A wide variety of literary recommendations for Christmas

Raúl García Hémonnet/Editor

Between family gatherings and social commitments, it's rare to find time to read; in any case, the following works can also be good gift ideas.

History of Spain beyond the sea

'Naples Global' by Marina Perruca, Professor of Modern History at Rey Juan Carlos University, offers a fresh perspective on a global city and Naples' role as a key player in the Spanish Monarchy, a stage for constant negotiations between the Crown, the Kingdom, and the Capital City. This view draws on previously unpublished sources and moves beyond the traditional view of the Parthenopean Viceroyalty as subservient to Madrid, revealing how the viceroys mediated between royal and local interests. The book has been published by the scholarly publisher Peter Lang.

José Manuel Azcona, Professor of Contemporary History, has recently published 'The Splendor of Spanish America' with Edaf. In this work, the historian offers a perspective that argues that “Spain from the 15th to the 19th centuries sought to administer the American territories with a sense of conscience never surpassed by any other nation. To this end, the policies of the Hispanic Universal Monarchy developed the most complex and advanced body of legislation of its time, always grounded in the spirit of the laws and universal justice.” As can be read in the book's synopsis.

Short story with emotional charge

Nostalgias is a collection of 27 short stories, written by Susana Collado Vázquez, a professor in the Physiotherapy department, whose common thread is nostalgia and melancholy. Nostalgia for the world of childhood, for lost love, for what could have been but wasn't, for memories that haunt or bring joy. These stories, as described by the publisher Nazarí, “immerse the reader in small universes where the past intertwines with the present. Each story becomes a window into memory, an echo of what once was, and a reflection of how melancholy shapes the emotional landscape of the protagonists, who search for or yearn for an irretrievable time. In some stories, nostalgia is sweet and gentle; in others, it is more bitter and even self-destructive.”

A universal Mallorcan

Belén Fernández de Alarcón. 'Francisco Roca Simó, a Universal Mallorcan Architect', published by Dykinson. The professor and researcher of Art History and great-granddaughter of Francisco Roca has published a monograph on her great-grandfather, a Mallorcan architect of international renown, particularly in Argentina, but little recognized in Spain. He belongs to the generation of the first Spanish architects of the 20th century who emigrated to share their creativity across the ocean and who received medals and distinctions during their lifetimes, such as the award he received at an Architecture Exhibition at the Fine Arts Museum early in his career. Francisco Roca Simó created his work during the Silver Age, a period of great artists and technological inventions, whose dissemination was always the responsibility of patrons or the bourgeoisie; this was the case with Gaudí and the Güell family, and with Francisco Roca and the Cabanellas family. A multifaceted and multicultural architect, whose style evolved from modernism, somewhat expressionistic, to rationalism, and who carried out projects of great renown in Mallorca, not only on his island, but also in Madrid, Rosario and Buenos Aires (Argentina).

Relationships between literature and sport

Enrique Arnaldo Alcubilla, Professor of Constitutional Law at URJC and Magistrate of the Constitutional Court, has recently published his book 'Sport in Literature', published by Espasa.

The professor has a close relationship with sports, having served on the Competition and Appeals Committees of the Royal Spanish Football Federation and having presided over the Administrative Court of Sport. He has also previously published several works on the subject, such as 'Legal Framework of Professional Football' and 'Sport in the Constitution'.

According to the book's synopsis, "'Sport in Literature' explores how literature has narrated the evolution of sport from Greece and Rome to the present day, in a society deeply intertwined with sports. Sometimes the rich language of sport serves as a point of comparison for literature, and other times it is the driving force of a work. There is no single meaning of sport; rather, they are varied and even contradictory at times: sport has been politically instrumentalized by some regimes; some feel it as a religion; for others it is merely physical exercise that sometimes becomes obsessive; still others consider its practice secondary and experience the spectacle with passion and even fanaticism. In short, it can be a business and even an art."

In short, five attractive suggestions to read or give as gifts, and to immerse yourself in interesting and varied subjects from authors of the house.