The Routledge Companion to Literatures and Crisis, edited by Silvia Pellicer-Ortín, Julia Kuznetski, Chiara Battisti (Routledge, 2024)

Abstract

This review examines the volume The Routledge Companion to Literatures and Crisis (2025), edited by Silvia Pellicer-Ortín, Julia Kuznetski and Chiara Battisti. The volume explores the multifaceted relationship between literature and crisis across several historical periods, cultural contexts, genres and theoretical approaches. Bringing together a total of 42 chapters by diverse scholarly perspectives, it investigates the concept of crisis at all levels—political, social, environmental, and cultural, to name but a few—, as well as the way literature not only reflects and shapes its complex meanings. This review assesses the volume’s structure, content, analytical depth, and contribution to current debates in literary and cultural studies.