The essays in this book, ably edited by Dr. Racz, attempt to read Borges in this counter-monumental mode using the centennial of his birth as a point of departure. It is a fitting way to do Borges in our tangled era, keenly aware of the perils of public memorializing-in Buenos Aires's Memory Park to the disappeared, in New York's Ground Zero memorial to the blown apart-yet striving for the kind of open and fluid remembrance of the past that encourages new telling(s) of what inevitably will become old tales.
This book brings together the work of several scholars to shed light on the Argentine author Jorge Luis Borges' complex relationship with language and reality. A critical assumption driving the work is that there is, as Jaime Alazraki has put it, 'a genuine effort to overcome the narrowness that Western tradition has imposed as a master and measure of reality' in Borges' writing. That narrowness is in large measure a consequence of the chronic influence of positivist approaches to reality that rely on empirical evidence for any authentication of what is 'real'. This study shows that, in opposition to such restrictions, Borges saw in fiction, in literature, the most viable means of discussing reality in a pragmatic manner. Moreover, by scrutinising several of the author's works, it establishes signposts for considering the truly complicated relationship that Borges had with reality, one that intimately associates the 'real' with human perception, insight and language.
He read and wrote with the greatest of passions. And Jorge Luis Borges, the greatest of Argentine writers, created, through a 60-year-long career, one of the significant and enduring literary legacies of any writer of the 20th century. The reach of his poetry, his stories, and his essays was global.
Jorge Luis Borges (1899–1986) was one of the great writers of the twentieth century and the most influential author in the Spanish language of modern times. He had a seminal influence on Latin American literature and a lasting impact on literary fiction in many other languages. However, Borges has been accessible in English only through a number of anthologies drawn mainly from his work of the 1940s and 1950s. The primary aim of this Companion is to provide a more comprehensive account of Borges's oeuvre and the evolution of his writing. It offers critical assessments by leading scholars of the poetry of his youth and the later poetry and fiction, as well as of the 'canonical' volumes of the middle years. Other chapters focus on key themes and interests, and on his influence in literary theory and translation studies.
A fascinating history of Jorge Luis Borges's efforts to revolutionize and revitalize literature in Latin America "Nora Benedict's illuminating book is an essential contribution to the understanding of Borges' relationship to the written word. The portrait of Borges as writer and reader is now made complete with Benedict's exploration of Borges as editor."--Alberto Manguel, director, Center for Research into the History of Reading Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) stands out as one of the most widely regarded and inventive authors in world literature. Yet the details of his employment history throughout the early part of the twentieth century, which foreground his efforts to develop a worldly reading public, have received scant critical attention. From librarian and cataloguer to editor and publisher, this writer emerges as entrenched in the physical minutiae and social implications of the international book world. Drawing on years of archival research coupled with bibliographical analysis, Nora C. Benedict explains how Borges's more general involvement in the publishing industry influenced not only his formation as a writer, but also global book markets and reading practices in world literature. In this way she tells the story of Borges's profound efforts to revolutionize and revitalize literature in Latin America through his various jobs in the publishing industry.
Through a comparative analysis of the novels of Roberto Bolaño and the fictional work of César Aira, Mario Bellatin, Diamela Eltit, Chico Buarque, Alberto Fuguet, and Fernando Vallejo, among other leading authors, Héctor Hoyos defines and explores new trends in how we read and write in a globalized era. Calling attention to fresh innovations in form, voice, perspective, and representation, he also affirms the lead role of Latin American authors in reshaping world literature. Focusing on post-1989 Latin American novels and their representation of globalization, Hoyos considers the narrative techniques and aesthetic choices Latin American authors make to assimilate the conflicting forces at work in our increasingly interconnected world. Challenging the assumption that globalization leads to cultural homogenization, he identifies the rich textual strategies that estrange and re-mediate power relations both within literary canons and across global cultural hegemonies. Hoyos shines a light on the unique, avant-garde phenomena that animate these works, such as modeling literary circuits after the dynamics of the art world, imagining counterfactual "Nazi" histories, exposing the limits of escapist narratives, and formulating textual forms that resist worldwide literary consumerism. These experiments help reconfigure received ideas about global culture and advance new, creative articulations of world consciousness.
Kierkegaard has long been known as a philosopher and theologian, but his contributions to psychology, anthropology and sociology have also made an important impact on these fields. In many of the works of his complex authorship, Kierkegaard presents his intriguing and unique vision of the nature and mental life of human beings individually and collectively. The articles featured in the present volume explore the reception of Kierkegaard's thought in the social sciences. Of these fields Kierkegaard is perhaps best known in psychology, where The Concept of Anxiety and The Sickness unto Death have been the two most influential texts. With regard to the field of sociology, social criticism, or social theory, Kierkegaard's Literary Review of Two Ages has also been regarded as offering valuable insights about some important dynamics of modern society..
Experiencing Latin American Music draws on human experience as a point of departure for musical understanding. Students explore broad topics—identity, the body, religion, and more—and relate these to Latin American musics while refining their understanding of musical concepts and cultural-historical contexts. With its brisk and engaging writing, this volume covers nearly fifty genres and provides both students and instructors with online access to audio tracks and listening guides. A detailed instructor’s packet contains sample quizzes, clicker questions, and creative, classroom-tested assignments designed to encourage critical thinking and spark the imagination. Remarkably flexible, this innovative textbook empowers students from a variety of disciplines to study a subject that is increasingly relevant in today’s diverse society. In addition to the instructor’s packet, online resources for students include: customized Spotify playlist online listening guides audio sound links to reinforce musical concepts stimulating activities for individual and group work
This thematic study is the only in-depth investigation into the fictional and testimonial literature of Amanda Labarca Hubertson, Chilean educator, reformer, and promoter of women's rights. These imaginary writings include such little-known works as her semi-autobiographical novel, En tierras extranas (1915), the short novel, La lampara maravillosa (1921), the collection of short stories entitled Cuentos a mi senor, the testimonial Meditaciones and Meditaciones breves (1928-1931), and the marginal journal fragments, Desvelos en el alba (1945). A preliminary chapter also addresses the controversy surrounding her published literary thesis, La novela castellana de hoi [sic, 1906]. The study corrects some interpretive errors regarding earlier scholarship on Labarca's perceived feminist writings by examining the sexual (gendered) complexities that imprint themselves in Labarca's fictional work and literary criticism. While she may be criticized for omitting any materialist analysis of power, in her literature Labarca attempted to effect change in the social order by pointing out its contradictions. Paradoxically, a close reading of Labarca's dangerously contradictory and yet amorous
