these essays by critics, theorists and artists explore the allusive nexus of the dark in contemporary mexican literature and visual culture. they chart the poetics of 'negrura-oscuridad' in creative media during decades of deepening crisis marked by the high-profile staging of atrocities, the re-emergence of an ironic noir aesthetic and the consolidation of forensically inspired art-making.

in the wake of walter benjamin's 'unfinished' thinking structures, this volume operates through contiguous directions, transitions and regressions, incorporating images as part of the discussion of a ruinous visuality. its polycentric mesh covers a wide range of art, writing, photography and film: from ritual uses of the 'darksome' and its legacies in pre-hispanic cultures to colonial religious iconography of penitential blindness; from narco-noir in the novels of roberto bola o and yuri herrera to techno-noir in dystopian border films; from the quotidian taxonomy of horror expurgated in art practice to the haunted 'other darkness' of the photographic blink. it also explores how we can contest the threat of dark ecology and 'horrorism' through sense expansion within new media and by positing fruitful blind spots in text and art.

this is a book of insight and imagination. it is a literary tour de force, where 28 irish plays are examined and their rich cultural context exposed in a way that educates and excites. to read anne o'reilly's analysis leaves one longing to return to theatre and to play. while the text is utterly readable, the ideas shared are profound.

the theme 'journey' is common in every play but it is explored from different angles; we glimpse understandings of the journey in search of soul, of self, of healing, of sacred meaning, of the possible, even of transformation.　

one of the captivating aspects of this book is that, while it's about plays and their stories, it also challenges the reader to rethink and re-imagine his/her own story. it is indeed a literary work of art. -ann louise gilligan

the spectators, also known as moral weeklies, were an important magazine genre which came into being in the early 18th century and which shaped european identity by developing the strategies of critical journalism and by popularizing the ideas and values of the age of enlightenment. investigating modes of storytelling in the spectators is an important starting point for a paradigmatic investigation of our historical, cultural and philosophical evolution since the enlightenment and the impact of these magazines on issues of identity in today's europe. in this collection on, we present a series of contributions which study english, french, spanish, italian, german, dutch, czech, polish and danish-norwegian periodicals.