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My article explores the complex Spanish reaction to recent changes in the Spanish-language publishing business as indicative of an ambivalence toward Spain's place in the new global order, particularly by liberal intellectuals who associate books and bookstores with resistance and solidarity. The purchase of important Spanish publishers by international media conglomerates also implies to some a loss of national identity and cultural values, at the same time as the internationalization of the publishing business represents Spain's incorporation into the European community and the world economy. The European Union, however, and Spain in particular, have globalized and marketed Latin America through business ventures, NGOs and cooperative efforts linked both to the embassies and to the international corporations. The resulting contradictions –the resistance to and welcoming of globalization, the nostalgia for, economic colonization of and rejection of Latin America– affect what is currently published in Spain by Spanish and Latin American authors and how it is marketed.

My article explores the complex Spanish reaction to recent changes in the Spanish-language publishing business as indicative of an ambivalence toward Spain's place in the new global order, particularly by liberal intellectuals who associate books and bookstores with resistance and solidarity. The purchase of important Spanish publishers by international media conglomerates also implies to some a loss of national identity and cultural values, at the same time as the internationalization of the publishing business represents Spain's incorporation into the European community and the world economy. The European Union, however, and Spain in particular, have globalized and marketed Latin America through business ventures, NGOs and cooperative efforts linked both to the embassies and to the international corporations. The resulting contradictions –the resistance to and welcoming of globalization, the nostalgia for, economic colonization of and rejection of Latin America– affect what is currently published in Spain by Spanish and Latin American authors and how it is marketed.

This project examines the representations in recent Spanish poetry of violence, solidarity, and memory, as these intersect with ethnic, linguistic and religious otherness, globalization, communication technology, and nationalisms. The lens through which the analysis is refracted is the poetic response to the Islamist terrorist bombings of working-class commuter trains in Madrid on March 11, 2004 (known in Spain as 11-M). This event, which occurred days before national elections, exposed the contradictory cultural forces that underlie notions of the national identity, economic transformation, the role of the media, and the social contract in Spain today. This became apparent in the massive demonstrations against neoliberalism, Spain's alliance with the US in the "war on terror," and Basque terrorism on 12-M. These popular protests were soon followed by police investigations, legal battles, and, finally, cultural memorials. Still, the battle to give meaning to these events continues to rage in politic circles, in cultural artifacts, and in the press.

Cenicienta en Chueca (Cinderella in Chueca) is a collection of short stories by Argentine exile María Felicitas Jaime, published by Spanish gay/lesbian press Odisea in 2003, that represent the neocolonial relations between the Americas, Spain, and the European Union in a globalized age. The stories foreground communication technologies—including type, e-mail, chats, and dialects—in order to highlight the discursive nature of sexuality and to reveal the social, ethnic, racial, nationalistic, economic, gendered tensions underlying linguistic exchange. This article focuses on the neocolonial relations between Spain and Latin America in three stories from this collection—"Chateo" (Chat), "Ejecutivas" (Women Executives), and "Cenicienta en Chueca."

Lesbian Realities/Lesbian Fictions in Contemporary Spain focuses exclusively on manifestations of lesbian cultures and identities in contemporary Spain. Bringing together key essays from a range of international scholars, this anthology of critical essays examines the changing cultural, sociological and political landscape of Spain at the turn of the millennium. Divided into two sections, the first contributions focus on the realities of lesbian lives and looks at how Spanish lesbian identities are constructed through language and the media. The essays in the second section analyze contemporary lesbian identities as manifested in novels and short stories published since the late 1980s by authors such as Carme Riera, Lola van Guardia, Flavia Company and Mabel GalOn. The aim of this volume is to provide a significant and coherent contribution in English to the body of knowledge within an evolving subject area that has remained relatively under-researched until recently. This is an invaluable publication for teachers and students of Spanish cultural studies, global sexuality and gender studies.