De El Research Articles

Through the Bonfires of Petrarchism: Flemish Aesthetics in "El coloquio de los perros"

Only recently has Cervantine criticism assumed the intertwining of graphic and literary imagination to be a constitutive feature of Cervantes's creative process and production (Chaffee-Sorace 208), Thanks to Helmut Hatzfeld, Kari-Ludwig Selig, Edward Friedman, Frederick De Armas, George Camamis, Edward Dudley, and Diane Chaffee-Sorace, among others, this visual and pictorial component has also become a constitutive feature of Cervantes criticism, one that allows us to consider and explore the Cervantine works for what they are: fully embodied works of art. Although Cervantes's pictorial imagination is usually explored in relation to the Italian Renaissance and its idealized premises,1 in these pages, by studying the exemplary novella El de los perros, I argue for the existence of a much darker dimension in Cervantes's artistic sensibility. Through a departure from Italian molds, Cervantes's adoption of a Northern Flemish aesthetics provides El coloquio with a cohesiveness that allows it to unfold in the almost antagonistic directions of the exemplary and picaresque genres. My ultimate intent is to show how, despite its generic ambiguity, the dark aesthetic of this novella allows it to conduct an underlying moral critique of beauty.A pictorial approach to Cervantes is a logical component of the general consideration of a literary text as work of art.1 Traditionally, aesthetics has been considered the qualifying characteristic that allows us to identify an artistic object. As Arthur Danto states, [a]n artwork is something produced with the intention of giving it the capacity to satisfy the aesthetic (The Art World 571). The definition of such aesthetic interest, however, has proven to be a rather problematic postulation which many attempt to divert by identifying aesthetics with aestheticism: that is, by making beauty the ultimate interest or intention of the artist. This tempting identification conveys problems of its own; even though aesthetics and aestheticism both explore the conception of beauty, they do it quite differently. While aesthetics is devoted to the perception and contemplative delight of beauty in the form of the comic, the tragic, or the sublime, aestheticism considers art as self-sufficient, as the ultimate justification for its own existence.3Cervantine criticism often makes notions of aesthetics and aestheticism interchangeable. When studying Cervantes's art theory, we tend to study Cervantes's conceptions of beauty and perception, perhaps (mis)guided by how Don Quixote-in the name of the beautiful-justifies what he does through what he sees. Inside and outside the Cervantine domains, beauty, especially female beauty, as a literary motif often becomes the ultimate justification for pursuits that transcend the artistic. As explored by Henry Higuera, Lisa Rabin and De Armas, Dulcinea embodies a link between beauty and imperialism, one which determines the creation of Don Quijote as an errant knight.4 These critics illuminate the indebtedness of Don Quijote's characterization of Dulcinea to Petrarchan conceptions of beauty,5 pictorial and mnemotechnical techniques of Renaissance artists,6 and the military aspiration of the translatio imperil.7 Even though such a combination results in the somewhat monstrous figure of Dulcinea-never completely free from the lowly presence of Aldonza-Don Quijote succeeds in fixing in his mind, and that of his reader, the mechanics of female idealization.El de los perros was one of the last works of Cervantes to be associated with any realm of beauty and pleasing or idealizing aesthetics. Female characters are almost totally absent from the novella, with the exception of an old woman, Canizares, who is depicted as a monstruous witch. In Cervantes and the Mystery of Lawlessness, Alban Forcione understands this absence as the revealing synthesis of the total design of the Novelas ejemplares (1613), which are for the critic a collection of stories grouped by their pessimistic tone, overwhelming ugliness, and vision of disorder. …

In the Lands of the Christians: Arabic Travel Writing in the Seventeenth Century (review)

In the Lands of the Christians: Arabic Travel Writing in the Seventeenth Century (review)

Acritarchs of Las Ventanas Formation (Ediacaran, Uruguay): Implications for the timing of coeval rifting and glacial events in western Gondwana

