Bienvenidos al Boletín de primavera…

Welcome to our Spring 2024 edition, which offers greater linguistic diversity than ever before.  Five articles appear in Spanish (see (Sp) indicated on this page), two of them translated into English (Sp/En).  We also dip into Chinese as we examine the cultural fault-line revealed when translating  Latin American verse into Mandarin.

Another cross-cultural phenomenon is the recurrent success of Lorca plays on the London stage, which we examine with particular reference to the National Theatre’s recent production of La casa de Bernarda Alba.

British Hispanist J B Trend (Sp) reached across the cultural divide in the 1920s and 30s, effectively adopting Spain as his spiritual home. His iconic La civilización de  España is about to be printed in Spain for the first time.

Like Trend, the distinguished Spanish poet Luis Cernuda was forced to leave Spain because of the Civil War.  We discover Cernuda in exile teaching Spanish (Sp) in a UK private school, prompting his current successor there to ponder how many other great writers have taken a turn at teaching.

The lived reality of exile is vividly conveyed in 21 year-old Erika Leiva’s first-hand account of why she had to leave her beloved Salvadoran homeland (Sp/En) – essential reading to understand the role of gender violence and other forces in driving migration.

Exile and identity shape the thinking of Hispanic voters in the US (Sp/En) – a crucial demographic in the race for the White House.  In this election year, will most Hispanics remain Democrat, or will Trump’s caudillo-style image strike a  chord?  

One avowed admirer of Trump is Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei.  In our Argentina double-header we look at the causes of Argentina’s economic chaos, and then hear the case against Milei’s free-market reforms (Sp).

Spanish politics has also been turbulent since our last edition.  We review the pressing issues facing Prime Minister Sánchez, and offer a free download of the Elcano Institute’s detailed analysis.

Finally, we proudly present the first in a series of three articles, to be published across our 2024 editions, investigating the importance of visual analysis in teaching and learning.  Check it out for insights into best practice when studying films and images.

The Bulletin of Advanced Spanish is a free resource, read on every continent, written by and for enthusiasts at all stages of their exploration of the language and culture of the Spanish-speaking world.  Please see the Guidelines tab if you would like to write for us.  The deadline for the next edition is the end of May.

The BAS editorial team