Colonial Latin American Literature: A Very Short Introduction - Softcover

Adorno, Rolena

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199755027 ISBN 13: 9780199755028

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2011

Synopsis

A vivid account of the literary culture of the Spanish-speaking Americas from the time of Columbus to Latin American Independence, this Very Short Introduction explores the origins of Latin American literature in Spanish and tells the story of how Spanish literary language developed and flourished in the New World. A leading scholar of colonial Latin American literature, Rolena Adorno examines the writings that debated the justice of the Spanish conquests, described the novelties of New World nature, expressed the creativity of Hispanic baroque culture in epic, lyric, and satirical poetry, and anticipated Latin American Independence. The works of Spanish, creole, and Amerindian authors highlighted here, including Bartolomé de las Casas, Felipe Guaman Poma, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Andrés Bello, have been chosen for the merits of their writings, their participation in the larger literary and cultural debates of their times, and their resonance among readers today.

About the Series: Combining authority with wit, accessibility, and style, Very Short Introductions offer an introduction to some of life's most interesting topics. Written by experts for the newcomer, they demonstrate the finest contemporary thinking about the central problems and issues in hundreds of key topics, from philosophy to Freud, quantum theory to Islam.

About this title

About the Author

Rolena Adorno is the Reuben Post Halleck Professor of Spanish and Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at Yale University. Her books include The Polemics of Possession in Spanish American Narrative, winner of the Katherine Singer Kovacs Prize from the Modern Language Association; Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca: His Account, His Life, and the Expedition of Pánfilo de Narváez, recipient of awards from the American Historical Association, the Western Historical Association, and the New England Council on Latin American Studies; and Guaman Poma: Writing and Resistance in Colonial Peru. She is a member of the presidentially appointed National Council on the Humanities and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Review

"A brilliant and engaging overview of colonial Latin American literature, replete with new insights and visions. Its brevity, clarity, and wit should make it the starting point for any study of the period and of the polemics of possession." -Frederick A. de Armas, Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Service Professor, University of Chicago

"Rolena Adorno has written the book that should have been written decades ago. Her unequaled scholarship, her power of synthesis, and her precise prose make this an introduction to colonial Latin American literature that will become indispensable to all students in the field." -Verónica Cortínez, professor of colonial studies, University of California, Los Angeles; author, Memoria original de Bernal Díaz del Castillo

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0199755027
• ISBN 13: 9780199755028
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 168