Acritarchs and other organic-walled microfossils occurring in siltstones of the Las Ventanas Formation (Quebrada de Viera and El Perdido members) are systematically described and illustrated. The assemblage includes the following species: Leiosphaeridia tenuissima, Leiosphaeridia minutissima, Lophosphaeridium sp., Soldadophycus bossii, Soldadophycus major, Soldadophycus sp. and Vendotaenia antiqua. The microflora is characterized by low diversity (six species), dominance of L. tenuissima, absence of acanthomorphic acritarchs, and relatively large size of sphaeromorphs, reaching 400 μm in diameter. A number of species are shared with acritarch assemblages preserved in the overlying Arroyo del Soldado Group. Differences between assemblages include the occurrence of abundant Bavlinella faveolata and small size of spheroids in the Arroyo del Soldado Group. The assemblage occurring in Las Ventanas Formation is assigned to the Ediacaran Leiosphere Palynoflora, which spans the interval between the base of the Ediacaran (end of the Marinoan Glaciation, 635 Ma) and the termination of the Gaskiers Glaciation (582 Ma). An early Ediacaran age between 615 and 579 Ma is also supported by available radiometric ages. An extensional setting for Las Ventanas basin is suggested on the basis of the bimodal, synsedimentary volcanism, strong palaeorelief, great thickness of alluvial fan conglomerates and the evolution from continental to open marine environments. Diamictites occurring in the Quebrada de Viera Member are described for the first time, including associated dropstones which suggest a glacial origin. If confirmed, this would be one more example of the association between rifting and glaciation in the Neoproterozoic, coeval with a low-diversity, high-abundance acritarch microflora. A causal relationship between these tectonic, climatic and biologic events is discussed.

Impact of mosquito proofing of night shelters in refugee camps in Kitgum, northern Uganda

To test the impact of long-lasting insecticide-treated netting, fitted to cover the eaves and ceilings of refugee shelters, on the incidence of nighttime mosquito biting. Entomological surveys in night-dwelling shelters at three camps for internally displaced persons in Kitgum, Uganda during August and November 2004: The impact of proofing against the nighttime incidence of mosquito biting was assessed through human landing catches and indoor resting catches in proofed and unproofed (control) shelters. Human landing catches were performed inside and outside four proofed and four control shelters at three locations, and indoor resting catches were performed in 37 proofed and 18 control shelters. The difference in biting rates was tested using paired and unpaired t-tests and multivariate analysis. Most mosquitoes caught during the survey were culicine (97%). The difference in landing rate (mlrph) differentials (outdoor-indoor) illustrated a significant (t = 3.26, P = 0.004) difference between mlrph between proofed (0.154) and control shelters (-0.110). Mean shelter density (msd) recorded during indoor resting catches was 6.7 times higher in the control shelters than in proofed shelters (P < 0.001). The number of blood-fed mosquitoes/person/night (bfmpn) was significantly higher (P < 0.001), by a magnitude of 17, in control shelters (one in five individuals receiving a bite) compared with proofed shelters (1 in 83 individuals). A multivariate analysis showed that the difference in biting rates was because of the intervention. The significantly lower mlrph, msd and bfmpn in proofed shelters demonstrate that the mosquito proofing strategies employed do reduce the exposure to mosquito biting in proofed compared with control shelters by a magnitude of 6-17. Although numbers of Anopheline mosquitoes were low, the biting rates of Anophelines were also significantly lower in proofed shelters compared with control shelters. Insecticide-treated netting appears to significantly reduce the mosquito nuisance-biting incidence. However, a higher incidence of Anopheline biting may be required to test the effect of proofing on malaria vectors and a subsequent study is therefore recommended.

La realidad y la ilusión : Cervantes en Freud

It is pretended to show influence Cervantes had on Freud. Freud was worried about psychic disorders. He was also disappointed by methods of psychiatry had at that time. Freud was very interested in plays of Cervantes, especially in El coloquio de los perros and El Quixote, where reality and illusion, and relationship between sanity and insanity are their central axes. One of possible readings of great play is one where limits between reason and unreason are not clear, to point of achieving the reason of unreasonableness, which would make it understandable and explicable. Real fantasy, fantastic reality, demarcation between them was one of topics that worried Freud. Freud is not a simple lawyer of irrationality, but he also tries to find the reason of unreasonableness that neurotics show in symptoms he tried to explain in detail.

