Introduction Huir del laberinto. Crecer en Irlanda del Norte. Una mirada literaria (2009) Esther Aliaga-Rodrigo Cuentos populares irlandeses (2008) Jose Manuel de Prada-Samper (ed.) Beber para contarla (2009) Peter Haining (ed.) Dickon el diablo y otros relatos extraordinarios (2009) Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu Writing Bonds. Irish and Galician Contemporary Women Poets (2009) Manuela Palacios and Laura Lojo (eds.) Teatro completo (2008) Oscar Wilde Wilde en Espana. La presencia de Oscar Wilde en la literatura espanola (1882-1936), 2009 Sergio Constan Introduction The reading of Shane MacGowan's text in one of the books reviewed below (Beber para contarla) has brought mind one of the most picturesque, extravagant and funniest encounters of all time between an example of dyed-in-the-wool Spanish culture and the imagination of Irish visitors, expressed in the song Fiesta by The Pogues, featured in their album If I Should Fall from Grace with God (1988). The song in itself is a wonderfully carnivalesque piece that strikes a cord in listeners of whatever nationality and impels them jump from their seat and join the revelry. Contrary what many of us believed, The Pogues did not come Almeria sing at the feria (which takes place, incidentally, for ten days in the second half of August each year), but they were here filming Straight Hell (1987), by Alex Cox. As with all the great stars of the Spaghetti Westerns, they stayed at the Gran Hotel Almeria, situated at the end of the Paseo, facing the harbour. This was the summer of 1986 and at that time the feria was still in the Parque Nicolas Salmeron, just below the hotel. A few years later it would be taken the Avenida del Mediterraneo, its present location, near La Termica beach. This meant that when the members of the band came back from the film set in the Desert of Tabernas at about 20:00 h. every evening, and after having a few drinks relax, they went their rooms get some sleep and the noise from the fairground was in full swing: traffic, children's attractions, food stalls, casetas, the works. A nightmarish pandemonium that is indeed reflected in the song's crazy lyrics. The main tune of Fiesta, in fact, was borrowed from the endless, repetitive advertisement for food in one of the stalls' loudspeakers. In some way, The Pogues simply continued a tradition of Irish visitors Spain impressed by the vitality and joie de vivre of the inhabitants of this unfathomable Southern country. There have been other traditions, learned and introspective ones, think of Kate O'Brien or, more recently, Caitriona O'Reilly, but there is certainly a joyful and carefree trend pursued by many Irish in Spain, and the founding of this tendency can surely be attributed Walter Starkie (18941976), a Dubliner who, with the passing of time, would become the first director of the British Institute in Madrid and who actually died in Spain. Starkie was fascinated by Gipsy folklore and he was an expert in Romani, the Gipsy language. In the 1930s he published two books on Spain, based on his own journeys around the Iberian peninsula: Spanish Raggle-Taggle. Adventures with a Fiddle in North Spain (1934) and Don Gypsy. Adventures with a Fiddle in Barbary, Andalusia and La Mancha (1936). In the latter book he began his adventures in Southern Spain travelling Morocco, as he wanted to see just enough colour my mind with an African hue before I invade Andalusia from the South. Starkie was a wonderful travel writer, and being a mendicant musician was the perfect excuse mix with the lower strata of the Spanish population of the time: tramps, beggars, the common people. The poor and backward country that Spain was then is reflected in his books, and he records everything from an affectionate viewpoint. When travellers visit a foreign city, he writes, they should pay attention which of their senses is more at work, which is a reminder modern tourists what serious travelling is about! …