Staff in the Department of Hispanic Studies

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Dr Michael Thompson, BA Dunelm, PhD Bristol

Senior Lecturer in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures

Telephone: +44 (0) 191 33 43436

Room number: A10, Elvet Riverside I

Biography

My research focuses primarily on the work of dramatists writing in Spain since the early 20th century, especially Antonio Buero Vallejo (1916-2000), José María Rodríguez Méndez (1925-2009) and Paloma Pedrero (born 1957). I have a particular interest in historical theatre and in cinematic adaptations of history plays. Since 2000, I have been carrying out research on theatre censorship in Spain during the Second Republic and the Franco dictatorship. These investigations gave rise to a collaborative project with Dr Catherine O'Leary (National University of Ireland, Maynooth) and Dr Diego Santos Sánchez (Research Associate at Durham) to analyse the overall impact of censorship on theatre in Spain during the 20th century (funded by an AHRC Research Grant, 2008-2011).

I also have an interest in translation: I have translated plays by Buero Vallejo and Paloma Pedrero, and in 2009 published the revised edition of the well-established textbook Thinking Spanish Translation (Routledge) with Louise Haywood.

I am able to supervise research students in the following fields: modern and contemporary Spanish theatre and literature; censorship of theatre and literature; connections between theatre, literature and film; translation, especially for the theatre. I am currently supervising Nick Boalch, who is working on the translation of comics, and Patrick McConville, who is carrying out a comparative study of Galdós's Episodios nacionales and Valle-Inclán's Ruedo ibérico. I teach on the MAs in Culture & Difference and Translation Studies.

I am a member of the Visual & Performance and Culture & Difference research groups within the School of Modern Languages & Cultures.

I teach 20th- and 21st-century Spanish culture, especially theatre and literature, and Spanish-English translation.

Research Groups

Culture and Difference
Visual and Performance

Research Interests

Modern Spanish culture
Modern Spanish theatre
Theatre censorship
Translation

Selected Publications

Books: authored

2009 (co-authored with Haywood, Louise M. & Hervey, Sándor) Thinking Spanish Translation, Routledge, 288 pp.
2007 Performing Spanishness: History, Cultural Identity and Censorship in the Theatre of José María Rodríguez Méndez, Intellect, 224 pp.
2000 (co-authored with Perriam, C., Knights, V. & Frenk, S.) A New History of Spanish Writing, 1939 to the 1990s, Oxford University Press, 254 pp.

Books: edited

2005 (co-edited with Archer, Robert, Astvaldsson, Astvaldur & Boyd, Stephen) Antes y después del Quijote: Actas del congreso 2005 de la Asociación de Hispanistas de Gran Bretaña e Irlanda, Biblioteca Valenciana, 550 pp.
1999 (co-edited with Doggart, Sebastian) Fire, Blood and the Alphabet: One Hundred Years of Lorca, Durham Modern Languages Series, 282 pp.

Books: sections

1995 (co-authored with Perriam, C. & Frenk, S.) 'The literary avant-garde: A contradictory modernity', in Graham, H. & Labanyi, J. (eds.), Spanish Cultural Studies: An Introduction, Oxford University Press, pp. 63-69
1991 'El teatro histórico de Rodríguez Méndez', in Rodríguez Méndez, J.M. (ed.), Última batalla en El Pardo, Centro de Documentación Teatral, pp. 9-17