Origenes y evolución de la crónica taurina

This article essentially comes from a lecture offered on July 13rd, 2006 at Complutense University’s Summer Courses, in San Lorenzo de El Escorial. That is “Two hours after five o´clock in the afternoon“…, managed by the professor Juan Gomez Castaneda. The subject agreed was “Origin and development of bullfighting chronicle”. Naturally, it was also necessary to clarify concepts like “review”, “chronicle” and “critic”.

Restos de quelonios del Mioceno medio del área de Tarazona de Aragón (Cuenca del Ebro, Aragón, España)

In this work, turtle remains are described from the Middle-Upper Aragonian sites of Monteagudo, Tarazona de Aragon, El Buste and La Ciesma. The chelonian assemblage is compared with that found in older sites from the same area of the Ebro basin. The differences with the Lower Miocene (biozones Z-A) of Bardenas Reales (Navarra) could be attributed to either or both the diverse sedimentary environment and to the changes in relative humidity and temperature occurred during the Early-Middle Miocene.

Distribución territorial y consumo de botones de perforación en “V” en el ámbito argárico

The V -perforated buttons have been largely considered as intrusive elements in Argaric artefact assemblages. Chronologically, the close association with the “Bell- Beaker phenomenon” has led to the tendency to relate these to the earliest stages in the development of Argaric society. Nevertheless, recent information provided by the review of the excavations and of the archaeological remains recovered from the Illeta dels Banyets de El Campello settlement located in Alicante, has enabled us to reconsider spatially and chronologically the production and consumption of these objects in Argaric society.

Association between intestinal parasitic infections and type of sanitation system in rural El Salvador

To identify demographic, behavioural and environmental determinants of intestinal parasitic infection, evaluate the impact of a variety of dry sanitation systems on intestinal parasitic infection, and evaluate the safety of using stored biosolids in agriculture in order to guide future sanitation interventions in rural areas of El Salvador. Interviews were conducted with 109 households in eight communities where double-vaulted and solar urine-diverting desiccating latrines, pit latrines or no latrines were used. Faecal samples from 499 individuals were tested for enteric helminths and protozoa. Users of solar desiccating latrines had the lowest prevalence of enteric parasite infection. Double-vault, urine-diverting desiccating latrines effectively reduced the transmission of some pathogens, but may not achieve the conditions sufficient for the complete destruction of the more environmentally persistent pathogens, Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura. Contact with inadequately treated latrine biosolids was associated with an increased risk of Ascaris infection. Solar latrines were associated with the overall lowest prevalence of enteric parasitic infections. Members of households where latrine biosolids were used in agriculture had a higher prevalence of infection than those where biosolids were buried. We therefore recommend the promotion of solar latrines in rural areas of El Salvador over other dry sanitation systems, and recommend that stored biosolids not be used in agriculture.

Knowing a medical doctor is associated with reduced mortality among sick children consulting a paediatric ward in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa

To examine equity in access to public health services in Guinea-Bissau. The study was conducted in 2000-2001 at the emergency clinic of the only paediatric ward in Bissau. Mothers of all children from the study area were interviewed about previous care seeking and relations with anybody working in the health sector. All management actions in the emergency clinic were registered. In-hospital and subsequent community mortality was ascertained through community surveillance. The measured outcome was mortality risk within 30 days of first consultation. We followed 1572 children with a first consultation. Of these, 8.2% died within 30 days. Acquaintance with a physician reduced 30-day mortality risk by 48% (95% CI: 18-66). The effect was strongest among post-neonatal children (54%; 95% CI: 18-74). Mortality within 30 days of consultation was also independently predicted by consultation after 7 PM, nurse team on duty, day of week and young mother. In a multivariate model, socioeconomic status and school education were not associated with 30-day mortality when acquaintance with a medical doctor was taken into account. Favouritism may be a significant factor for quality of care and child mortality in developing countries. Interventions to improve hospital and health worker performance should be given high priority.

