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BOOK REVIEWS
 Links & Letters 8, 2001 97-114

Reviews

Antonio BALLESTEROS, Claude DUÉE (eds).

Cuatro lecciones sobre el cómic.
Cuenca: Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, 2000.

The book edited by Ballesteros and nomic context in which comics are pro-
Duée is a contribution to the study of duced, paying special attention to the
comics both from a theoretical and from production in French. His conclusion is
a practical point of view. It is divided in that the generic contours of comics are
four chapters, the first one in French rather blurred and that it is difficult to
and the other three in Spanish. anticipate the future of the genre, an
Chapter one, by Pierre Janin, bears issue which, according to him, concerns
the title «La bande dessinée: est-elle un not only comics but all literary dis-
genre littéraire?» («Are comics a literary courses.
genre?»). Janin’s starting point is his Viviane Alary is the author of Chap-
observation that for a long time the ter two, which bears the title: «La his-
genre was regarded as a minor liter- torieta en España: del presente al pasa-
ary/artistic production by those who do». Alary places the birth of comics in
preferred other literary genres consid- Spain back in the eighteeen seventies
ered «nobler and older» (15). Surpris- and mentions Spanish names such a
ingly enough, Janin goes on to contend, Mecachis and Apeles Mestre but recalls
«the victims of this situation were nei- that some scholars contend comic strips
ther the comics themselves nor their were born in the United States in 1896.
readers, but those who tried to approach Alary contends that the development of
the phenomenon from an academic comics is to be observed along with the
point of view» (15). The chapter is development of newspapers and mass
structured in clear-cut sections which culture. She takes a survey of the histo-
make it easy to follow. First Janin tack- ry of comics in Spain and analyses the
les the question of definition, then he influence and typology of key examples
moves on to trace the origins of comics like the characters in TBO, Chicos, Mis
and cites Töpffer and Outcault as two Chicas, Mortadelo y Filemón, El Coyote,
standard names in the history of the El Capitán Trueno and Diego Valor. She
genre. He then analyses the special rela- also contends that the power of censor-
tionship between image and text typical ship in France and Spain, and the fact
of comics and goes into detail about that comics were considered worthless,
specific concepts such as «box», «comic led to a separation between comics for
strip» and «board», and their main fea- adults, for youngsters, for boys and for
tures. Other elements such as «reading girls, which, in turn, led to the creation
order» and «text» are also considered. of a specific market modelled following
Finally, Janin analyses the legal and eco- official tastes.
98 Links & Letters 8, 2001 Book Reviews

According to Alary, comics occupy a whose life and deeds inspired many oth-
strategic place between high-brow and er stories and characters. The outbreak
low-brow art and between literature and of WWII meant a change in the inter-
painting, as the latest trends show and ests of publishers. The postwar period
the new dialogue between exhibition saw the growth of another (anti)hero:
rooms and artists demonstrates. Finally, the detective. The Cold War period and
she concludes that, like in other fields the Witchhunt made comics authors
of art, Spanish comics are evolving along turn their attention to science fiction
a dual line: one which focuses on sales and horror until Fredric Wartham’s
and entertainment, and a more restrict- work Seduction of the innocent (1954)
ed one which focuses on quality. For convinced American authorities that
Alary, the latter often produces person- comics were exerting a negative influ-
al, sophisticated works deeply involved ence on American youth, which in turn
with the social and artistic debate of our led to the creation of the Comic Code
times and should be regarded as equiva- Authority. By the nineteen sixties Mar-
lent to a literature of resistance. vel Comics was already filled with sto-
Chapter three, «La Construcción del ries starred by leading superheroes such
superhéroe en el cómic americano. Vi- as Captain America and the Avengers.
siones de una épica (post)moderna: los Ballesteros then observes in detail some
orígenes de Marvel», is by Antonio of the best known stars in this universe:
Ballesteros González. It is certainly the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, The
most personal and comprehensive in the Incredible Hulk, Thor, Dr. Strange, X-
book. Ballesteros confesses at the begin- Men, Iron Man, Daredevil or the Silver
ning that his text is a tribute to the Surfer, and concludes that superheroes
heroes and authors that at one point in have had a prominent role in twentieth
his teens helped shape his personality. century mythology.
Likewise, he insists that comics and cin- The last chapter in the book, «Un
ema are a symbiosis of art and literature paseo por el cómic francófono» is by
developed in the 20th century which Claude Duée. As the author explains at
seem to hide the remains of a dying the beginning, it is an overall view of
genre: the epic narrative. Ballesteros the history of comics in French which
contends that the 20th century under- does not intend to delve into the socio-
mined the traditional elements of epic logical or semiologic depths of the
narratives which, in order to survive, genre. Duée maintains that comics in
had to emigrate to other territories gen- France and Belgium were not taken seri-
erally associated with cinema or the ously and did not overcome the nega-
media. In this sense, Ballesteros insists tive image they had until Le Journal de
that the attitude of some critics, Tintin (1946) was published. However,
obsessed with the idea of establishing a censorship was maintained in France
canon within the genre, has not been and Belgium well until the eighties,
particularly helpful either. which in a way favoured the creation of
Despite the fact that the golden age stories with a more childish bias (i.e.
of the superhero were the nineteen six- Asterix). Duée closes her survey with a
ties, Ballesteros contends that the roots reference to the attitude towards the
of the phenomenon should be looked genre taken by the French authorities,
for back in the nineteen thirties among certainly one of respect and protection.
the thousands of pulp magazines sold at Cuatro lecciones sobre el cómic has sev-
the time. Born in 1938, Superman eral advantages and one handicap. The
stands out as the first real superhero, book is illuminating, easy to read and
Book Reviews Links & Letters 8, 2001 99

provides basic details about the comics fact that one of the chapters is written in
tradition that those who are not familiar French. This is a serious handicap if the
with the genre may find of interest. The book is expected to reach readers from
book has many illustrations (black & outside the area of Modern Languages.
white and colour) which help readers to Considering that some of the authors
recognise many of the characters dealt are teaching in French universities (or
with throughout the text. Likewise, are francophone), the translation of one
those who have been exposed to the chapter should not have been a prob-
genre as readers and/or scholars may dis- lem. Other than this, the book is
cover a surprising wealth of detail. It extremely attractive and deserves a place
cannot be said that this is a profound in libraries as a contribution to the study
theoretical study of the genre (I suspect of a genre which characterised the 20th
it was never meant to be) but it certain- century.
ly shines out as a little jewel for those
who, like me, have a tangential interest Pere Gallardo Torrano
in the topic. Its only drawback is the Universitat de Lleida

María José COPERÍAS (ed.)

