Mexican Literature: A History (Texas Pan American Series) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0292724829 ISBN 13: 9780292724822

Publisher: University of Texas Press, 1994

Synopsis

Mexico has a rich literary heritage that extends back over centuries to the Aztec and Mayan civilizations. This major reference work surveys more than five hundred years of Mexican literature from a sociocultural perspective. More than merely a catalog of names and titles, it examines in detail the literary phenomena that constitute Mexico's most significant and original contributions to literature.

Recognizing that no one scholar can authoritatively cover so much territory, David William Foster has assembled a group of specialists, some of them younger scholars who write from emerging trends in Latin American and Mexican literary scholarship. The topics they discuss include pre-Columbian indigenous writing (Joanna O'Connell), Colonial literature (Lee H. Dowling), Romanticism (Margarita Vargas), nineteenth-century prose fiction (Mario Martín Flores), Modernism (Bart L. Lewis), major twentieth-century genres (narrative, Lanin A. Gyurko; poetry, Adriana García; theater, Kirsten F. Nigro), the essay (Martin S. Stabb), literary criticism (Daniel Altamiranda), and literary journals (Luis Peña). Each essay offers detailed analysis of significant issues and major texts and includes an annotated bibliography of important critical sources and reference works.

About this title

About the Author

David William Foster is Regents' Professor of Spanish at Arizona State University.

Reviews

A prolific bibliographer of Latin American literature, Foster has here assembled 12 essays that collectively span Mexican literary history from pre-Columbian times to the present. Rather than offering a sweeping, encyclopedic survey (cf. Dictionary of Mexican Literature, Greenwood, 1992), the present study concentrates on "significant literary production from the specific point of view of detailed analyses of major texts." Emphasis is properly placed on 20th-century movements, trends, and genres. Various critical approaches and methodologies are employed, with the one rule being adherence to the "sociohistorical context" of the literature under review. Each essay concludes with an ample bibliography of primary and secondary sources. Highly recommended for collections serving scholars and serious students of Latin American and comparative literature.
Charles E. Perry, East Central Univ., Ada, Okla.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Texas Press
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0292724829
• ISBN 13: 9780292724822
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 470
• Editor: Foster David William