Echinorhinus cookei Pietschmann, 1928 (Chondrichthyes: Squaliformes, Echinorhinidae), primer registro en aguas de El Salvador, Pacífico oriental tropical

The first record of juveniles of prickly shark Echinorhinus cookei Pietschmann, 1928 (Chondrichthyes: Echinorhinidae), in El Salvador is communicated on the basis of two specimens: a male, 52 cm TL and a female 34.6 cm TL, captured in waters between Puerto de Acajutla and Puerto La Libertad, El Salvador, Central America. The specimens are deposited in the Museo de Historia Natural de El Salvador, under ichthyological catalogue number MHNES 40-726.

The Club Pérez-Reverte: Screen Adaptations of Best Sellers

Arturo P?rez-Reverte is Spain's best-selling novelist, and five of his narratives have been adapted to the screen: El maestro de esgrima, La tabla de Flandes (film title: Uncovered), Un asunto de honor (film title: Cachito), Territorio Comanche, and El club Dumas (film title: The Ninth Gate). These novels and their screen adaptations represent a bridge between and low culture, and the films often follow similar strategies of adaptation: they eschew the intellectual element of the original narratives, replacing it with sex and action; ambiguous open endings become happy endings. Transnational casting, foreign directors, and filming English raise questions regarding the cultural identity of these cinematographic adaptations and of contemporary Spanish culture. Arturo P?rez-Reverte is Spain's best-selling novelist and the contemporary Spanish author with the largest international audience. His novels, translated into nineteen languages, are reaching readers around the world. With four novels and one short story having been made into movies, he is also among those Spanish novelists whose narratives have most been adapted to the screen. Filmed works include El maestro de esgrima, adapted by Pedro Olea (1992), La tabla de Flandes, made into Uncovered (1994) by Jim McBride; Un asunto de honor which became Enrique Urbizu's film Cachito ( 1995); Territorio Comanche ( 1997), filmed by Gerardo Herrero; and El club Dumas, filmed by Roman Polanski as The Ninth Gate (1999). (Gitano, filmed by Manuel Palacios 2000, was based on an original film-script by P?rez Reverte.) These works and their screen adaptations represent a bridge between and low culture. Jo Labanyi states that critical writing on Spanish is mostly limited to high culture but that in Spain certain areas of popular culture?rarely mass culture, with the exception certain periods of cinema?have been included the canon because they have been taken up by intellectuals who have consumed them (1,2-3). P?rez-Reverte's status as a best-selling novelist whose works have been adapted to the screen positions him precisely as an important manifestation of contemporary Spanish its broadest sense. Labanyi notes that It is only with the move to postmodernity, with its celebration of the global and of popular and mass culture, that at least a few Spanish cultural practitioners?Almodovar, P?rez-Reverte, Joaqu?n Cort?s?have made their international mark terms of popular as well as critical acclaim (10). Examination of the film adaptations of his novels constructs a bridge that takes us a step further into the high-culture / low-culture divide. Analysis of these film adaptations reveals that they generally share common strategies of adaptation to cater to the average film audience, and that their use of transnational casting, foreign directors, and filming English raise questions regarding the cultural identity of these cinematographic adaptations. El maestro de esgrima, an historical novel employing the structure of a detective narrative is set Madrid 1868, at a moment when the corrupt and incompetent Queen Isabel II is losing power, and republican forces are gathering strength to succeed her. Against this political

A Meiotic Tapas Menu

Like Muhammad Ali's 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle,” this past fall (September 13–18), the 7th European Meiosis Meeting held in San Lorenzo de El Escorial brought us “Meiosis in Madrid.” This is a sister conference to the Gordon Meiosis series held every other year in the United States, and is an international small-format forum for sharing hot, new results, with an emphasis on unpublished work. At the conference, 21 countries were represented by 167 participants, with a nearly equal split between male and female scientists. The aim of the meeting was to present and promote in-depth discussions about all aspects of meiotic chromosome dynamics, recombination, and segregation. Rather than providing a comprehensive description of the meeting abstracts, this report will briefly describe meeting highlights, guided in large part by feedback from session chairs.