Culture & Power V: Challenging discourses.
Valencia: Universitat de Valencia, 2000.

Cultural Studies is a wide-ranging disci- ing due to cultural and ethnic differ-
pline which brings together various areas ences – mainly based upon economics
of human knowledge within an and class – gender, ideology and so on,
extremely ample diameter of action. A and even the attempts at correcting pop-
priori disparate areas such as pragmatics, ular misleading assumptions about the
biology, anthropology, politics and lit- meaning of the term ‘culture’ itself. The
erary theory, just to mention some, may volume is divided into three sections:
converge in cultural studies in order to Challenges, which puts some emphasis
analyse human behaviour and its cul- on education and class while paying
tural manifestations. This confluence of attention to other subjects like ethnici-
the numerous subjects conforming cul- ty and different cultural modes, such as
tural studies has its raison d’être in the drug consumption; Challenging Texts
attempt to understand what culture is, where visual and auditory forms of com-
no matter how utopian the idea of munication, especially films and music,
achieving a universally agreed definition play a central role and Challenging Iden-
of this term may be. tities, which is centred upon the interre-
Challenging discourses, fifth volume in lation of different human groups while
the annual series Culture & Power, is a dealing with history and gender as well.
look into some of the most intriguing The need to redefine the meaning of
questions concerning the always mis- ‘culture’ and some other taken-for-
leading concept of culture. Among these granted concepts such as progress, edu-
are the difficulties to delimit this term cation and ethnicity is the basis of the
socially, geographically, linguistically first section of this collection. Excep-
and even politically, the conflicts emerg- tionally, the social standing of drugs as
100 Links & Letters 8, 2001 Book Reviews

well as the experimentation with them acknowledged link between racism,

are the germane concerns of the intro- Nazism, and the emergent 19th century
ductory essay by Sadie Plant. This is a biological research and hypotheses on
very readable and stimulating text which craniology – phrenology – and physiog-
examines the attraction and effects of a nomy. As a matter of fact, the author
journey into that quite often taboo world proposes a new conceptualisation of eth-
and effectively relates the experiences of nicity unlike its exclusionary conven-
such authors as De Quincey, Coleridge, tional definition, where ‘ethnic’ pejora-
Foucault and Michaux to their literary tively connotes the «homeland of the
production. The «progress beneath which others». This is a fascinating article deal-
the powerful hide» is the starting point ing with really current topics such as
for the following article. In it, José immigration and the different cultural
Manuel Estévez Saá analyses John Berg- confrontations individuals may undergo.
er’s works and the way class conflicts are The central part of the text provides
depicted in them as a reflection of the the reader with several writings which
actual social situation. As for the role of focus on the visual arts, dealing with the
education, this is taken into account by relationships between signifiers and
Salvador Faura and Barry Pennock meanings as well as with the often mis-
Speck from different perspectives. On taken and even obliterated connotations
the one hand, Faura’s text compares two of certain forms of expression. Of spe-
models: informal education, which is cial interest are the three texts devoted
said to fight against oppression, and tra- to music: Mónica Calvo Pascual’s article
ditional education, which promotes on Madonna’s video Express Yourself,
oppression by merely describing it. In Anna Pairaló García on Sinead O’Con-
his defence of informal education the nor’s song Famine and Sara Martín Ale-
author rescues the origins of postcolo- gre’s on Marilyn Manson. Whereas Gar-
nial discourse, which, he argues, cía’s text considers the way such a
attempted to change the world’s injus- traumatic past event as the potato
tices as opposed to the immobilising sit- famine is understood and conveyed
uation third world elites appear to nowadays by such a controversial singer
defend, and suggests taking up again as O’Connor, Martín’s essay is precisely
that leftist attitude based on action, centred on the controversy of another
applying it as a pattern for education. public figure. Indeed, her text consti-
On the other hand, Pennock’s article tutes a bold attempt to deconstruct one
inquires into the role of popular culture of the self-proclaimed antichrists of our
and education in our society by time, analysing not only his public
analysing Willy Russell’s Educating Rita. image but also the various reactions it
Alvaro Pina’s article provides a most provokes. As for Pascual’s article, it pro-
clarifying introductory text to the world vides an analysis of the non-verbal infor-
of cultural studies since it develops some mation conveyed through Madonna’s
of the implications derived from Ray- video focusing on the image of woman
mond Williams’ basic concepts of «long as subject – not object – of discourse and
revolution» and «common culture», even hinting at some (con)fusion of
whose meanings and values are articu- masculine and feminine stereotypes in
lated by society as a whole, exposing it. The treatment of the female figure is
William’s defiance of the popularly also the centre of María Dolores
widespread notion of culture. Attention Martínez Reventós’s absorbing text. In
should also be paid to Mike Pritchard’s it, the author elucidates the partiality of
intelligent article on the now fully language as well as linguistic determin-
Book Reviews Links & Letters 8, 2001 101

