Colombian Gothic in Cinema and Literature


Book Description

The Colombian Gothic in Cinema and Literature traces the aesthetic and political development of the Gothic genre in Colombia. Gabriel Eljaiek-Rodríguez shows how, in the hands of Colombian writers and filmmakers, Gothic tropes are taken to their extremes to reflect particularly Colombian issues, like the ongoing armed conflict in the country since the 1950s as various left wing guerillas, government factions and paramilitary groups escalated violence. In this context, collectives such as the “Cali group” challenge both the centrality of US and European Gothics as well as the centrality of Bogota-centered perspectives of Colombian politics and conflict. The book demonstrates how writers and filmmakers transform the European and American Gothic to show genealogical links between colonization, imperialism and domestic elites’ maintenance of social inequalities.




The Contemporary Spanish-American Novel


Book Description

The Contemporary Spanish-American Novel provides an accessible introduction to an important World literature. While many of the authors covered—Aira, Bolaño, Castellanos Moya, Vásquez—are gaining an increasing readership in English and are frequently taught, there is sparse criticism in English beyond book reviews. This book provides the guidance necessary for a more sophisticated and contextualized understanding of these authors and their works. Underestimated or unfamiliar Spanish American novels and novelists are introduced through conceptually rigorous essays. Sections on each writer include: *the author's reception in their native country, Spanish America, and Spain *biographical history *a critical examination of their work, including key themes and conceptual concerns *translation history *scholarly reception The Contemporary Spanish-American Novel offers an authoritative guide to a rich and varied novelistic tradition. It covers all demographic areas, including United States Latino authors, in exploring the diversity of this literature and its major themes, such as exile, migration, and gender representation.




Rock Aesthetics in Colombian Literature and Culture


Book Description

Rock Aesthetics in Colombian Literature and Culture: Writing the Noise explores the presence of a rock aesthetic in the Colombian literary field and how its pivotal role in creating alternative creative expressions that challenge the dominance of tropicality as the prevailing artistic reference. More than a musical genre or a cultural industry, rock is also an aesthetic: a significant social practice that allows one to understand what people consider beautiful or authentic. Since its birth in the mid-1950s, rock as an aesthetic has expanded worldwide, transforming and establishing dialogues with artistic practices such as literature. Through an analysis of a series of novels, poems, and manifestos written from the 1950s to the early years of the twenty-first century, David Martínez Houghton embarks on a literary, musical, and historical journey. On the way, he explores complex phenomena such as urban violence, the formation of youth identities, the penetration of pop culture, national identity discourses, and even the social and physical transformation of Colombian cities.




The Palgrave Handbook of Screenwriting Studies


Book Description

This book provides an overview of the growing field of screenwriting research and is essential reading for both those new to the field and established screenwriting scholars. It covers topics and concepts central to the study of screenwriting and the screenplay in relation to film, television, web series, animation, games and other interactive media, and includes a range of approaches, from theoretical perspectives to in-depth case studies. 44 scholars from around the globe demonstrate the range and depths of this new and expanding area of study. As the chapters of this Handbook demonstrate, shifting the focus from the finished film to the process of screenwriting and the text of the screenplay facilitates valuable new insights. This Handbook is the first of its kind, an indispensable compendium for both academics and practitioners.




La Casa de Altagracia


Book Description

Carlos Augusto, el joven guerrillero llegará a ser General de los ejércitos independentistas, agente diplomático en Europa y luego, con su hijo mayor Eduardo, acompañará a Bolívar hasta las batallas finales. Los Carvallo, tratan de preservar sus haciendas, en particular Altagracia, en el marco de una guerra que divide al país en dos bandos, aquellos que prefieren la firme mano de la corona y los que aspiran a la independencia. María Antonia, acompañada por Mariana, la segunda esposa de Carlos Augusto, son los pilares de la vida familiar. El escenario está matizado por figuras históricas y sus ideas, entre ellos Miranda, Mirabeau, Fernando VII, Condorcet, Mier y Terán, O ́Higgins, Pitt, Napoleón, Godoy, Hamilton, Bolívar, Iturbide, Owen, Casa León, Páez, Fermín Toro, Vargas, el Conde de Tovar, los hermanos Monagas, Zamora, Falcón y Guzmán Blanco. La novela se desarrolla en Venezuela, España, Francia, Inglaterra, Colombia, Perú, Curazao, Santo Domingo, Cuba y Estados Unidos.




