A propósito de Media hora jugando a los dados

Media hora jugando a los dados was written by Agustín Espinosa as a contribution to the life, sign and work of the painter José Jorge Oramas (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1911-1935), from the Luján Pérez School. It is one of the avant-garde texts in the Spanish language par excellence, in which the scope and significance of the work of the painter from Gran Canaria is celebrated.

Ofermod y heroísmo humilde: sobre la interpretación de Tolkien

This paper studies Tolkien’s interpretation of German heroism, taking as a starting point his essay-poem «The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son» on The Battle of Maldon. Through academic texts on Beowulf and Sigurd, as well as his own legendarium, his reading and contribution are explored, placing the latter in dialogue with the latest research, and detailing the lines and scope of his ideas. After locating the inflection point that Tolkien marked around the word ofermod(e), the historical, literary and religious components that base Tolkien’s interpretation will be explained, in line with the Anglo-Saxon poetic and heroic tradition. Through this, it will become clear that the humble heroism of the subordinate who faces the fatal fate to which his master has led him is rooted in clear examples of Old English literature, and that the darkness brought by the terrible enemy has a mythical dimension, which refers to the shadow and to hell. Finally, in light of the latest contributions, Tolkien’s interpretation will be reaffirmed and enriched, opening new research perspectives on his work

Imágenes siniestras: El dolor de los demás (2018) de Miguel Ángel Hernández

The objective of this article is to analyze how the images which appear in El dolor de los demás, by Miguel Ángel Hernández, allow us to develop both a narrative and a theoretical discourse on the sinister, understanding the term in the Freudian sense. All the photos, the newspaper clippings, the images of contemporary artistic works present in the novel will gradually become emblematic epitomes from which the protagonist narrator will reflect on the perception of time in relation to a disturbing past. The narrator will also discover the risks of the interpretive loop (or the conflict of the interpretations) in which the one who contemplates those same visual documents ends up immersing himself, especially when a portion of the personal past is configured as a bleeding wound and unhealthy trauma

«Una musa vestida con vaqueros»: El casamiento engañoso (Luis Calvo Teixeira, 1970)

This paper scrutinizes El casamiento engañoso (1970), a television episode for the show Hora 11 (TVE, 1968-1974). Written by Juan Tébar and directed by Luis Calvo Teixeira, this rewriting of the eleventh of the Novelas ejemplares (1613) sets the plot in the twentieth century. First, I will reflect on the linking of this novella to El coloquio de los perros, given that they both share a narrative frame –the dialogue between Campuzano and Peralta– that is absent in the adaptation. Secondly, I will examine the divergences between the two Casamientos and the update of every element of the baroque tale in order to fit the Spain of the seventies.

El habla de Madrid a finales del siglo xviii según Los madrileños adoptivos (1790)

The focus of this study is to analyse the characteristic phenomena of the linguistic variety spoken in Madrid presented in the manuscript of the short comedy Los madrileños adoptivos (1790), by Antonio González de León, in order to determine if these elements can really be known as dialect linguistic features of that variety in the 18th century. For this, firstly, a contextualization of the work has been carried out, which allows us to understand its uniqueness and ponder its real value as a linguistic testimony. Secondly, the graphic-phonic, morphosyntactic and lexical-semantic phenomena represented in the comedy have been analysed. Furthermore, the address system has been explained, due to the interest that it has at that time and to the knowledge of this linguistic variety.

«Es signo de islas»: Agustín Espinosa y el romancero canario /

Agustín Espinosa is one of the most important authors of the Canary Islands. A multifaceted writer, his work as a compiler of island “romances” is little known. In this work we will see what was the status of the Canarian “romances” research at the beginning of the 20th century and we will value the pioneering contribution of the author of Crimen to this field. To do this, we will review what other researchers such as Maximiano Trapero or Diego Catalán have written on the subject and propose a new reading of Espinosa’s research that starts from its context, that is, a reading that derives from a time when literature of the Canary Islands was conc

A propósito de Lancelot, 28°-7°: artealización y pedagogía del espacio

The publication of Lancelot, 28°-7°. Guía integral de una isla atlántica in 1929 put into play an artistic project about the islands that revolved around a clear awareness of the power of spatial representation. After reviewing some concepts that support the cultural and anthropological importance of space, and the foundational and symbolic magnitude of spatial images, we highlight the key to the profound teaching that Espinosa’s work has exercised: a pedagogy centered on the art of looking deeply

Agustín Espinosa, espectador del espacio insular: la influencia del cine en Lancelot, 28°-7° (1929)

The avant-garde description of the island of Lanzarote that Agustín Espinosa developed in Lancelot, 28°-7° (1929) proves that the writer shared the same interest in cinema that other young writers had expressed in their works during the 20s. However, the interartistic relation between cinema and literature in Lancelot has not been examined carefully yet. For this reason, this paper tries to study the different ways the cinema has influenced Lancelot, which includes not only references to film stars from the Amercian silent cinema, but also using certain film techniques. Thus, Espinosa offers new images of the island, now merged with universal artistic movements. To analyze this particular use of Espinosa’s cinema background in Lancelot, this paper will study the interest in cinema that the writer showed along his life, the way he uses different film techniques, the poetic imagery related to cinema, and the references to film stars included in the text.