Structures of Power: Essays on Twentieth-Century Spanish-American Fiction(SUNY series in Latin American and Iberian Thought and Culture)

The many faces of power--political, personal, authorial--as revealed in literature are explored in these essays by specialists on modern Spanish-American narrative. Contributors include Jose Carlos Gonzalez Boixo, Sara Castro-Klaren, Rosalia Cornejo-Parriego, Rosemary Geisdorfer Feal, David William Foster, Todd Garth, Sharon Magnarelli, Terry J. Peavler and Peter Standish. They discuss works by Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Julio Cortazar, Jose Donoso, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Alejandra Pizarnik, Juan Rulfo, Macedonio Fernandez, Augusto Roa Bastos, Luisa Valenzuela, and Mario Vargas Llosa. By thoroughly analyzing the literature chosen, the authors go beyond questions of politically committed writing to include such issues as the dominance of one sex, one belief system, and one individual over another. Because they reveal just how complex and diverse issues of power in literature can be, they significantly broaden an already lively debate. What brings them together here is their shared passion for the subject, their keenness of thought, and their possession of what may be the greatest power of all, that of persuasion.

Table of Contents:
Notes on Contributors Introduction See(k)ing Power/ Framing Power in Selected Works of Jose Donoso Sharon Magnarelli Monuments and Scribes: El hablador Addresses Ethnography Sara Castro-Klaren The Delegitimizing Carnival of El otono del Patriarca Rosalia Cornejo-Parriego Magus, Masque, and the Machinations of Authority: Cortazar at Play Peter Standish Politicizing Myth and Absence: From Macedonio Fernandez to Augusto Roa Bastos Todd S. Garth The Underlying Currents of "Caciqusmo" in the Narratives of Juan Rulfo Jose Carlos Gonzalez Boixo Cabrera Infante's Undertow Terry J. Peavler Of Power and Virgins: Alejandra Pizarnik's La condesa sangrienta David William Foster The Politics of "Wargasm": Sexuality, Domination and Female Subversion in Luisa Valenzuela's Cambio De Armas Rosemary Geisdorfer Feal Index

About the Author :
Terry J. Peavler is Professor of Spanish and Assistant Dean of Liberal Arts at The Pennsylvania State University. His books include Individuations: The Novel as Dissent, Ex texto en llamas: el arte narrativo de Juan Rulfo, and Julio Cortazar. Peter Standish is Professor and Chair in the Department of Foreign Languages at East Carolina University, Greenville. His books include Variedades del espanol actual and Mario Vargas Llosa: La ciudad y los perros.

Review :
"Structures of Power is accessible to a wide range of readers, including generalists with little or no background in Latin American literature or political systems. The editors are clearly aware of the diversity of Latin American cultures and have made an effort to represent that diversity in this volume." - Debra A. Castillo, Cornell University