Essays in edited volumes

2009 'Remembering What Didn’t Happen in the Civil War: 'Beatus Ille' and '¡Ay, Carmela!'', in Quance, Roberta Ribeiro de Menezes, Alison & Walsh, Anne L. (eds.), Guerra y memoria en la España contemporánea = War and Memory in Contemporary Spain, Verbum, pp. 147-163
2007 ''Una cosa ofensiva': la vanguardia teatral española frente a la censura (el caso de El hombre y la mosca)', in Brioso, Héctor & Saval, José V. (eds.), Nuevas aportaciones a los estudios teatrales, Universidad de Alcalá, pp. 87-98
2006 'Feminismo y posmodernismo en el teatro de Paloma Pedrero: una revision', in Harper, Sandra (ed.), El Próximo Acto: teatro español en el siglo XXI, Estreno.
2005 'Un lugar atractivo e inquietante: encuentros en el parque en el teatro de Paloma Pedrero', in Romera Castillo, José. (ed.), Dramaturgias femeninas en la segunda mitad del siglo XX: espacio y tiempo: actas del XIV Seminario Internacional del Centro de Investigación de Semiótica Literaria, Teatral y Nuevas Tecnologías, Madrid, UNED, 28 al 30 de junio de 2004, Visor Libros, pp. 565-576
2000 'The Unbearable Hopefulness of Being: Utopia and tragedy in the theatre of Antonio Buero Vallejo', in Le Saux, F. & Thomas, N. (eds.), Utopias, Durham Modern Languages Series, pp. 175-186
1999 'Cultural Identity in the Theatre of Rodríguez Méndez', in Halsey, M. (ed.), Entre Actos: Diálogos sobre teatro español entre siglos, Estreno, pp. 293-300
1999 'Poetry that Gets Up Off the Page and Becomes Human: Poetic Coherence and Eccentricity in Lorca's Theatre', in Doggart, S. & Thompson, M.P. (eds.), Fire, Blood and the Alphabet: One Hundred Years of Lorca, Durham Modern Languages Series, pp. 67-79
1996 'La mirada imperfecta: Metateatro en El tragaluz', in Dixon, V. & Johnston, D. (eds.), El teatro de Buero Vallejo: Homenaje del Hispanismo británico e irlandés, Liverpool University Press, pp. 175-195
1993 'El mito del Descubrimiento y el descubrimiento del mito en el teatro español contemporáneo', in Deyermond, A. & Penny, R. (eds.), Actas del Primer Congreso Anglo-Hispano, Castalia, pp. 261-271

Journal papers: academic

2012 'The Effect of Censorship on the Construction of Character in Spanish Theater during the Franco Dictatorship', Estreno: Cuadernos de teatro español contemporáneo 2, pp. 70-86
2012 'The Order of the Visible and the Sayable: Theatre Censorship in Twentieth-Century Spain', Hispanic Research Journal 13, pp. 93-110
2004 'Rodríguez Méndez en el laberinto de la censura: el confuso expediente sobre Historia de unos cuantos', Estreno: cuadernos del teatro espanol contemporaneo 30, pp. 19-27
2001 'The Interplay of Theatrical Codes in Rafael Alberti's De un momento a otro', Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 78, pp. 355-365
1996 'Iberismo and machismo español in the Theater of Martín Recuerda and Rodríguez Méndez', Estreno 22, pp. 35-44
1995 'Theatrical and cinematic framing in Buero Vallejo's Un soñador para un pueblo and Molina's Esquilache', Romance Studies 26, pp. 61-76

Translated: Book

1994 (trans.). Antonio Buero Vallejo, Un soñador para un pueblo = A Dreamer for the People . Warminster: Aris & Phillips

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Media Contacts

Available for media contact about:

Foreign Literature & Language: Spanish theatre
Foreign Literature & Language: Spanish language
Foreign Literature & Language: Modern/contemporary Spanish literature
International: Language, literature, culture: Theatre censorship

Grants Awarded

2008: THEATRE CENSORSHIP IN SPAIN (1931-1985) (£234821.00 from Arts and Humanities Research Council)
2005: British Academy Small Research Grant
2005: THEATRE CENSORSHIP IN SPAIN, 1939-1978 (£2860.00 from The British Academy)
2004: British Academy Overseas Conference Grant
2004: UNED CONFERENCE, MADRID 2004 (£160.00 from The British Academy)
2003: AHRC Research Leave Award
2003: THE THEATRE OF RODRIGUEZ MENDEZ (£9026.00 from Arts & Humanities Research Board)
2001: British Academy Small Research Grant
2001: THE THEATRE OF RODRIGUEZ MENDEZ (£2200.00 from The British Academy)