The 1930s were one of the most important decades in defining the history of the 20th century. It saw the rise of right-wing nationalism, the challenge to established democracies and the full force of imperialist aggression. Cultural Encounters makes an important contribution to our understanding of the ideological and cultural forces which were active in defining notions of national identity in the 1930s. By examining the work of those who used travel writing to articulate perceptions of their own and other cultures, the book gives a comprehensive account of the complex intellectual climate of the 1930s. Remapping Cultural History seeks an alternative to northern European or North American models of cultural history, by focusing on those parts of the world that speak, or have spoken, French, Italian, Spanish, or Portuguese. Preference will be given to volumes that cross national and disciplinary boundaries, that explore areas of culture that have previously received little attention, or that make a significant contribution to rethinking the ways in which cultural history is theorized and narrated. The series editor is Jo Labanyi, Professor at the Institute of Romance Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London, and Professor in the School of Modern Languages, Southampton University. She is also the author of Gender and Modernisation in the Spanish Realist Novel (OUP, 2000).