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Office-based writers from both sides of the River Plate chronicle the twentieth century. Martel's La bolsa (1891) initiates, and Dorfman's Reader (1995) concludes, a study of the white-collar citizens of Buenos Aires and Montevideo in their daytime habitat: the office. The literary background is the European literature of bureaucracy: Balzac, Galdós, Gogol, Dickens, Dostoyevsky, Kafka; the theoretical approach is through the sociologists Max Weber and C. Wright Mills; the historical context is the twentieth century: the decline of European power and the ascendency of the USA; two World Wars; the Wall Street crash; communism and fascism. Through the eyes of Arlt, Benedetti, Campodónico, Cortázar, De Castro, Denevi, Fernández, Marechal, Mariani, Martínez Estrada, Onetti and Ricci, we observe life on both sides of the River Plate, as the two countries succumb to polarisation, repression and, eventually, military dictatorship. This is the twentieth century, viewed by a bewildered, frequently anguished participant: the person at the next desk. PAUL R. JORDAN lectures in Hispanic Studies at the University of Sheffield.
A Special Forces veteran and former Legionnaire tells of his military adventures—and of the personal battle that followed him home. In war, John-Paul Jordan was the first to batter down the door, whether he was facing bullets or bombs. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the young Irishman set off to join the French Foreign Legion. He would go on to provide security in Iraq, serve his country in Afghanistan, and protect journalists on the front line in Libya. He was decorated for his leadership and bravery—but his biggest fight would come after he left the battlefield. In this memoir he recounts the camaraderie, action, and danger he experienced—and how he later found himself of prisoner ...