Contemporary Latin American Literature


Book Description

Contemporary Latin American Literature reflects the wealth of great writers of Latin America over the last hundred years, including Jorge Luis Borges, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Noble Prize winners Gabriela Mistral, Pablo Neruda, Octavio Paz, and Gabriel Garcia Márquez. The selections--almost 100 works in their original form--include English definitions for difficult Spanish words.




Contemporary Latin American Short Stories


Book Description

Striking in its imagery, its history, and its breathtaking scope, Latin American fiction has finally come into its own throughout the world. Collected in this brilliant volume are thirty-five of the finest writeres of this century, including: Jorge Louis Borges, Carlos Fuentes, Garbriel Garcia Marquez, Jorge Amado, Octavio Paz, and many more. "Exhilarating. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY




In Search of the Sacred Book


Book Description

In Search of the Sacred Book studies the artistic incorporation of religious concepts such as prophecy, eternity, and the afterlife in the contemporary Latin American novel. It departs from sociopolitical readings by noting the continued relevance of religion in Latin American life and culture, despite modernity's powerful secularizing influence. Analyzing Jorge Luis Borges's secularized "narrative theology" in his essays and short stories, the book follows the development of the Latin American novel from the early twentieth century until today by examining the attempts of major novelists, from María Luisa Bombal, Alejo Carpentier, and Juan Rulfo, to Julio Cortázar, Gabriel García Márquez, and José Lezama Lima, to "sacralize" the novel by incorporating traits present in the sacred texts of many religions. It concludes with a view of the "desacralization" of the novel by more recent authors, from Elena Poniatowska and Fernando Vallejo to Roberto Bolaño.




The Contemporary History of Latin America


Book Description

For a quarter of a century, Tulio Halperín Donghi's Historia Contemporánea de América Latina has been the most influential and widely read general history of Latin America in the Spanish-speaking world. Unparalleled in scope, attentive to the paradoxes of Latin American reality, and known for its fine-grained interpretation, it is now available for the first time in English. Revised and updated by the author, superbly translated, this landmark of Latin American historiography will be accessible to an entirely new readership. Beginning with a survey of the late colonial landscape, The Contemporary History of Latin America traces the social, economic, and political development of the region to the late twentieth century, with special emphasis on the period since 1930. Chapters are organized chronologically, each beginning with a general description of social and economic developments in Latin America generally, followed by specific attention to political matters in each country. What emerges is a well-rounded and detailed picture of the forces at work throughout Latin American history. This book will be of great interest to all those seeking a general overview of modern Latin American history, and its distinctive Latin American voice will enhance its significance for all students of Latin American history.




Contemporary Short Stories from Central America


Book Description

In "Metaphors," Samuel Rovinski (Costa Rica) shows how a writer's superficial attempt to interpret experience metaphorically cripples him in social circumstances, while, in "Gloria Wouldn't Wait," Panamanian Jaime Garcia Saucedo focuses on the egotism of the writer's imagination as it tries to convert the tragedies of everyday life into some kind of literary document whose artistic qualities would belie their actual reality." "Human - and humane - values in the face of adversity are celebrated throughout, even when seemingly futile in the midst of overwhelming odds. Contemporary Short Stories from Central America embraces every aspect of the human condition addressed by the literature of the Western world and demonstrates the cultural vitality of our Central American neighbors."--BOOK JACKET.




Contemporary Latin American Cultural Studies


Book Description

Contemporary Latin American Cultural Studies is a collection of new essays by recognised experts from around the world on various aspects of the new discipline of Latin American cultural studies. Essays are grouped in five distinct but interconnected sections focusing respectively on: (I) the theory of Latin American cultural studies; (II) the icons of culture; (III) culture as a commodity; (IV) culture as a site of resistance; and (V) everyday cultural practices. The essays range across a wide gamut of theories about Latin American culture; some, for example, analyse the role that ideas about the nation - and national icons  have played in the formation of a sense of identity in Latin America, while others focus on the resonance underlying cultural practices as diverse as football in Argentina, TV in Uruguay, cinema in Brazil, and the 'bolero' and soaps of modern-day Mexico. Contemporary Latin American Cultural Studies has an introduction setting the ideas explored in each section in their proper context. The essays are written in jargon-free English (all Spanish terms have been translated into English), and are supplemented by a concluding section with suggestions for further reading.