ism through the analysis of some reveal- actual contemporary situation of internal
ing advertisements. Ultimately, the colonialism, is what Julio Cañero Serra-
author demonstrates the way certain no’s text offers to the reader. In this essay,
kinds of ads make products become sex- which is incidentally complementary to
ualised and women objectified. But the one written by Russell Dinapoli,
there are other forms of expressions where he undermines the presumed
which are dealt with in writings which homogeneity in the country’s social stra-
are equally remarkable. A couple of ta, the author crudely depicts U.S. His-
instances are John Cunningham’s essay panophobia and denounces Hispano cul-
which, taking some films located in the tural genocide. Alongside these studies,
Arab world, shows the way this world the importance of authentic cultural
continues to be mystified and repre- voices is present in the revaluation Felic-
sented as exotic and how its members ity Hand proposes of historical knowl-
have their own experiences margin- edge, claiming a necessary place for oral-
alised, if expressed at all, in favour of the ity along with the conventional written
white Western viewpoint, and Jamie sources. Likewise, María Isabel San-
Fowlie’s innovative hypertextual discus- taulària’s and David Walton’s discussions
sion on new forms of social interaction. of femininity in the detective story and
Last but not least, the final section of homophobic connotations and implica-
the volume is an assemblage of coherent- tions in T.V. programmes, respectively,
ly related essays centred on the concepts are worth reading.
of nation, identity, colonialism, histori- Challenging discourses is, in short, a
cal knowledge, gender and genre and compendium of ideas and proposals
homophobia, primarily. Again new defi- which has, on a popular level, the abil-
nitions need to be tackled here and, with ity to broaden narrow minds and to
this aim in mind, meaningful everyday break through prejudices and social
examples are provided. Suffice it to point constructs and barriers usually caused
out Martin Montgomery’s clever analysis by ignorance. For we should not forget
of the way language can be, and actually that these writings should, as a last
is, manipulated for political purposes tak- resort, attract the interest of their object
ing the example of a Scotish Nationalist of study, in other words, the members
Party campaign. The author succeeds in of culture(s). And that is its general
proving the way in which a certain com- interest. On an academic level, the stu-
bination of words and images contributes dent and the non-specialist will defi-
to giving an overall message of idealistic, nitely find their horizons widened with
and even pastoral, nationalism with new fields to investigate and fascinat-
which the audience may easily identify. ing new links between different areas of
Ultimately, Montgomery asserts the study. Challenging Discourses certainly
impossibility to positively affirm a nation contributes to maintain the ongoing
– we – without negatively denoting challenging discourse round culture.
another – they. A brilliant survey of the
United States’ recent history and past Oscar Ros
ideals of fraternity, contrasting with its Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
102 Links & Letters 8, 2001 Book Reviews

Kathleen FIRTH, Felicity HAND (eds).

India: Fifty years after independence – Images in literature, film and media.
Leeds: Peepal Tree, 2001.

India: Fifty years after independence cele- centrates on the conflictive relationship
brates the 50th anniversary of Indian between Indian women writers with a
independence, paying homage to this privileged Westernized education and
relevant event in 20th century history. the creation of an idiosyncratic Indian
The volume is also a positive result of literature in English. Her examination
the international conference organized of Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small
in Barcelona, which wanted to honour Things is an epitome that «breaks out of
the occasion and correspond to the cel- a regional identity» (26) presenting Eng-
ebrations of many people in the sub- lish as a cohesive binder which «address-
continent and the diaspora. The book es the lives of Indian women who are
has come to light thanks to the solid not part of any elite»(27). Elizabeth
work of its editors, Kathleen Firth and Russell looks into identity politics and
Felicity Hand, whose deep involvement location. She discusses that defining
in this academic journey can now bring identities «implies ‘to outline’, ‘to limit’,
to the reader the pleasures offered by a ‘to frame’ … all differential traits are
multicultural and widespread India ignored or rejected.» (37). Asian women
revealing its wonders. have often suffered some kind of alien-
What is most remarkable and ation and displacement owing to their
undoubtedly enriches the value of this cultural suspension and in-between
work is that there is a great representa- homelands.
tion of writers of different origins and The second section, The Storytellers,
cultural backgrounds. The volume is opens with C.D. Narasimhaih’s contri-
structured in four thematic sections – bution, which explores the concept of a
Female Voices, The Storytellers, Indians national literature for India. He claims
Abroad and India on the Move – which the necessity for Indian writers to trace
are equally balanced with three chapters the enriching ancestral texts of the
for each one of them. In the first essay Vedas, the later epics of the Ramayana
and through some of the most influen- and the Mahabharata and the master-
tial texts written in the last fifty years, pieces of the classical age, whose philo-
Murari Prasad reviews literary manifes- sophical wisdom faded into oblivion at
tations of feminism that reveal diverse the end of the first millenium after
ideologies on the issue of women’s Christ, to forge a concept of national lit-
emancipation. Both regional Indian erature. This, however, does not exclude
writers and women writers in English empirical Western influences.
such as Anita Desai, Nayantara Sahgal Narasimhaih acknowledges the truth in
or Shashi Deshpande present myriad the Rigveda – «let great thoughts come
feminist significations and alternative from all directions» (49) – though he
perspectives on life and society which also fears that the Western vision of life
have contributed to women’s active can replace Indian values for the benefit
engagement in society. These visions of commodity and therefore undermine
and images of Indian women are and damage a national literature.
imbued with new resolutions and aspi- Depicting the Indo-British relationship
rations in the struggle towards gender and its ultimate focus of attention – the
equality and justice. Mary Condé con- battle for independence, partition and
Book Reviews Links & Letters 8, 2001 103

subsequent consequences – have been ‘folkloric’ (83), or ‘ethnic’ and ‘foreign’

the main themes of many writers who with Vassanji’s ironic narrative that sug-
wanted to pay tribute to history with gests that Canadian experience equals
their particular retellings and chronicles. ghettoization. However, Firth concludes
Syd Harrex and Savita Goel’s essays deal agreeing with Vassanji’s hope for a new
with some of those writers who have fic- land without cultural stigmatization.
tionalized the colonial and postcolonial The complexity of terms like ‘home-
period, capturing in their novels the land’, ‘heritage’ and ‘hindrance’ takes
Indian-English attitudes. Syd Harrex R.S. Ash’s study backwards and forwards,
highlights the works of Mulk Raj as she reads these terms within the works
Anand, Raja Rao and R.K. Narayan as of Indian diasporic female voices in
distinctive pre-independence writers Britain. What are, then, the notions that
who attack the main sources of oppres- writers in the diaspora hold of India as
sion, and establish the politics of moral- homeland? What role do cultural
ity and the foundations of Gandhiism. hybridity and biculturalism play in their
Savita Goel analyses Rohinton Mistry’s novels and how are first and second gen-
A Fine Balance discussing his depiction eration immigrants affected by them?
of the political and social imbalances of What factors intervene in the process
a postcolonial India. The setting corre- that provokes the modification of gen-
sponds to the time of emergency (1973- der roles? Following a chronological evo-
75) under Indira Gandhi’s administra- lution in the history of the successive
tion. Mistry’s reality, Goel notes, generations of Asian immigrants, R.S.
foregrounds the abusive and violent pol- Ash provides responses to these questions
itics of corruption and exploitation. that constitute underlying themes in the
However, as it is all a question of bal- works of Asian women writers. Her essay
ance, the novel also narrates the growing intertwines with Felicity Hand’s «Forget
bond of love and affection shared by his India, We’re British!» and both together
main characters from contrasting social suggest that the stereotyped fixed image
backgrounds. one has of British people of South Asian
The third section of the book renders origin has always been in constant shift,
homage to all those citizens of the sub- modified and redefined by diverse cul-
continent who, for compelling reasons, tural patterns, «evolving into a new kind
embarked on a complex journey abroad of cultural identity, a synthesis» (119).
undergoing alternating pressures pro- Nowadays, Hand remarks, «Indianness
duced by the interrelationship of exter- has indeed become an essential part of
nal and internal circumstances. Kath- contemporary Britain» (109). Her intro-
leen Firth examines the work by the ductory historical account of the British
Indian-Canadian writer M.G. Vassanji Asian community is upheld by a close
whose personal displacement and relo- approach to Gurinder Chadha’s film
cation is also an ultimate concern of Bhaji on the Beach and Kureishi’s My
many other migrants. No New Land Beautiful Laundrette.
revives ideas and visions that the writer The closing section, India on the
and his fellows, addressed as «new Cana- Move, opens with Somdatta Mandal’s
dians», experience in their encounter focussing on the relevance of Bengal’s
and confrontation with ‘otherness’ as action against British imperialism in
well as their subsequent double alien- colonial times which is reflected in lit-
ation. Firth overlaps the significance of erature, especially in Bangla fiction.
Canadian multiculturalism, which orig- Mandal asserts that each individual
inally linked terms such as ‘quaint’ and writer such as Bankin or Tagore, among
104 Links & Letters 8, 2001 Book Reviews