En busca del autor de “El contrabando de El Paso”

The ballad (corrido) “El Contrabando de “El Paso,” widely sung along the U.S. Mexican border since 1928, is now considered a classic of the genre. The narrative portrays the journey of a group of prisoners transferred from the city jail in El Paso, Texas, to the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. Most of these convicts were serving sentences related to the violation of laws prohibiting the possession and sale of alcohol and narcotics. Speaking in first person, the narrative voice comments on the hardships endured by the prisoners and laments the misfortunes suffered by the smugglers. This study, following modern trends in the study of the corrido, accentuates the historical basis of the corrido, examines the circumstances surrounding the event—such as its date (August 7–9, 1924) and the names of the convicts—and suggests the identity of its most probable composer. The evidence presented—circumstantial and interpretative—points to a man named Gabriel Jara Franco as the likely candidate for its authorship. Particularly compelling is Jara’s record at Leavenworth, which lists his substantial correspondence with Leonardo Sifuentes. Sifuentes was part of the Hernández y Sifuentes Duet, who, in 1928, recorded the first known version of “El Contrabando de El Paso.”

Un manuscrito karšūnī de la “Real Biblioteca de El Escorial”

This is a complete catalographic description of the karšuni MS included in the Codex 1628 of the “Real Biblioteca de El Escorial” where the author is identified and a formal analysis of the elements in the text is done.

The Upper Paleolithic of Cantabrian Spain

Study of the Cantabrian Upper Paleolithic began in the 1870s with excavations by Marcelino Sanz de Sautuola in the caves of El Pendo, Camargo, and especially Altamira, where, in 1878, he discovered rupestral paintings and recognized their relationship to the Ice Age archeological deposits he was digging in the vestibule of the cavern1 (Fig. 1). Following two decades of dismissal by most of the prehistoric “establishment,” Cantabrian prehistory once again asserted its importance with the discovery, a century ago, by H. Alcalde del Rio and Lorenzo Sierra, of such major art and archeological sites as El Castillo, Hornos de la Pena, Covalanas, La Haza, El Miron, and El Valle.2 Since then, and at an intensified pace in recent years, some 100 cave art loci and many more Upper Paleolithic habitation sites have been discovered, making the relatively small Vasco-Cantabrian region of northern Spain one of the richest in the world for the archeology of the period between c. 40,000 to 10,000 radiocarbon years ago. The purpose of this article is to review and make available to an English-speaking readership some of the most salient and distinctive aspects of the Upper Paleolithic record of Cantabrian Spain, highlighting the discoveries and developments in our understanding of major problems that have occurred since publication, more than a decade ago, of my book on the Stone Age prehistory of northern Spain, Iberia Before the Iberians.3 In particular, this record is significant in relation to the ongoing debate about the socalled Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition; the impact of the Last Glacial Maximum on human settlement in Europe; study of Upper Paleolithic art in its broader socio-cultural-economic contexts; and the worldwide phenomenon of diverse human responses to the termination of Pleistocene environmental conditions around 10,000 radiocarbon years ago.

Carmen de Burgos 'Colombine' y la novela corta by Rita Catrina Imboden (review)

