Martin Hurcombe will be introducing his book France and the Spanish Civil War at the University of Westminster, on the 31st October, where he will also be giving a paper to the Group for War and Culture Studies.

France and the Spanish Civil War is a wide-ranging study of French intellectuals who represented the Spanish Civil War as it was happening and in its immediate aftermath. Martin Hurcombe explores the ways in which these individuals addressed national anxieties and shaped the French political landscape.

Bringing together reportage, essays, and fiction by French supporters of Franco’s Nationalists and of the Spanish Republic, the author shows the multifaceted ways in which that conflict impacted upon French political culture. He argues that French cultural representations of the war often articulated a utopian image of the Nationalists or of the Spanish Republic that served as models behind which the radical right or the radical left in France might mobilise. His book will be of interest not only to scholars of French literature and culture but also to those interested in how events unfolding in Spain found an echo in the political landscapes of other countries.

About the Author: Martin Hurcombe is Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Bristol