The Economics of Contemporary Latin America


Book Description

Analysis of Latin America's economy focusing on development, covering the colonial roots of inequality, boom and bust cycles, labor markets, and fiscal and monetary policy. Latin America is richly endowed with natural resources, fertile land, and vibrant cultures. Yet the region remains much poorer than its neighbors to the north. Most Latin American countries have not achieved standards of living and stable institutions comparable to those found in developed countries, have experienced repeated boom-bust cycles, and remain heavily reliant on primary commodities. This book studies the historical roots of Latin America's contemporary economic and social development, focusing on poverty and income inequality dating back to colonial times. It addresses today's legacies of the market-friendly reforms that took hold in the 1980s and 1990s by examining successful stabilizations and homemade monetary and fiscal institutional reforms. It offers a detailed analysis of trade and financial liberalization, twenty–first century-growth, and the decline in poverty and income inequality. Finally, the book offers an overall analysis of inclusive growth policies for development—including gender issues and the informal sector—and the challenges that lie ahead for the region, with special attention to pressing demands by the vibrant and vocal middle class, youth unemployment, and indigenous populations.




Contemporary Central American Fiction


Book Description

This book is a series of original, critical meditations on short stories and novels from Central America between 1995 and 2016. During the Cold War, literary art in Central America, as in Latin America in general, was strongly over-determined by the politics of the Cold War, which gave rise to popular struggle and three major armed civil wars in the 1970s and 1980s in Nicaragua, El Salvador and Guatemala. The period produced intense literary activity with political ideology central, personified by social denunciation in the testimonial novel and revolutionary poetry. Since then, though themes of violence are still at much of its core, Central American fiction has become more complex. We have witnessed a resurgence of literary writing and criticism with a focus squarely on the artistic side of narrative art: writing aware of its own figurative manoeuvres and inventiveness, its philosophical and affective dimensions, and its carefully crafted syntax. This collection of essays by Jeffrey Browitt attempts to trace some of the contours of this new literature and the contemporary subjectivities of its writers through close readings of Guatemala's Rodrigo Rey Rosa, Eduardo Halfon and Denise Phe-Funchal; Nicaragua's Franz Galich and Sergio Ramirez; Belize's David Ruiz Puga; El Salvador's Jacinta Escudos and Claudia Hernandez; and Costa Rica's Carlos Cortes. Key themes are gender, subjectivity and affect as these intersect with the deconstruction of the family, hegemonic masculinity, motherhood, revolutionary romanticism, and the relationship of humans with animals. Subject: Fiction, Central American Studies, Gender Studies]




Contemporary Latin American Short Stories


Book Description

Striking in its imagery, its history, and its breathtaking scope, Latin American fiction has finally come into its own throughout the world. Collected in this brilliant volume are thirty-five of the finest writers of this century, including: Jorge Luis Borges Carlos Fuentes Julio Cortazar Miguel Angel Asturias Gabriel Garcia Marquez Jorge Amado Octavio Paz Juan Bosch Jose Donoso Horacio Quiroga Mario Vargas Llosa Abelardo Castillo Guillermo Cabrera Infante And many more




Contemporary Latin American Social and Political Thought


Book Description

Latin America has produced an impressive body of sociopolitical work, yet these important texts have never been readily available to a wider audience. This anthology offers the first serious, broad-ranging collection of English translations of significant Latin American contributions to social and political thought spanning the last forty years. Iván Márquez has judiciously selected narratives of resistance and liberation; ground-breaking texts in Latin American fields of inquiry such as liberation theology, philosophy, pedagogy, and dependency theory; and important readings in guerrilla revolution, socialist utopia, and post–Cold War thought, especially in the realms of democracy and civil society, alternatives to neoliberalism, and nationalism in the context of globalization. By drawing from an array of diverse sources, the book demonstrates the linkages among important tendencies in contemporary Latin America, allowing the reader to discover common threads among the selections. Highlighting the vitality, diversity, and originality of Latin American thought, this anthology will be invaluable for students and scholars across the social sciences and humanities. Contributions by: Domitila Barrios de Chungara, Leonardo Boff, Ernesto Cardenal, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Jorge G. Castañeda, Evelina Dagnino, Hernando de Soto, Theotonio Dos Santos, Enrique D. Dussel, Enzo Faletto, Paulo Freire, Eduardo H. Galeano, Ernesto Che Guevara, Gustavo Gutiérrez, José Ignacio López Vigil, Carlos Marighella, Iván Márquez, Rigoberta Menchú, Plinio Apuleyo Mendoza, Carlos Alberto Montaner, Elena Poniatowska, Raúl Prebisch, Carlos Salinas de Gotari, Roberto Mangabeira Unger, Alvaro Vargas Llosa, and Zapatista Army of National Liberation.