JUZGADOR O JUZGADO


Book Description

Inmerso en los intricados laberintos de la moral humana, la ética, la justicia, el conocimiento científico y el uso de los mismos con propósitos ulteriores, el autor nos adentra en un mundo cuasi mágico en el que nuestros sentidos nos dictarán el desenlace del crimen cometido. Cada lector tendrá la oportunidad de sentir a flor de piel cada instancia de los acontecimientos en la vida de los personajes que el autor retrata con sus letras. Un grupo de jóvenes estudiantes adolescentes cuyos talentos se combinan, creando un círculo de hermandad y un código secreto el cual unirá sus vidas y cambiará el curso de éstos para siempre. Ese hermetismo y complicidad, con el tiempo logra transformar ese código en el instrumento y causal de un crudo y escalofriante crimen. Sigfredo Soto nos plantea la distorsión que pueden sufrir nuestras estructuras sociales, morales, éticas, religiosas y de justicia cuando son arropadas por el deseo de poder, venganza y ambición. ¿Lograrán la justicia y el bien prevalecer?




Until Tuesday


Book Description

A heartwarming dog story like no other: Tuesday, a lovable golden retriever, changes a former soldier’s life forever. A highly decorated captain in the U.S. Army, Luis Montalván never backed down from a challenge during his two tours of duty in Iraq. After returning home from combat, however, his physical wounds and crippling post-traumatic stress disorder began to take their toll. He wondered if he would ever recover. Then Luis met Tuesday, a sensitive golden retriever trained to assist people with disabilities. Tuesday had lived among prisoners and at a home for troubled boys, and he found it difficult to trust in or connect with a human being–until Luis. Until Tuesday is the story of how two wounded warriors, who had given so much and suffered the consequences, found salvation in each other. It is a story about war and peace, injury and recovery, psychological wounds and spiritual restoration. But more than that, it is a story about the love between a man and dog, and how, together, they healed each other’s souls.




The Legends of the Holy Harlots


Book Description

An introduction to the legends of Saints Thaïs and Pelagia, together with critical editions of the five Castilian redactions. The legends of the holy harlots, Thaïs and Pelagia, are two of the most controversial accounts of female sanctity to have circulated in Spain during the Middle Ages. In this book, which reviews the origin and development of theircults, the author reconsiders the relationships that have traditionally been thought to exist between them and three of the other so-called prostitute saints: Mary Magdalene, Mary of Egypt, and Mary the niece of Abraham. This is accompanied by an evaluation of the five Castilian versions of the two legends and their Latin sources, followed by a reading of their thematic and structural significance, with particular emphasis paid to the ways in which the twowomen renounce their sins and embark on the slow and agonizing path of redemption. The book is completed by critical editions of the five Castilian versions. ANDREW M. BERESFORD lectures in Spanish at the University of Durham.




Bajo la luz de mi sangre


Book Description

Libro bilingüe con poesía mística y de vanguardia cubana. Bilingual book with mystical poetry and of Cuban avant-garde.




El astrónomo


Book Description

Finalista Premio Planeta Roy Arias, recién nacido, es encontrado entre las ruinas de Córdoba y adoptado por un caballero templario que lo entrega a la abadesa de un convento para que lo críe. Roy estudia en Salamanca y es admitido como aprendiz del astrónomo del rey Alfonso X, que les ordena ir a Persia en busca del sabio Nasir. En su viaje, junto con su maestro ben Fazzam, el fiel esclavo Batani y Manfred, capitán de la guardia del rey, se encontrarán con los mercaderes Polo, convivirán con tribus de las estepas, sufrirán emboscadas, conocerán el Imperio mongol e intimarán con mujeres extraordinarias. Una mezcla trepidante de aventuras, amor, intrigas nobiliarias, astrología, búsqueda de conocimientos y misterios.