The Burden of Modernity: The Rhetoric of Cultural Discourse in Spanish America

by Carlos J. Alonso

Overview

This book offers a provocative interpretation of cultural discourse in Spanish America. Alonso argues that Spanish American cultural production constituted itself through commitment to what he calls the "narrative of futurity," that is, the uncompromising adoption of modernity. This commitment fueled a rhetorical crisis that followed the embracing of discourses regarded as "modern" in historical and economic circumstance that are themselves the negation of modernity. Through fresh readings of texts by Sarmiento, Mansilla, Quiroga, Vargos Llosa, Garcia Marquez, and others, Alonso tracks this textual dynamic in works from the nineteenth century to the present.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195353358
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/24/1998
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	457 KB

About the Author

Emory University

Table of Contents

Chapter 1	Modernity as Ideal and Curse	3
Chapter 2	Reading Sarmiento: Once More, with Passion	50
Chapter 3	Strange Fruit: The Discourse of the Cuban Antislavery Novel	66
Chapter 4	Oedipus in the Pampas: Lucio Mansilla's Una excursion a los indios Ranqueles	84
Chapter 5	Death and Resurrections: Horacio Quiroga's Poetics of the Short Story	108
Chapter 6	The Elementary Structure of Kinship: Vargas Llosa's La tia fulia y el escribidor	128
Chapter 7	The Closing of the Circle: The End of Modernity in Spanish America	152
	Epilogue: They Have Never Been Modern (Either)	172
	Notes	179
	Bibliography	211
	Index	225

Editorial Reviews

"Alonso's acute inquiry into nineteenth- and twentieth-century texts leads to an illuminating reflection on Latin America's problematic relation to modernity. With its strong arguments and subtle readings, this insightful book challenges the reader to rethink Latin American literature and culture in provocative ways."—Sylvia Molloy, New York University

From the Publisher