A Companion to Latin American Literature and Culture

A Companion to Latin American Literature and Culture reflects the changes that have taken place in cultural theory and literary criticism since the latter part of the twentieth century.

Written by more than thirty experts in cultural theory, literary history, and literary criticism, this authoritative and up–to–date reference places major authors in the complex cultural and historical contexts that have compelled their distinctive fiction, essays, and poetry. This allows the reader to more accurately interpret the esteemed but demanding literature of authors such as Jorge Luis Borges, Mario Vargas Llosa, Octavio Paz, and Diamela Eltit. Key authors whose work has defined a period, or defied borders, as in the cases of Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, César Vallejo, and Gabriel García Márquez, are also discussed in historical and theoretical context. Additional essays engage the reader with in–depth discussions of forms and genres, and discussions of architecture, music, and film.

This text provides the historical background to help the reader understand the people and culture that have defined Latin American literature and its reception. Each chapter also includes short selected bibliographic guides and recommendations for further reading.

Notes on Contributors xi

Editor′s Acknowledgments xx

Acknowledgments to Sources xxi

Introduction 1
Sara Castro–Klaren

Preamble: The Historical Foundation of Modernity/Coloniality and the Emergence of Decolonial Thinking 12
Walter D. Mignolo

Part I Coloniality 33

1 Mapping the Pre–Columbian Americas: Indigenous Peoples of the Americas and Western Knowledge 35
Gustavo Verdesio

2 Writing Violence 49
José Rabasa

3 The Popol Wuj: The Repositioning and Survival of Mayan Culture 68
Carlos M. López

4 The Colegio Imperial de Santa Cruz de Tlatelolco and Its Aftermath: Nahua Intellectuals and the Spiritual Conquest of Mexico 86
Rocío Cortés

5 Memory and "Writing" in the Andes 106
Sara Castro–Klaren

6 Writing the Andes 117
Sara Castro–Klaren

7 Court Culture, Ritual, Satire, and Music in Colonial Brazil and Spanish America 137
Lúcia Helena Costigan

8 Violence in the Land of the Muisca: Juan Rodríguez Freile′s El carnero 146
Álvaro Félix Bolaños

9 The Splendor of Baroque Visual Arts 161
Lisa DeLeonardis

10 History of a Phantom 182
Francisco A. Ortega

11 Colonial Religiosity: Nuns, Heretics, and Witches 197
Kathryn Joy McKnight

Part II Transformations 211

12 The Tupac Amaru Rebellion: Anticolonialism and Protonationalism in Late Colonial Peru 213
Peter Elmore

13 The Caribbean in the Age of Enlightenment, 1788 1848 228
Franklin W. Knight

14 The Philosopher–Traveler: The Secularization of Knowledge in Spanish America and Brazil 247
Leila Gómez

15 The Haitian Revolution 262
Sibylle Fischer

Part III The Emergence of National Communities in New Imperial Coordinates 277

16 The Gaucho and the Gauchesca 279
Abril Trigo

17 Andrés Bello, Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Manuel González Prada, and Teresa de la Parra: Four Writers and Four Concepts of Nationhood 293
Nicolas Shumway

18 Reading National Subjects 309
Juan Poblete

19 For Love and Money: Of Potboilers and Precautions 333
Doris Sommer

Part IV Uncertain Modernities 349

20 Shifting Hegemonies: The Cultural Politics of Empire 351
Fernando Degiovanni

21 Machado de Assis: The Meaning of Sardonic 369
Todd S. Garth

22 The Mexican Revolution and the Plastic Arts 379
Horacio Legras

23 Anthropology, Pedagogy, and the Various Modulations of Indigenismo: Amauta, Tamayo, Arguedas, Sabogal, Bonfi l Batalla 397
Javier Sanjinés C.

24 Cultural Theory and the Avant–Gardes: Mariátegui, Mário de Andrade, Oswald de Andrade, Pagú, Tarsila do Amaral, César Vallejo 410
Fernando J. Rosenberg

25 Latin American Poetry 426
Stephen M. Hart

26 Literature between the Wars: Macedonio Fernández, Jorge Luis Borges, and Felisberto Hernández 442
Adriana J. Bergero, translated by Todd S. Garth

27 Narratives and Deep Histories: Freyre, Arguedas, Roa Bastos, Rulfo 461
Adriana Michèle Campos Johnson

28 The "Boom" of Spanish–American Fiction and the 1960s Revolutions (1958 75) 478
Gerald Martin

29 João Guimarães Rosa, Antônio Callado, Clarice Lispector, and the Brazilian Difference 495
Elizabeth A. Marchant

30 Feminist Insurrections: From Queiroz and Castellanos to Morejón, Poniatowska, Valenzuela, and Eltit 509
Adriana J. Bergero and Elizabeth A. Marchant

31 Caribbean Philosophy 531
Edouard Glissant

Part V Global and Local Perspectives 551

32 Uncertain Modernities: Amerindian Epistemologies and the Reorienting of Culture 553
Elizabeth Monasterios P.

33 Testimonio, Subalternity, and Narrative Authority 571
John Beverley

34 Affectivity beyond "Bare Life": On the Non–Tragic Return of Violence in Latin American Film 584
Hermann Herlinghaus

35 Postmodern Theory and Cultural Criticism in Spanish America and Brazil 602
Ileana Rodríguez

36 Post–Utopian Imaginaries: Narrating Uncertainty 620
Silvia G. Kurlat Ares

37 Cultural Modalities and Cross–Cultural Connections: Rock across Class and Ethnic Identities 636
Gustavo Verdesio

38 Film, Indigenous Video, and the Lettered City′s Visual Economy 647
Freya Schiwy

Index 665

Sara Castro–Klaren is Professor of Latin American Culture and Literature at The Johns Hopkins University. She has been the recipient of several teaching awards. Most recently the Foreign Service Institute conferred upon her the title of "Distinguished Visiting Lecturer" (1993). She was appointed to the Fulbright Board of Directors by President Clinton in 1999. Her publications include El mundo magico de Jose Maria Arguedas (1973), Understanding Mario Vargas Llosa (1990) and Escritura, Sujeto y transgresion en la Literature latinoamericana (1989), along with Latin American Women Writers (1991) edited with Sylvia Molloy and Beatriz Sarlo.

"The work contains a wealth of information that must surely provide the basic material for a number of study modules. It should find a place on the library shelves of all institutions where Latin American studies form part of the curriculum." ( Reference Review, November 2009)

"In short, this is a fascinating panoply that goes from a reevaluation of pre–Columbian America to an intriguing consideration of recent developments in the debate on the modem and postmodern. Summing Up: Recommended." (CHOICE, February 2009)