Hispania

Chances are good that academics who grew up in the 1960s, 70s, and (perhaps) 80s lived in homes equipped with a graceful collection of matching volumes on the bookshelf. These gold embossed spines neatly displayed titles such as Child Craft, World Book, Encyclopedia Americana, Encyclopædia Britannica, and their contents were the authoritative source of information for many families. There were few school projects that did not begin with consulting an encyclopedia, and more than a few hand-written reports were the scribbled copying directly from the reference. In a predigital world, there may not have been additional resources available for basic, non-specialist information on most subjects.

There is little point in tracing the technological and social developments that have reduced—if not eliminated—the encyclopedia’s presence in most households, and only a few luddites would argue that many educational objectives are not better served when we have instant access to multiple sources of research materials. Nonetheless, the March 2012 announcement that Encyclopædia Britannica had produced its last print edition provoked waves of nostalgic hand wringing. The subsequent acceleration in sales of remaining hard copies seemed to indicate a desire for something that was about to disappear forever, and that probably was more than the chance to decorate a bookshelf with an impressive row of authoritative-looking tomes.

Reflection on the state of knowledge (and access to it) in our society is broader than the focus that editors Maureen Ihrie and Salvador A. Oropesa propose in World Literature in Spanish: An Encyclopedia, but it is impossible to consider this project without thinking about the status of encyclopedias in contemporary culture and scholarship. This well-presented set of three volumes proposes a more modest objective than a comprehensive encyclopedia, but adequate coverage of literature in Spanish presents a formidable task. The introduction indicates that the editors understand both the broad scope of their project and the limitations on what is possible to accomplish in just under 1,300 pages. They limit the scope significantly by declaring that their intended audience is non-specialist high school, undergraduate college, and adult readers. From there, they state that the collection does not intend to be exhaustive, but rather provides a “solid general review” of literature before 1900, and then “concentrates somewhat more on works produced since then” (x). Advanced scholars immediately will understand that Ihrie and Oropesa do not intend to blaze new trails with innovative interpretations of any literary period. That said, the editors’ cultural or thematic approach, in favor of a biographical approach, might provide new perspectives for even seasoned scholars. A team about 200 academic scholars prepared approximately 850 entries for this work. The successful organizing of so many contributors merits great admiration for the editors.

In order to assess how useful this encyclopedia of literature in Spanish might be to one section of the target audience, the reviewer cross-referenced reading lists from recent university course syllabuses with the encyclopedia’s entries. For a course in medieval and Golden Age literature from Spain, college students would be able to reference short descriptions of Cantar [End Page 174] de Mío Cid, Don Juan Manuel, and Jorge Manrique. A much longer entry titled “Celestina, La in Spain and the New World” considers this canonical text, its reception through history, and its influence beyond country and time period. Lazarillo de Tormes receives schematic treatment, while Don Quixote de la Mancha has a ten-page section devoted to the novel and a cross-reference two-page biography of Miguel de Cervantes. In comparison, a few of Lope de Vega’s comedias are mentioned only briefly, with the highlighting of Fuenteovejuna. María de Zayas has a short biography, but cross references to thematic entries titled “Feminism in Spain: Precursors to 1700” and “Women Writers in Spain: Beginnings to 1700” demonstrate that growing scholarship is expanding the traditional cannon. In a similar fashion, a...