Verano inglés (review)

310 Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies by the Basque regional government on the Museo Guggenheim Bilbao is just one conspicuous example of daring attempts to assert cultural autonomy in die regions. From AndalucÃ-a to Catalu ña, Valencia to Asturias, museums emeiged as tools in the larger attempt to redefine core-periphery relations and the notion of Spanish identity itself. By the end of the century, Reuben HoIo argues, "Spain's museums demonstiated a wide range of aspitations that reflects the population's own increasingly cacophonie and kaleidoscopic sense of itself" (199). But Beyond the Prado aspires to more than documenting the diveisity of museums or theii tiansformations; Reuben HoIo insists that they "emerged as emblems and engines diiving Spain into democracy" (12). This is an ambitious aigument that I was willing to accept, at least on provisional terms. But such atguments are easier made than proven, so I was also anxious to see the goods. What I found was a comprehensive account of Spain's museums as political and cultural manifestations , wiitten by an American expert in museum studies (who is herself a gallery directoi). Reuben HoIo lends considerable insight into how museums ate constructed, run, and re-constructed in search of museological oi ideological ends. Moreover , this expertise is profitably used for exploring links between museum planning and political aspirations . But while this is an encompassing analysis of Spanish museums within the complex transition to demociacy, Reuben HoIo never convincingly demonstrates the reciprocal effect: how museums are producers ofsocial change and not merely products of them. Tracing the role of cultural production in the formation of national identity is a sobering task in any circumstance; the complexities are both theoretical and empirical. Perhaps because this book was written foi a geneial audience, theie is no real effort to theorize the museum in a deepei sense. But empiiical support is uneven as well. Within the confines ofthe museum and its management , this book is lock-solid. But foi a book puiporting to look beyond the museum to the state and identity foimation, it provides little documentation of the state's motives oi meaningful evidence of public attitudes and identities. This book often succumbs to a common temptation: assuming that die intentions of political actois translate direcdy into social impacts. Moreovei, it relies on anecdotes, assumptions, and the passive voice to slip the heavy buiden of pioving this link. The book's powerful and challenging premise demands comprehensive documentation; the book's modest end notes are often not up to the task. Reuben HoIo succeeds in going beyond the Prado, but is less convincing the further she gets outside museum walls. These flaws, however, are hardly fatal. This book is an unique examination ofthe museum as social force in Spanish demociacy, a peispective that will intrigue scholars ofthe museum and Spain alike. If the book lacks ironclad theoretical and empirical backing, it happily lacks constraining pedantry and impenetrable language. Reuben HoIo has offered earlier glimpses of her fresh perspective on Spain; this book assembles these into a thorough statement on the Spanish museum in all of its cultural and political complexity. It adds an important piece to oui understanding of a remarkable miracle that is humbly called Spanish demociacy. "The museums can be seen as an accumulation of layéis of significance," Reuben HoIo argues, "Layer upon layer of rich identity construction , kyeis contradictory of each other adding to the new national portrait" (198-99). Beyond the Prado is itself a portrait of pluialism and social transformation, where the museum and democracy emerge simultaneously. Oui heritage does not merely hang on museum walls, but is made within them. David L. Prytherch The University of Arizona Verano inglés Barcelona: Tusquets, 1999 By GuiUermo Carnero Guillermo Carnero, one of the original Nueve novÃ-simos poetas españoles anthologized by José Mafia Castellet in 1970, has earned a reputation as a difficult, elitist poet whose work eludes Arizona Journal of Hispanic Cultural Studies 311 both confessionalism and direct engagement with political, social and/οι historical realities. His poetry centers, instead, upon the ironic relationships between artistic representation and its referents, which become synecdoches fof other power/ knowledge relationships in Western society. Verano...