many others, diffuses his own enlight- Martín Alegre. Her concern is that films
ening thoughts in which politics and such as Passage to India, Gandhi, Heat
philosophy converge. Thus, patriotism and Dust and City of Joy, promote «old
and spirituality are venerated by some and new stereotypes» and show a
writers; others like Tagore, Mandal «monolithic reality», (157) «to perpetu-
argues, denote a more liberal milieu. ate a sentimental, romanticised portrait
Therefore, the political novel within of India that is blatantly colonialist»
Bangla literature manifests itself as a pri- (152). Considering that India is the
or focus of attention from whish differ- world’s leading film factory, why are
ent currents and moral urges originated Indian films not distributed outside just
in the long process towards Indian inde- like the Hollywood ones? What cultur-
pendence. al mechanisms are at play to restrain
The last two essays by Daya Thussu their screening? Martín Alegre con-
and Sara Martín Alegre are dedicated to cludes with the optimistic expectation
the media and the Western film indus- that Indian films will soon find a verita-
try that feeds on images of India in con- ble place abroad that will brush off all
temporary cinema. Thussu traces the the stereotyped, distorted image of the
rapid evolution of the media that as country.
soon as it emerges develops a key role The varied essays gathered in this vol-
in the building of a national identity, ume are essential and challenging read-
forging a sense of Indianness which suf- ing for both academics and students
fers alterations with the impact of pri- across the cultural sciences and human-
vatisation and globalization. But what- ities. The enriching insights and the
ever the damage any form of «cultural wide-ranging perspective reveal the mul-
imperialism» might cause, the truth is ticultural dimension of India, inspiring
that – as Thussu expresses – India has readers to explore themes further. Hope-
now her opportunity to convey a fair fully, this book will generate an even
image of the country and culture to the larger dialogue on the interrelation of
rest of the world. This stands very far cultures in the near future.
from the discredited vision of India por-
trayed by 1980s and 1990s films made Ana Mª García
by Western directors and analysed by Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

Paula GARCÍA RAMÍREZ.

Introducción al estudio de la literatura africana en lengua inglesa.
Universidad de Jaén: Servicio de Publicaciones, 2000.

There are not many monographs on be expressive of the situation of the

African literature in Spain, either in whole issue of African literature in Spain
Spanish or any other peninsular lan- and, indeed, although to a considerably
guage. Recently we saw in Babelia-El lesser extent, in Europe. If the small
País (March 10 th 2001) José María amount of African literature in Spanish
Ridao’s review of the anthology by is characterized by what the reviewer
Donato Ndongo and Mbaré Ngom Lit- aptly calls «materia reservada», i.e., by
eratura de Guinea Ecuatorial, which may the lack of interest on the part of the
Book Reviews Links & Letters 8, 2001 105

old metropolis, what else can be said definitely a strong aspect of the book:
about a minimal general interest in its author has not limited herself to a
African literature written in other lan- neat and uncomplicated survey of Eng-
guages (including French, English, and lish literature in Africa, but she has also
those in the vernacular) and responding accompanied it with a very useful and
to other cultural backgrounds? The informative account of the different lit-
Spanish interest in African literature in eratures that are now developing and
general is certainly scarce. Only about coexisting in the African continent.
fifteen books, some of them sharing The presentation and interpretation
their African syllabus with Asia and the of the historical and socio-political con-
Caribbean region, are currently at hand text of the literary endeavour in Africa is
today, most of them in university of primary importance here. This very
libraries. The situation changes quite same context makes it necessary to
considerably in Portugal, a much more touch on the vernacular languages if we
productive country, if only because of are to fully understand African literature
its deep linguistic share in postcolonial in English, an issue that displays many
Africa. But one suspects, after a brief connections with the linguistic and
survey of the Portuguese production socio-political problems such as decolo-
concerning African literature, that out- nization, the difficult integration of tra-
side the particular domain of literature dition and modernity, the artificiality of
in Portuguese, the situation is similar to the borders between states, ethnic frag-
Spain. mentation, the problems of African
In this respect, the present book is an identity, etc. This again is an important
important contribution to the small cor- contribution of this book and, to meet
pus of three or four handbooks on its demands, the author, as she herself
African literature available in our coun- declares, has opted for a historiographic
try today.1 It is perhaps one of the most approach since it favours a better under-
exhaustive ones, and, although the title standing on the part of the readers, and
indicates «en lengua inglesa», it is the since most of the African authors them-
case that the author does not miss the selves have shown a special concern for
opportunity to present, before going the relationships between literature and
deeper into its main concern, the whole history.
panorama of African literature in lan- The book is thus divided into seven
guages other than English. Thus, we can major chapters, the first of which is
get a wide perspective of literature in most appropriately devoted to the expo-
French, Portuguese, Arabic, Afrikaans, sition of the main keys for the correct
Spanish, German and such vernacular study of African literature. Here the
languages as Hausa, Yoruba, Ibo, essentials of the problems and the par-
Swahili, Kikuyu, and so on. There is ticular features mentioned above are
even attention paid to such literary pos- dealt with at length, although they recur
sibilities as pidgins and creole. This is again and again when needed in the rest

