Managing Pandemic Isolation With Literature as Therapy

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people had to cope with isolation due to lockdown policies that forced them to engage in fewer social activities. People were confined to the small space of their dwellings and felt constrained and socially isolated and deprived of meaningful social interaction and affection, which caused stress and anxiety. Several initiatives were put in place to help diminish the effects of isolation, such as those involving literature either through writing or reading. Managing Pandemic Isolation With Literature as Therapy explains the positive medical and psychological effects of literature and writing during a pandemic at a time when isolation prevented people from engaging with others socially. Covering topics such as clinical psychology, brain neurology, and stress, this reference work is ideal for psychologists, medical professionals, policymakers, government officials, researchers, scholars, academicians, practitioners, instructors, and students.

Antonio Cortijo Ocaña is a distinguished professor at the University of California Santa Barbara. He is the author of over 60 books and monographs ranging from studies on classical culture to humanism, economic history, political theory, and religious persecution in the medieval and early modern period. He has also translated numerous Catalan works into English, from medieval classics to contemporary philosophers and poets. In addition, many of his publications are multidisciplinary and bridge the fields of humanities and applied psychology and education. He has received numerous awards and grants during his career. He is a member of the Royal Academy of Good Letters (Barcelona) and co-director of the Center for Medieval Studies (UCSB). Finally, he is the founder and director of the journal eHumanista (www.ehumanista.ucsb.edu).

Vicent Martines is a Professor at the University of Alicante. He is PI of ISIC-IVITRA and a member of the Reial Acadèmia de Bones Lletres de Barcelona, Institut d'Estudis Catalans, IULMA, IIFV. He is the Co-director of the Center For Catalan Studies (University of California at Santa Barbara [UCSB] / University of Alicante: https://www.cativitra.ucsb.edu/) and the Co-director of the Internationales Institüt für Iberische Studien (Universitat d’Alacant / Otto-Friedrich Universität Bamberg: https://www.uni-bamberg.de/iberoling/internationales-institut-fuer-iberische-studien/). He is the chief editor of Series IVITRA Research in Linguistics and Literature, John Benjamin (Amsterdam, The Netherlands / Philadelphia, USA) and co-editor of eHumanista/IVITRA (UCSB). He also co-directs Mirabilia/MedTrans. In addition, he is the director of the “Textes catalanes modernes” series of the Classiques Garnier (Paris, France) and of the “Textes catalans du Moyen Âge” series of the Textes littéraires du Moyen Âge (Paris, France). He has received the following awards: Rei En Pere el Catòlic d´Investigació (Institut d´Estudis Catalans, 1988), Premi d´Investigació Historicocultural Ibn Al-Abbar (Generalitat Valenciana, Ajuntament d´Onda, 1990), and the Premio de Ensayo de Catalán, Gallego y Vasco de la Fundación Ortega y Gasset (Fundació “La Caixa”, 1993). He is the author of 280 publications, including 5 chapters and 3 books published by IGI-Global (he acting as coeditor): History of Catalonia and Its Implications for Contemporary Nationalism and Cultural Conflict (Ed. with A. Cortijo, 2021), Handbook of Research on Historical Pandemic Analysis and the Social Implications of COVID-19 (Ed. with A. Cortijo), Managing Pandemic Isolation With Literature as Therapy (Ed. with A. Cortijo & V. Orazi, 2023).

Veronica Orazi (Florence 1966), PhD in Ibero-Romance Philology, has taught at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, the University of Bologna and the University of Siena. She is Full Professor of Spanish Literature and Catalan Language and Literature at the University of Turin. She is the Director of the Rivista Italiana di Studi Catalani, co-director of the series 'Bibliotheca Iberica' and a corresponding member of the “Institut d'Estudis Catalans” in Barcelona. She was awarded the Premi crítica Serra d'Or de catalanística (2000) and the Premio Città di Monselice per la traduzione letteraria - Sezione Leone Traverso (2002). In 2015 she received the Menció de la Delegació del Govern de la Generalitat de Catalunya a Itàlia for her activity in promoting Catalan culture. Since 2015 he has directed the international project “Glocal Perspectives in Iberian Studies” and she actually directs the project “Identity Heritage and Cultural Memory. The elaboration of the past through the theatre of democratic Spain (1975 to the present)”. Her research interests focus on medieval and contemporary Spanish and Catalan literature and on the Italian translation of Spanish and Catalan literature