MLRy ioo.i, 2005 239 of Don Quixote I. Nadeau provides references from a wide range of critics, but she is sometimes too ambitious, and the references are often too brief to permit an in-depth discussion. In some instances the references are not made completely relevant, as they are left unexplored: this is the case with some of the ideologically loaded femi? nist terminology, such as 'repressive ideology of the self (p. 19), or even the concept of gender (p. 51), themes that are mentioned in passing but would require a much more detailed treatment in order to integrate them into the discussion. Nadeau is careful in her textual analysis and provides interesting personal inter? pretations. Nevertheless, in order to achieve symmetry of ideas, the use of some terms is too restrictive, as occurs in Chapter 3, dedicated to prostitution. Marriage and prostitution are defined in equivalent terms (p. 67) on the basis that some economic exchange is involved, but ignoring the circumstances, nature, and context surround? ing the various episodes where marriage is the outcome. In my view, this chapter is the least convincing: the ability to give counsel, forexample, is associated specifically with the class ofancient prostitutes known as hetairai, and then transposed to Dorotea, who, by using this type of discourse, dismantles the dichotomy virgin-prostitute (p. 71). Chapter 4 is much more compelling, and very well documented, with enlightening parallelisms between the mythical figures of Medea, Dorotea, and Zoraida, in their conflict between love and other loyalties and the way they resolve such tensions. This chapter is a good example of the successful combination of imitation and innova? tion that is so characteristic of Cervantes. Chapter 5 is slightly different,as Nadeau explains, and looks at other traditions in relation to Cervantes's departure from the classic models of Circe and Calypso in his treatment of magic. The conclusion brings together the various threads of the book in a particularly neat and well-structured argument. This book makes stimulating reading, and opens up the prospect of further discussion with the application of Nadeau's ideas to Don Quixote II. The Manchester Metropolitan University Idoya Puig Carmen de Burgos 'Colombine' y la novela corta. By Rita Catrina Imboden. (Perspectivas Hispanicas) Bern: Peter Lang. 2001. 300 pp. $32.95. ISBN 3-90676700 -0. It is a common feature of most studies and articles on Carmen de Burgos that they express concern and/or outrage about the oblivion Burgos was unjustly consigned to for the best part of the twentieth century. Even afterthe transition to democracy she arguably has never been awarded the recognition she deserves. Rita Imboden's book is therefore a timely contribution to redress this lack of attention in Spanish literary criticism. As its title suggests, the study focuses on both text and context: Part 1gives an outline of Burgos's life and contextualizes her work within the resurgence of the popular novella; Part 11consists of a literary analysis of three novellas: La flor de la playa (1920), El perseguidor (1917), and El brote (1925); the text of the latter is also reproduced in an appendix. Particularly noteworthy is Imboden's contextualization of Burgos's work. Meticulously researched, this part of the book gives a historical overview of the nineteenthcenturyfolletin and its influence on the early twentieth-century novela corta. The early twentieth century saw the conversion of fiction into an article of mass consumption on an unprecedented scale, which set out to satisfy the demands of, and to educate, an increasing reading public. Burgos took advantage of one of the biggest publishing events of her time and was one of the original contributors firstto El Cuento Semanal and then to its followers, particularly La Novela Corta, the series in which the three 240 Reviews novellas above were published. Imboden convincingly shows how vital this pheno? menon was to Burgos's turning her career from that of a well-known journalist to an (in)famous figure of the literary establishment. The theoretical frameworks used for the analysis of the three novellas are based on A. J. Greimas's theory as well as discourse and enunciation theories. While the literary analysis offersa detailed and often pertinent...

Foro Internacional (special issue on Cuba). JulioñSeptiembre 2003, vol. XLIII, No. 3 (173) (review)

