinion in Britain and France." McNair took him to the POUM barracks, where Orwell immediately enlisted. "Orwell did not know that two months before he arrived in Spain, the [Soviet law enforcement agency] NKVD's resident in Spain, Aleksandr Orlov, had assured NKVD Headquarters, 'the Trotskyist organisation POUM can easily be liquidated'-by those, the Communists, whom Orwell took to be allies in the fight against Franco."

Sir Bobby Robson died on the morning of 31 July 2009. Revered in Newcastle and the North East, he was a man who enjoyed phenomenal popularity, and touched so many people with his sincerity and passion for the game of football. From his playing days with Fulham and West Brom in the 1950s and 60s, to his twenty England caps and his brilliant management career, Bobby Robson inspired generations of fans. However, Bobby's story is not just about these great achievements. In this book he provided a fascinating insight into his childhood and early adult years growing up in the North East, and his working life before football in the mines of Langley Park, where he went underground for a year and a half at the age of fifteen. One of English football's most successful managers, Bobby witnessed some of the most historic sporting moments during his incredible career, including such epic incidents as the 'Hand of God' and Gazza's tears. He wrote of leading England through two World Cups and the agony of coming within a penalty kick of the 1990 World Cup final. Bobby's story takes in many countries, many clubs and many of the world's most illustrious players. He inspired deep affection for the qualities that he always embodied: passion, humour, hard work and fair play. Bobby Robson's story is a rich and diverse one; this moving and entertaining autobiography celebrates the remarkable life of a sporting legend.