City Fictions
Subtitle: Language, Body, and Spanish American Urban Space (The Bucknell Studies in Latin American Literature and Theory)
Publisher: Bucknell University Press
Published: February 28, 2007
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 212
ISBN-13: 9780838756737
Subjects: Literary studies: from c 1900 -; Novels, other prose & writers: from c 1900 -; Literary Criticism; Literature - Classics / Criticism; Latin America; American - Hispanic American; American - General; 20th century; Cities and towns in literature; History and criticism; Spanish American fiction
Description: "Using concepts from urban and cultural studies, City Fictions examines the representation of the city in the works of five important late-twentieth century Spanish American writers: Octavio Paz, Julio Cortazar, Christina Peri Rossi, Diamela Eltit, and Carlos Monsivais. While each of these writers is influenced at least partially by a specific Spanish American city - be it Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, or Santiago - they share ways in which they fictionalize the city. They all equate language and body with urban space. In these metaphors, language breaks down and the body disintegrates, creating a disturbing picture of violent decline. Amanda Holmes demonstrates how representation of the city through metaphors of linguistic and corporeal rupture as well as of new vital human possibilities, reflects a response to both political violence and untenable economic policies in Latin America during the last three decades of the twentieth century."--BOOK JACKET.