Manderley. Laboratory of Literary Ideas and Practices aims to create an open space for reflection and debate on literature and its translation. It is intended for students on the BA degrees in English Studies and Translation and Interlinguistic Mediation (English as Language B). This space seeks to bring together the professional world, literary practices and research. Following the 2025/2026 season, devoted to the theme “Violence and Literature” and culminating in Manderley Open House I: Young Researchers Seminar/Seminari de Recerca Jove, the 2026/2027 season will focus on the relationship between literature and the ghostly and the spectral.
What happens at each session?
The sessions are organised around two main strands of activities and one student-centred event at the end of the season:
1 Reading seminars. Taking the form of a book club, we will select a literary work and invite the person who translated it to take part. This will allow us not only to explore the literary text in depth, but also to learn about the professional dimension behind the translation of a book, gain a better understanding of how the publishing world works, and more. The sessions are informal, and participants may read the work in whichever language they prefer. We aim to encourage the reading of works by authors who receive less attention in degree programmes, thereby broadening our literary horizons.
2 Research seminars. Using the season’s overarching theme as a framework, different researchers will present their work, research ideas and methodological approaches, which will then be discussed and explored collectively during the seminars. These sessions aim, on the one hand, to broaden students’ literary knowledge and, on the other, to introduce them to research in literature and literary translation. Following the seminars, at the end of the season, students will take the floor and present their research (arising from undergraduate or master’s degree dissertations, doctoral theses or their own interests) at an open academic event: Manderley Open House. You can find the programme for last year’s event here. Participation is voluntary. Approximately one session will be held each month in the afternoon (5 p.m.), and certificates will be awarded to everyone who takes part in Manderley activities.
Manderley Open House. Open academic event, at which students will take the floor and present their research (arising from undergraduate or master’s degree dissertations, doctoral theses or their own interests).
Would you like to take part?
Participation is voluntary. Approximately one session will be held each month in the afternoon (5 p.m.), and certificates will be awarded to everyone who takes part in Manderley activities.
What should I do if I want to sign up? Fill in this form and we will send you all the information about the activities. If you have any questions, get in touch with us! (Anthony Nuckols - anthony.nuckols@uv.es / Núria Molines - nuria.molines@uv.es)
2026–2027 Season Programme
- Opening seminar: 21 October. Iván Villanueva-Jordán (UPC): “The Prince Returns: Translation and Spectrality in a Short Story by Oscar Wilde”.
- Reading seminar: 9 November. With Julia Osuna, translator of Liars by Sarah Manguso.
- Research seminar: 21 December. Gora Zaragoza and Miguel Ros: “Translation, Spectres of Censorship and Gender in the Reception of Agatha Christie in Francoist Spain”.
- Research seminar: 15 February. Ana Fernández-Caparrós Turina and Mayron Cantillo (UV): Theatre, Biofiction and Spectrality (title to be confirmed).
- Reading seminar: 8 March. With Eva Gallud, translator of Ghost of and Root Fractures by Diana Khoi Nguyen.
- Reading seminar: 12 April. With Concha Cardeñoso, translator of Land by Maggie O’Farrell.
- Research seminar: 14 May. Elios Mendieta (UCM) and Jaume Peris (UV): Spectrality and Literature in the Hispanic American Context (title to be confirmed).
- Manderley Open House II: Young Researchers Seminar/Seminari de Recerca Jove. June.