Reviewed by: Foro Internacional (special issue on Cuba). Julio-Septiembre 2003, vol. xliii, No. 3 (173) Laurence Whitehead Foro Internacional (special issue on Cuba). Julio–Septiembre 2003, vol. xliii, No. 3 (173). El Centro de Estudios Internacionales de El Colegio de México, 2003. This issue of the venerable quarterly journal of the Colegio de Mexico is devoted entirely to contemporary Cuba and in particular to the mounting pressures on the Castro regime that have recently arisen both internally and internationally. On the domestic side it covers the inadequacies of the economic system (Pérez-López); the nature of the challenge posed by the emerging dissident movement (Fernández); as well as how the rigidities of the political regime cloud the succession (Pérez-Stable). The international topics covered include the various aspects of the conflict with the United States (Falcoff, Kaufman Purcell, Roy, and a particularly interesting contribution by Portes on the Cuban Amercian political machine in Miami); together with Cuba's deteriorating relations with Canada (Warren); with Mexico (Covarrubias); and with international organizations (Heller). Domínguez offers a relatively upbeat comparative overview. This is a well-structured compilation of thoughtful essays by leading scholars, and it encompasses a diversity of viewpoints (although not including any defenders of the Castro regime). The papers were first presented at a conference in Colmex in March 2002, and although they have been updated they could not anticipate Havana's intensified isolation during 2003. Key relations with South America (especially the Venezuela of Chávez and Lula's [End Page 192] Brazil) are also missing, as are the repercussions of the Iraq war. It is the nature of such scholarly enterprises that they lag behind the pace of political events, especially in times of turbulence. The demise of the Castro regime has been predicted so long and so often that one must hesitate to conclude that this time the end really is nigh. Yet the patriarch had definitely reached late autumn. Whatever the endgame the long period since the disintegration of the Soviet bloc has already revealed or confirmed various idiosyncrasies that were partially masked from view by the ideological climate of the Cold War. Other communist regimes have proved more flexible in matters of economic reform. Other revolutionary movements have either evolved or disintegrated in the face of evidence contradicting their foundational myths. Other personalist rulers have sought to avert a succession crisis by creating usable institutions (i.e., procedural rules offering at least some space for participation by the "moderate" opposition). None of these alternative paths have found favor with the aging comandante. This volume provides a rich array of clues to help explain why not. But most of the essays approach this central question obliquely. Two major lines of explanation suggest themselves. In various ways the chapters on United States–Cuban relations all hint that the key to Cuba's deviant path may lie with the nationalist passions stirred by Havana's emotional defiance of Washington. But the chapters on Cuba's recent relations with Canada, Mexico, and the European Union raise a doubt over this. If the central problem has been U.S. unilateralism, then a weakened Cuban regime would logically be expected to build alliances with any independent-minded third parties capable of blunting American hostility. So why has Havana now fallen out with all these potential interlocutors? This points to an alternative explanation, which can be formulated either in terms of personalist intransigence or of ideological purity. (Although, after forty-five years of self-preservation as the embodiment of anti-imperialism, it may be fruitless to attempt to disentangle these two strands of Fidel's persona). The Castro regime may truly exemplify what recent British prime ministers have asserted about themselves ("I have no reverse gear," is Blair's latest restatement of Thatcher's "You turn if you want. This lady's not for turning"). As the full consequences of this implacable stance unfold, more evidence will accumulate that may help us decide between these alternative explanations. Arguably these two explanations are not true alternatives but, rather, mutually supportive facets of a single desencuentro. But whatever verdict accompanies the final emergence of a post-Castro political...

Cueva de El Toro (Antequera, Malaga-Spain): a Neolithic stockbreeding community in the Andalusian region, between the 6th and 3th millennia BC

The occupation evidence shown by the cave El Toro, is that of a unique stockbreeding community in the Andalusian region. The calibrated dates for this occupation period go from the second quarter of the sixth millennium up to the second millennium BP. There is also evidence of occasional occupation throughout later millennia up to the Hispano-Muslim period. The nature of thisoccupation is determined by the close link between the cave and the community which occupied it, both continuously and periodically. Throughout the occupation levels, the community's skillful control of technical processesand its remarkable knowledge on how to transform local primary resources, have shown that this community reached a high level of technological development. However, its main economic activity was related to agricultural and farming exploitation, particularly to stockbreeding.

Los microdesechos líticos del Auriñaciense de transición (nivel 18 b) de la Cueva de el Castillo (Puente Viesgo, Cantabria). Consideraciones tecnológicas y tafonómicas

Through the analysis of microdebitage we are able to identify features concerning the exploitation and use of raw materials; the verification of manufacture, use, modification and maintenance activities of tools, to infer the different knapping techniques employed; to observe, through density maps, the spatial distributions of microdebris, and better understand the formation of archaeological records. In this paper, we have studied the lithic microdebitage of level 18b (Aurignacian of Transition) from Cueva de El Castillo and present the methodology applied and the results obtained.