1. The essential publications are: Janheinz Jahn (1971) Las literaturas neoafricanas. Madrid: Guadar-
rama; Áfrico Amasik (1985) La literatura africana hoy. Santa Cruz de Tenerife: Benchomo; La
Laguna: Centro de Estudios Africanos; Fahimeh Farsaie (1995) Rostros de Europa: Autoras y
autores de Africa y Asia. Barcelona: Virus; José Luis Caramés Lage et al. (1997) Literatura post-
colonial en inglés: India, África y Caribe: teoría y práctica. Oviedo: Universidad, Servicio de Pub-
licaciones and Verónica Pereyra, Luis María Mora (1998) Literaturas africanas: (de las sombras a
la luz). Madrid: Mundo Negro.
106 Links & Letters 8, 2001 Book Reviews

of the book. In this connection, the sec- chapter 4, devoted to the rest of the
ond chapter is taken up by a general sur- West African area, and by the chapter
vey on African literature in languages dealing with the South African Repub-
other than English, even if again con- lic. This is a consequence of the prima-
siderations about this topic abound all ry importance of the West African
throughout the book when required by region, and within that region, of Nige-
the expository plan of the author or the ria, the most densely populated country
particular connections with the study of in Africa and the one with an important
literature in English, which is indefati- emergent literature in English, hand in
gably pursued throughout the remain- hand with the consolidated literature in
ing five chapters. English of the South African Republic.
As the author considers that there are In East Africa English has lost ground,
grounds to think of three main literary due to the growing cultivation of native
areas in African literature in English, languages (mainly Swahili) on account
chapters 3 to 7 are organized around of a nationalistic reaction against colo-
these three main domains: West Africa, nialism. Other countries only marginal-
East Africa and South Africa, with two ly connected with English are included
separate chapters to deal more specifi- here, namely Cameroon and Somalia,
cally with Nigeria and the Republic of but the opportunity is taken to present
South Africa, within the groups of West a brief account of the literary situation
Africa and South Africa respectively, on in other languages.
account of the enormous weight of these The monograph pays attention to the
two countries in the cultivation of particular conditions of the book trade
African literatures in English. No doubt, and editorial industry in Africa, as in the
this general layout facilitates the better case of the Onitsha Market Pamphlets in
understanding of a highly involved and Nigeria (80-83), or the so-called Blay’s
complicated situation, in line with the novelettes in Ghana (135-36), or their
introductory character of the book. subservience to the Western World mass
Contiguities and discontinuities are media, together with the biographical
appropriately underlined when neces- relationship of many African authors
sary in such a way that the general map- with Europe or the USA because they
ping out is qualified with the attention have fixed their residence there either
paid to particular features arising here permanently or for a long time. This is
and there. In addition to the historio- the case, among many, of Buchi
graphic approach the author has most Emecheta, Ben Okri, the Black Victori-
frequently opted for the presentation of ans, Guillaume Oyono-Mbia, Lenrie
the extensive list of works and authors Peters, Tijan M. Sallah, William Boyd,
through genre classification, which, if Peter Nazareth, Nuruddin Faran, etc.
risking a fall into reiterative inclusion of All this bears witness to the dependence
the same author in different categories, of the African authors on Europe or
has the advantage of providing a clear America for the world distribution of
and orderly presentation very suitable their books.
for consultation. The final bibliography is extensive
The treatment of the different geo- enough and includes most of the items
graphic areas mentioned above is bal- in English published during the late
anced in relation to the their relative 1980s and 1990s in the domain of
importance in the field of literature in African criticism, which shows the wealth
English. Chapter 3, devoted to Nigeria, of what is now offered to the Spanish
is the longest, followed in lenght by reader.
Book Reviews Links & Letters 8, 2001 107

Although it is difficult to give in only conceived as a general but detailed sur-

240 pages a full account of the rich vey of the literature of a whole conti-
emergent literature of a whole continent nent, would be a final index of names
with comments, assessments, and sam- and titles. This is something almost
ples of the work being dealt with, which compulsory in the English scholarly
the author tries to do wherever she can, tradition and, it goes without saying,
the present book is too factual perhaps something extremely useful for consul-
and exhibits a certain cursory character tation. Although still rare in the Span-
throughout. The present reviewer would ish tradition, it is a feature that should
have appreciated that, in the balance be imported from the Anglo-Saxon
between presentation of mere facts and world.
the rendering of personal judgement, Otherwise, the book is extremely use-
the author had chosen to deal more at ful and through it the Spanish student
length with the latter, enriching her con- of African literature can be introduced
tribution with that personal touch that to the great (and not so great) names of
makes even a handbook the author’s the African literary canon in English
own. We know, however, that then the (Chinua Achebe, Wole Soyinka, Nadine
book would be longer, built on a differ- Gordimer, Alan Paton, Buchi Emecheta,
ent basis, and probably it would not ful- Ben Okri, Amos Tutuola, Ngûgî wa
fil its main aim as an introductory hand- Thiong’o, etc.) and their interrelation-
book for the Spanish public. Yet the few ship with a whole world of men and
samples of poetry or narrative very women, ideas and events in ferment
sparsely included in the book indicate now in that continent which, para-
that, if they had been resorted to in a phrasing what has been often said about
more assiduous way, the book would women’s literature, is truly the lost con-
have gained in appeal to the reader and tinent of world literature.
in liveliness.
Another necessary thing that one Luciano García
misses in this book, especially as it is Universidad de Jaén

Manuel AGUIRRE, Roberta QUANCE, Philip SUTTON.

Margins and thresholds: An inquiry into the concept of liminality in text
studies.
Madrid: The Gateway Press, 2000.

