Category Archives: Literature

The Body, Blood, and Soul of Spanish Modernity: review of Life Embodied

Posted on February 5, 2019 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

It’s been quite awhile since I’ve been able to find the time to put up a new post! Aside from a few weeks during my summer trip to Spain where I managed to write about two fantastic new books (A … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Literature, Modernity, Science and Medicine, Spain | Tagged 17th century, 18th century, 19th century, 20th century, body, medical history, medicine, Miguel de Unamuno, modernism, modernity, philosophy, science, soul, spanish literature, vital force | 1 Comment

Multiple Modernities: New essays on Carmen de Burgos (review)

Posted on June 17, 2018 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

Review: Anja Louis and Michelle M. Sharp, eds. Multiple Modernities: Carmen de Burgos, Author and Activist. Routledge, 2017. 224 pp. I recently finished writing a review of Anja Louis and Michelle Sharp’s new volume of essays on Carmen de Burgos (1867-1932), a … Continue reading →

Posted in Feminism, First-wave spanish feminism, Literature, Modernity, Spain, Women | Tagged book review, books, Carmen de Burgos, spanish literature | 3 Comments

Fashion and the Fine Arts in Carmen de Burgos’ Avant-garde Novel, La mujer fantástica

Posted on January 25, 2018 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

I’m going to start the new year with a post on my most recent article, “Fashion, Ekphrasis, and the Avant-Garde Novel: Carmen de Burgos’ La mujer fantástica (1924)”, which was published in the open-access journal Ciberletras in December 2017. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Literature, Modernity, Spain, Women | Tagged 1920s, art history, avant garde, Carmen de Burgos, ekphrasis, Empress Eugenie, fashion, novel, Paris, vanguardia, Winterhalter | 5 Comments

Urban Spain through Literature: Literary Maps of Madrid and Barcelona

Posted on September 19, 2017 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

Anyone who has ever traveled with me knows I am a bit obsessed with maps – I’m either wandering around following my route via Google Maps, attempting to get my bearings and update what I refer to as “my internal … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Feminism, History, Literature, Modernity, Spain, Women | Tagged Barcelona, Carmen de Burgos, madrid, maps, Margarita Nelken, Ramon Gomez de la Serna, urban studies, verbena | 2 Comments

Illustrating Spain’s Silver Age of Literature: Carmen de Burgos, Ramon, and “Bon”

Posted on July 21, 2017 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

I’ve been working for several months now on an article on Carmen de Burgos’s 1924 novel La mujer fantástica (The Amazing/Fantastic Woman), and my research has been focused a lot on European art history and the diverse visual imagery that … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Literature, Modernity, Spain, Women | Tagged 1920s, avant garde, Barcelona, Bon, books, Carmen de Burgos, madrid, Pablo Picasso, Ramon Gomez de la Serna, spanish art, spanish literature | 4 Comments

“Celebración Cervantina / Cervantes Celebration” at K-State

Posted on November 18, 2016 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

2016 – This year marks the 400th anniversary of the deaths of two extremely influential literary figures: renowned English playwright William Shakespeare and celebrated Spanish playwright and novelist Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, who most know best as the author of … Continue reading →

Posted in Language, Literature, Spain | Tagged 17th century, books, Cervantes, Don Quixote, Golden Age, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, novel | Leave a comment

Walking Around Scarecrows and Scarefishes: Surrealist Angst in Maruja Mallo and Pablo Neruda

Posted on September 29, 2016 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

One of the things I love about teaching and analyzing Spanish literature is that each time I (re)read a text for a new class or course, I end up interpreting it differently depending on what else I happen to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Literature, Spain, Spanish America, Surrealism, Women | Tagged 1930s, art, maruja mallo, Neruda, poetry, spanish art, surrealism | 1 Comment

Discovering “The Soul of Spain”… in Kansas!

Posted on May 25, 2016 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

Since my hectic, teaching-heavy spring semester is finally over, I now have some time to start easing back into a few of my research projects. But first, of course, I needed some time to relax and not think about anything … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, History, Literature, Spain, Women | Tagged books, Eugenics, gender, goya, Havelock Ellis, sevilla, sexuality | 4 Comments

Photography and the Chromatic Language of Cristina García’s Dreaming in Cuban

Posted on April 30, 2016 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

With the Obamas’ recent trip to Cuba (March 2016), the Caribbean island has been appearing frequently across social media and in a variety of US news outlets – from the New York Times to Buzzfeed. National Geographic featured a piece … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Language, Literature, Spanish America, Women | Tagged Caribbean, Cristina Garcia, Cuba, Latin American Literature, Latino literature, latino studies, mother-daughter relationship, photography | 2 Comments

Teaching Spanish America: From the Conquest to Contemporary Film

Posted on February 13, 2016 by Dr. Rebecca Bender

This semester at Kansas State I’m teaching a 500-level Spanish American Literature survey course, and I decided to experiment a bit with the way I structured the content. Survey-style courses are always challenging to design, given their vast scope — … Continue reading →