Research interests
Most of my research has focused on contemporary English literature. Nevertheless, my research interests have been broadly speaking interdisciplinary, in the sense that they concern the point of contact and overlap between various aspects of genre theory, comparative literature, reception studies and the history of literary censorship. On the other hand, focusing on my own teaching practice with Spanish students of English has also led me to cultivate an interest in teaching and learning strategies in the foreign language classroom.
Here are some of my areas of research:
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The reception of British writers in twentieth-century Spain. I am interested in exploring how, when and why contemporary English fiction has made its way to the Spanish readers, as well as what the response of the Spanish critics has been. I have devoted particular attention to the way these writings were received in Spain during Franco's regime, discussing the attitudes of Spanish censors towards the works of authors, such as James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, D. H. Lawrence, George Orwell, H. G. Wells, George Moore, Oscar Wilde, Jonathan Swift, Doris Lessing and E. M. Forster..
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Contemporary English satiric fiction. I have examined the main topics, rhetorical strategies and genres used by twentieth-century British satirists, dealing with political satire, dystopias, science fiction, allegory and parody. Among the writers studied are George Orwell, Julian Barnes, Tom Sharpe, Angela Carter and Fay Weldon.
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The modernist novel. I have tried to understand the nature, limits and common key features, both thematic and formal, of the modernist movement in the British Isles. Arising from this interest, I have written the book El modernismo en la novela inglesa (Modernism in the English novel), published by Editorial Síntesis in 2005. As said above, some of my research on reception issues has also focused on modernists writers, such as James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf.
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Comparative studies. Although it is not my main area of specialisation I have sporadically sought to highlight some relationships between English contemporary writers and some other different literary traditions and texts. I have studied the echoes of classical myths in post-war English writers and the presence of Cervantes in twentieth-century British literature.
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Improving the teaching and learning process. Having spent more than twenty years teaching EFL Spanish students, both at high school and university level, I have developed a professional interest in various aspects of teaching methodology, such as syllabus design, the writing process, reading strategies and assessment.
Current Research
After finishing a critical edition in Spanish of the book by Peadar O'Donnell Salud: An Irishman in Spain, as part of a research project entitled “The impact of the Spanish Civil War on culture and literature in English: the forgotten texts”, I am currently working on another proyect - "Rewriting war:
The Paradigms of Contemporary War Fiction in English" - funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy (Reference FFI2017-85525-P), in which I study en the representation of the Spanish Civil War Guerra Civil in British contemporary fiction.
I would welcome graduate students in any area of contemporary English fiction, and I am particularly interested in supervising interdisciplinary projects on reception studies and censorship.