Liminality is not a new concept, but the notion of liminality has already been
truth is that in the field of English stud- introduced in guides such as Jeremy
ies in Spain it has not been really dis- Hawthorn’s (2000) A Glossary of con-
covered, used and developed until recent temporary literary theory (London:
times. The series proposed and started Arnold), Irena Makaryk’s (ed.) (1993)
with this monograph written by Manuel Encyclopedia of contemporary literary the-
Aguirre, Roberta Quance and Philip ory (Toronto: University of Toronto
Sutton, Studies in Liminality and Litera- Press), and also in Bill Ashcroft, Gareth
ture, comes to inaugurate a fruitful, Griffiths and Helen Tiffin’s (1998) Key
open path for research. Though the concepts in post-colonial studies (Lon-
108 Links & Letters 8, 2001 Book Reviews

don/New York: Routledge), among oth- put forward as a significant contribu-

ers, none of them – except for Makaryk tion.
– has accounted for the anthropological In chapter 1, the main idea from
origin of the term and the basic bibliog- which the book starts is that the con-
raphy related to it. Thus the work under cept and theory of liminality offers a
review here is much more appreciated way to go beyond the debate focused on
precisely because it really echoes the the polarized opposition between centre
genesis of the concept. and margin; thus, they start offering a
In general terms, the goal of the SLL careful distinction between marginality
(Studies in Liminality and Literature) is and liminality, proposing the advantage
theoretical and analytical, and it is basi- of the latter. Even though the metaphor
cally concerned with the «poetics of the of the margin has worked well, it is time
threshold». This first volume considers to assume that it holds a rather closed
the rich possibilities offered by the con- binary system that confronts centre with
cept of liminality, and strives, on the margin in a sort of blind alley. Unlike
whole, to elaborate and offer a working margin and marginality, limen and lim-
theory for the study of texts. It seems inality infer an open and plural system,
appropriate to remember that the con- an active dynamism and mediation, a
cept originally comes from Arnold van place of transition and transformation, a
Gennep’s studies on the rites of passage. possibility to negotiate. Due to the fact
In Les Rites de Passage, Van Gennep that the ideas presented in the first
(1909) analyzed and synthesized the chapter pervade the whole study, it
whole realm of ritual, and discerned might be interesting to quote and point
three phases nearly universal: a) sépara- out the following descriptive definitions:
tion or preliminal rites, b) marge or lim-
inal (threshold) rites, and c) ágrégation A limen is a threshold between two
or postliminal incorporation rites. spaces. If a border is viewed as the line,
imaginary or real, which separates these
Anthropologist Victor Turner built on two spaces, then the threshold is the
his predecessor’s insights to make a ver- opening which permits passages from one
itable specialty of liminality, mainly in space to the other (6).
his The Ritual Process (1969).1 For Turn- [...] by «liminal» we will understand
er, and this is important for the later texts or representations generated between
developments of the concept, liminality two or more discourses, a transition area
is not a thin line but an expanded zone. between two or more universes which
The idea of liminality passed easily into thereby shares in two or more poetics. In
literary study, and it has been used to a second sense, we will also apply the term
«liminal» to texts, genres or representa-
explore indeterminate liminal states in tions centred around the notion of the
a wide range of literatures and literary threshold, or whose fundamental theme is
periods. All in all, literary applications the idea of a crossover, a transgression or
of liminality blossomed in the later an entry into the Other (9).
1980s, showing its usefulness. On a the-
oretical level, the recent, compelling Afterwards, three areas are selected
account on this issue in Aguirre, for the application of the theory: genre,
Quance and Sutton (2000) should be symbol and structure. Thus, an addi-

1. There is a Spanish translation: Victor W. Turner (1969) El proceso ritual. Estructura y antiestruc-
tura. Beatriz García Ríos (rev. trans.) Madrid: Taurus, 1988. Van Gennep’s original study, Les
rites de passage (1909), is also available in English: The rites of passage. Monika B. Vizedom &
Gabrielle L. Caffee (trans.) Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1960.
Book Reviews Links & Letters 8, 2001 109

tional strength of this study lies in the area, the subject is the popular liminal
fact that the authors do not only pose genre of the rock narrative. Because the
theoretical and conceptual contentions goal is to investigate liminality as an
in an abstract manner, but really put attribute and function, the focus is
them into practice, critically applying placed not only at the level of narrative,
their hypothesis and showing open but also regarding the structure of a rock
avenues for future studies. concert performance and the consump-
Therefore, in chapter 2, the authors tion of the narrative by social groups, all
direct a formal gaze on popular fiction of which is shown to be shaped with
genres, considered to be located in a generic liminal attributes which provide
threshold area between literature and this narrative with an archetypal quality.
folklore. Usually, the popular is defined Finally, chapter 5 poses the main con-
by its separation from the accepted liter- clusions and possible expansions of this
ary canon. However, there is literature monograph, from the constituent dis-
that contains characteristics of the popu- tinction between marginality and limi-
lar, facets of folklore: genres such as nality. The margin, the exclusion, is nec-
Gothic and horror novels and stories, essary to the very identity of any canon,
detective fiction, the thriller and spy-nov- and the threshold, as a contact zone
el, slave narratives, science-fiction, pulps, between any two systems, helps the
Westerns, among other forms most times understanding of both. With Aguirre,
pejoratively named as, for instance, ‘mass Quance and Sutton (2000: 69), it is
culture’ or ‘paraliterature.’ In different important to conclude that liminality is
degrees and at diverse levels, these genres a functional rather than a categorial
share features of both systems and poet- concept, depending on various factors,
ics: literature and folklore. They belong such as culture, moment or viewpoint.
to a liminal intersystemic area of flux The study of thresholds, formal, sym-
where clear-cut categorizations make no bolic, structural, thematic, narrative,
sense. At the same time, postmodernism ideological, linguistic, cultural, in writ-
is also considered as an example of liter- ten, oral, iconographic or performative
ary liminality, between canonical litera- forms, reveals itself as a useful theoreti-
ture and popular texts (themselves limi- cal and analytical strategy.
nal between literature and folklore). Seen in this light, it is easy to imagine
Questioning traditional boundaries, post- the several applications it could produce,
modernist fiction stands in a liminal area dealing with texts and representations
featured by the interplay between the traditionally considered as borderline
accepted canon and its many others. regarding the established literary canon,
In chapter 3 the focus is on symbol, created from a space in-between, from a
specifically on the figure of woman in fractured liminal location of various
myth but also in modern culture and structures, forms and voices. In this way,
cultural criticism, as being traditionally liminality chiefly claims that it would be
placed on the passage gateway between better to read against the grain of the
culture and nature. So, it seems more rhetoric of binarism, going beyond polar-
appropriate to use the concept of limi- izations, looking from the bridge. In a
nality instead of that of marginality to time when it is already assumed that cul-
describe women’s position and its sym- tural purity does not exist, this study dis-
bolic representation, mainly in mytho- plays a true reassessment of the creative
logical thought. potentialities of liminal zones. Crossing,
In chapter 4, and in order to look at boundary and threshold markers are
the issue of liminality in the structural highly significant in this interstitial space,
110 Links & Letters 8, 2001 Book Reviews

