Modernismo, Modernity and the Development of Spanish American Literature
Winner, A Choice Outstanding Academic Book
Modernismo arose in Spanish American literature as a confrontation with and a response to modernizing forces that were transforming Spanish American society in the later nineteenth century. In this book, Cathy L. Jrade undertakes a full exploration of the modernista project and shows how it provided a foundation for trends and movements that have continued to shape literary production in Spanish America throughout the twentieth century.
Jrade opens with a systematic consideration of the development of modernismo and then proceeds with detailed analyses of works-poetry, narrative, and essays-that typified and altered the movement's course. In this way, she situates the writing of key authors, such as Rubén Darío, José Martí, and Leopoldo Lugones, within the overall modernista project and traces modernismo's influence on subsequent generations of writers.
Jrade's analysis reclaims the power of the visionary stance taken by these creative intellectuals. She firmly abolishes any lingering tendency to associate modernismo with affectation and effete elegance, revealing instead how the modernistas' new literary language expressed their profound political and epistemological concerns.
Awards
- , Winner - A Choice Outstanding Academic Book
Jrade is among the two or three most distinguished scholars of modernismo in the world
today, and one of the most important in the entire history of criticism of the movement....
Her knowledge of Spanish poetics and prosody is unequaled by her peers.
- Preface
- One: Spanish America's Ongoing Response to Modernity
- Two: Modernismo: Knowledge as Power
- Three: The Movement Takes Shape
- Four: The Modernista Project Defined
- Five: Continuity within an Evolving Movement
- Six: The Erosion of Analogy
- Seven: Modernismo's Lasting Impact
- Notes
- Works Cited
- Index