Teaching Representations of the Spanish Civil War (review)

This collection of essays and resource suggestions for university teachers of the Spanish Civil War appears as a volume in the MLA series 'Options for Teaching'. In recognition of the interest in the war of non-speakers of Spanish, all quotations are translated into English and a glossary of common terminology and acronyms is provided. This is not to say, however, that the content is an introductory guide for the non-Hispanist; instead, many of the contributions provide valuable information and suggestions for further reading for those who specialize in and teach the Civil War in all its representations and for generalists with wider interests in twentieth-century European history.

Teaching Representations of the Spanish Civil War is divided into seven parts, plus a glossary, Notes on Contributors and an extensive Works Cited and index that usefully combine references from all 36 essays. The volume opens with a timeline chronicling events and key cultural works from 1873 to 2001; naturally much of the detail pertains to events during the war, rather than subsequent film and literature production. The first five parts of the volume are made up of essays, grouped thematically. These are followed by a Resources section, nearly 40 pages of suggested material for the classroom, ranging through film, music, photography, posters, literature and secondary sources, including websites. This is a welcome, if rather overwhelming, supply of sources, and the compilers of this section make a brave attempt to briefly annotate as much of it as possible (it might have been helpful also to provide publication dates for textual material). The seventh section is a collection of Course Syllabi, provided by seven instructors. It is illuminating to gain an insight into the practices of one's colleagues, although the practicalities of appropriating any of the course models – across institutions and given the pitfalls of the availability of material – may prevent this section from being more than a curiosity.

Valis's Introduction makes no bones of the fact that the Spanish Civil War did, and still does, demand that observers take up a position. She notes that the war 'has become a defining myth and reality of the twentieth century' (8); negotiating the myth and reality of the war in its representation quite rightly occupies the mind of many of the contributors, whether dealing with historical sources or cultural products. The first section of the volume takes up questions of the war's legacy from a variety of viewpoints, debunking received wisdom and reminding and urging educators to avoid some of the simplifications into which students – and researchers – can slip. The second section focuses on Rhetoric and Ideology. Unsurprisingly there is a focus on propaganda: the Nationalist discourses explained clearly for the classroom; the war addressed through its demands of a cross-disciplinary approach; representation through American eyes in The Spanish Field. Later essays in this section turn to the art of reading propaganda in well-known works such as Raza and the novels of Cela and Delibes.

The largest group of essays is to be found under the title 'Writing the War'. At first glance, one might expect a number of essays on the literary work of canonical authors, but instead the focus here is much more, but not exclusively, on testimony and responses from non-Spaniards. Essays on Orwell, Hemingway and the testimonials of US volunteers appear alongside overviews of the legacy of writing from British/ Irish, French and German writers, much of which may well be unknown to Hispanists. Sensibly, the problematic issue of perspective and translation is raised by Maier, who offers a clear steer on how to approach teaching translation theory in the context of texts that deal with war (and who herself recognizes, for example, the pedagogical difficulties of reading Benjamin in the classroom), as well as offering an illuminating case study through the work of Rodoreda. Iarocci's essay dealing with issues raised in the teaching of poetry...