and are also extremely useful to locate associated especially with genre studies,
and apprehend the text regarding the rep- postcolonialisms and gender studies.
resentation of worldviews in interaction- Reading this book, liminality, which
al contest, in search of dialogue. could be related to other useful cultural
All in all, I honestly consider it nec- bridging conceptualizations such as
essary to value the relevance and possi- Homi Bhabha’s ‘third space’ or Gloria
bilities offered by the concept of limi- Andalzúa’s ‘borderland/frontera’, is pre-
nality at the present time of literary sented in an intensive and accurate way,
studies, engaged in a rich interdiscipli- from a conscious picture of its possibil-
nary relationship with cultural studies, ities, from a concise and potential apéri-
comparative literature, translation stud- tif that conveys a very good taste.
ies and discourse analysis, among oth-
ers, without forgetting the growth of Dora Sales Salvador
interest in thresholds and boundaries, Universitat Jaume I de Castelló

Anabel BORJA ALBI.

El texto jurídico inglés y su traducción al español.
Barcelona: Ariel, Lenguas Modernas, 2000.

Legal equivalence is not possible; context. Works like the one by Dr. Bor-
legal translation is. ja’s echo this reality and become a most
valuable resource for scientific, techni-
Anabel Borja
cal, economic, or legal translators.
The book aims at studying the legal
In less than one year of existence, Dr. translation between two major lan-
Borja’s book has become one of the guages: English and Spanish. Following
most used and useful references in legal a bottom-up perspective, it covers three
translation teaching and practice. It areas, which lead to an increasingly
could not be otherwise. Its author’s pro- deeper view of legal translation as a pro-
fessional profile, her research, and also fessional, discourse activity. Thus, the
the remarkable time translation studies author covers in her research legal lan-
is going through have all contributed to guage and texts, legal translation itself,
the quality of this work, a first step in a and the legal translator.
series of specialised studies in translation The first block, which comprises
that Ariel has set up to publish. chapters one to five, is a survey of tradi-
This book comes into being in the tional and recent studies of English legal
era of the specialised translation. For language from a discourse analysis point
centuries, the translation of literature, of view. This part leads to the definition
or even of poetry alone, has been the of the features of English legal language
only concern of translation theory. as a textual phenomenon. In chapter
Whereas this area of studies continues one, the author suggests a functional
to be the most prestigious in an acade- definition of ‘legal language’ as that lan-
mic milieu, the professional market has guage which is used in the communica-
been pushing for some decades for the tion between, from, or directed to pub-
specialised areas to find a place in this lic authorities, as well as that used
Book Reviews Links & Letters 8, 2001 111

between individuals in activities which Such a classification is planned to

may have legal consequences (such as lead to the establishing of relationships
agreements or wills). Next a historical between source culture (that is English)
framework is offered (chapter 2) which and target culture (Spanish) text types.
supports the functional view of legal Therefore it is a useful reference for the
language and allows the author to trace identification of parallel texts (e.g. a
back the features of English legal lan- ‘judgment’ and a ‘sentencia’), a tool with
guage as described in chapter 3. which a translator is able to compare for
In chapter 4, we are gently driven example source and target terminology
from a microlinguistic analysis into a and phraseology, or also text type con-
textual perspective where text and con- ventions.
text are seen as interwoven. Here we can In the next chapter – 6 – Dr. Borja
appreciate the influence of the discourse defines what legal translation is and dis-
analysis trend in translation studies cusses the confusion of this with official
where theorists such as Hatim & Mason translation. Most illustratively, one
(1990) plead for a three-layered textual example tells us that whereas an official
analysis, where pragmatic, semiotic, and translation may be needed for a love let-
communicative features are taken into ter to be presented in court, legal trans-
account. Anabel Borja applies this frame- lation would be restricted to law-related
work to legal texts and text types and the texts. In her definition of legal transla-
result is a sound reflection into the use of tion, the author stresses the fact that it is
English legal language as seen in real not restricted to one mode (written
texts, and the context where it develops. texts), but it also includes audiovisual
The author offers in chapter 5 her translation and interpreting (oral texts).
own classification of legal texts, focus- The last pages in this chapter are a very
ing on text type relationships between useful survey of a wide range of articles
both source and target culture. In estab- dealing with legal translation, distin-
lishing her criterion, she surveys typolo- guishing different groups of concerns
gies based on the branches of the law, for researchers of legal translation.
the function of texts, or the commu- Chapter 7 is devoted to the profession
nicative situation. However, the classifi- of legal translators. This is a sound
cation produced in this book sets off, description of the actual profile of trans-
for example, a sales agreement and an lators and interpreters faced with legal
act regulating the sale of goods, where- translations to be consumed in Spain
as this act would be under the same cat- and of the legal framework in which they
egory as an act to regulate the relation- work. The author shows a deep view of
ships between landlord and tenant. The this professional activity in tackling the
final taxonomy is reached inductively concept of ‘equivalence in translation’ in
and takes in the way in which primary chapter 8. Conceptual density and lack
users (such as lawyers or judges) orga- of equivalence between legal systems are
nize their own textual knowledge. In difficulties facing the translator who,
presenting her classification, we are even under these circumstances, finds an
offered a wide view of legal texts in the equivalence in translation. The strategies
Spanish and the English culture, which translators apply in finding the solution
includes the description of the commu- depend, as the author tells us, on their
nicative situation, the purpose the users customer and the function of their trans-
pursue in choosing one text or the oth- lation. These remarks are illustrated with
er, and an overview of the textual fea- real examples and some concluding
tures of some documents. guidelines for legal translation.
112 Links & Letters 8, 2001 Book Reviews

In chapter 9, the book deals with the also a very generous list of reference
sources of documentation legal transla- works for the practice of legal translation
tors have at their disposal. The author between English and Spanish.
offers a general view of existing resources All in all, the book under review here is
and stresses the importance of the a very generous work where a profession-
knowledge acquired through practice al and researcher lets the general public
and which can take a material shape and into some of the magic formulae other-
be systematically filed by translators wise reserved to those who dare to under-
themselves for future use. This chapter take this complex branch of translation.
ends by giving a great deal of useful ref- The author’s final wish, stated in the epi-
erences which include electronic data logue, for the legal translator to lead a bet-
bases, web sites, and newsgroups. ter life, is undoubtedly a guiding principle
In her epilogue, the author sketches for her research, and hers is a very remark-
some future perspectives for research in able contribution to that cause.
the field of legal translation. She partic-
ularly focuses on the usefulness of corpus References
linguistics, empirical studies of transla-
tion practice, and the developing of soft- Hatim, B. & I. Mason, Discourse and the
ware which takes advantage of the recur- Translator, London, Longman, 1990.
ring phraseology and structures of legal
text types. Finally, we have a generous Esther Monzó
catalogue of literature on this subject and Universitat Jaume I de Castelló

Mireia LLINÀS,
Petites paraules. ¿D’on surt la gramàtica?
Barcelona: Empúries, 2001.

