LHIBRO II is a research project funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universites (Ref. PID2023-147350NB-100). Drawing on our previous research within LHIBRO (RTI2018-097450-B-I00), it provides an original perspective to our understanding of the reception and diffusion of Spanish literature during the British Romantic period, by means of the reconstruction and analyisis of the networks of cultural sociability in the incipient community of Hispanists. It is based on the hypothesis that a notably increasing interest in Spanish literature permeated Romantic-era culture through a widely spread net of connections that promoted the reading, commentary, review, and translation of Spanish texts. The project sets out to identify and examine the yet unexplored influential communities of texts circulation, intellectual exchange and creation of meaning that would lay the ground for the emergence of professional Hispanism at the end of the period.

1. To explore the practices of cultural sociability and material and intellectual exchange in the emerging community of Hispanists during the Romantic period in Great Britain.
2. To identify and analyse the scope and nature of relevant literary circles in terms of the diffusion of Spanish literature, the identification of the members comprised and the social dynamics of their interactions.
3. To explore the distinct ways in which the large community of early Hispanists were relevant to the reception and circulation of Spanish literary texts, the creation and dissemination of opinion about Spanish literature and in the shaping of British Romanticism.

The project, running from 2024 to 2027, is based at the University of La Rioja and funded by MCIU/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/FEDER, UE.