Petites paraules. ¿D’on surt la gramàtica? The book is divided into five main
is a comprehensive overview of the basic chapters which, in turn, are further sub-
concepts and corollaries of Generative divided into more specific sections head-
grammar, a theoretical framework first ed by an explanatory title. A great deal of
proposed by Noam Chomsky which useful examples are included throughout
attempts to approach language scientif- the text in order to clarify theoretical
ically by formulating and checking issues, as well as to lead the reader to
hypotheses, by predicting what language think about his or her own linguistic
will allow and what it will not. This the- knowledge. An analytic index of relevant
ory basically seeks to explain (i) adult concepts is included at the end, so that
grammatical knowledge from a global the book can be used for quick consul-
point of view, that is, including all lan- tation.
guages in the world, and (ii) how lan- Simplicity (but not shallowness) is a
guage is acquired and develops in the key word to define the book: the author
human mind assuming that humans are tries to move away from specialised jar-
genetically endowed to acquire an adult gon when possible, offering plain defin-
grammar. itions and explanations whenever a tech-
Book Reviews Links & Letters 8, 2001 113

nical word cannot be avoided. This way, Chapter 3 deals with syntax, struc-
anyone interested in language, but not ture-dependence and the limits of lan-
necessarily a philologist or a linguist, can guage. Through a series of examples of
follow and enjoy the reading. both possible and impossible sentences,
As Llinàs establishes in chapter 1, the Llinàs makes the reader aware of the fact
aim of the book is to explain what Gen- that there are certain restrictions on lan-
erative grammar is about and how it guage: some constructions are not
accounts for our linguistic knowledge in allowed by syntactic structure. The lim-
an understandable way. Two basic ideas its of language, then, are to be found by
have to be taken into account by the means of linguistic experiments, that is,
reader to grasp the essence of Genera- by judging what sentences are possible
tive grammar: (i) grammar is the basis of in language and which ones are not. In
linguistic knowledge and (ii) it is innate, order to illustrate that grammatical
inherent to human beings. operations are constrained by syntactic
In chapter 2, the author addresses structures, the author comments on (i)
some of the central issues that shape the relationship between pronouns and
Generative grammar, such as the idea their reference and (ii) the existence of
that we are biologically prepared to learn certain domains where certain gram-
any language in the world, since we are matical operations are not allowed.
born with an internalised Universal In this chapter, the notion of func-
Grammar. According to Generative the- tional categories such as Determiner and
ory, Universal Grammar consists of a Complementizer as opposed to lexical
series of principles and parameters. Prin- categories such as Noun and Verb is
ciples are shared by all languages in the introduced. Functional categories are
world, whereas parameters are responsi- extremely relevant in Generative gram-
ble for linguistic diversity, since each lan- mar: they contain grammatical informa-
guage chooses its particular set. There- tion, which is essential for the good for-
fore, all human beings have an innate mation of sentences, and are responsible
knowledge of a set of grammatical oper- for linguistic variation across languages.
ations which allow us to build up sen- The author also deals with traces, an
tences and account for linguistic creativ- example of empty categories, which are
ity, that is, the capacity of all individuals one of the main contributions of Gener-
to create and interpret new sentences ative grammar to linguistics. Traces,
without having heard them before. How- which are invisible and empty of phono-
ever, grammatical operations function logical content, signal the syntactic posi-
together with words, which are stored in tion of those elements that have moved
the lexicon along with their phonologi- away from their original position.
cal, morphological, semantic and syntac- In chapter 4, Llinàs concentrates on
tic properties. Grammar, which is one of the process of language acquisition,
the cognitive systems of the mind, is which constitutes an important piece of
made up of different kinds of knowledge evidence in favour of the existence of
such as phonology, morphology and syn- Universal Grammar. The logical prob-
tax, among others. Among these, syntax lem of acquisition (Plato’s problem)
is considered to be the core of grammar, refers to the fact that children acquire a
since other kinds of linguistic knowledge great deal of linguistic knowledge that
such as morphology depend on it. More- cannot be found in the input they
over, it is responsible for the structure of receive. According to Chomsky, this is a
language, which, in turn, constrains piece of evidence for claiming that
grammatical operations. human beings are by nature endowed
114 Links & Letters 8, 2001 Book Reviews

with Universal Grammar, an innate lan- a particular grammar at each stage of

guage acquisition device which is acti- acquisition, which means that, at each
vated by linguistic input and which stage, they have a given set of grammat-
ensures that any child under normal cir- ical operations which can result in a
cumstances will end up acquiring a lan- group of possible constructions. There-
guage. fore, children systematically produce
Moreover, the process of acquisition constructions that might be different
is basically similar across languages and from adult grammar, but that are
from child to child, as the author illus- allowed by the set of grammar opera-
trates with examples of her two daugh- tions that build up their grammar at the
ters’ linguistic productions. The same particular stage of the process of acqui-
non-adult grammatical constructions sition they are in.
were produced by both of the author’s In the last chapter, which constitutes
daughters at about the same age. Very a very good summary of the book, the
interestingly, Llinàs points out that author makes some final remarks on the
some practices which are common purpose of Generative grammar and its
among parents, such as correcting chil- main contributions to syntactic theory
dren and talking to them in a simplified and linguistics in general. On the whole,
way, are of little use, since the child goes the book reads easily and provides the
through a series of stages necessarily, as reader with a clear picture of a theoreti-
the process of acquisition is guided. cal framework that could have appeared
Again, she uses some fun examples of to be nearly esoteric if it were not
her own children’s linguistic productions explained in such plain and accessible
to illustrate the point. language.
The author also comments on the
fact that children’s constructions cannot Susagna Tubau Muntañá
be regarded as mistakes, since they have Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

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