Liste de lectures … en progrès … and constantly updating

Unbelievably, I now have an official creative writing student and I am starting to compile a list of readings, in an attempt to begin answering the question, who and what taught me to write my sentences? Essay, chronicle, memoir ♦ Domingo Faustino Sarmiento, Facundo ♦ Joan Didion ♦ Mariano José de Larra ♦ Michel de Montaigne, … More Liste de lectures … en progrès … and constantly updating

Let us see if this is less boring: 162 words

The cultural identities consolidated by writers like José Vasconcelos, Fernando Ortiz, Nicolás Guillén, Gilberto Freyre, and Oswald de Andrade, and naturalized as national discourses from the 1920s forward, are derived from earlier formulations. But their cultural emphasis is new, as are their proclamations that the mestizo is superior rather than degraded. The mestizo nation of … More Let us see if this is less boring: 162 words

Continuing to break Piedra down further for the students — and to “touch work” for me

Starting at page 306. A. Grammar and the Hispanic Text. Nebrija’s formulated a “grammatical contract of servitude.” Slavery was apprentice citizenship and was teaching people how to be Hispanic. On paper, but not in practice, differences were minimized as alliances were maximized. Nebrija provided the New World with the justification for a cohesive Hispanic Text. … More Continuing to break Piedra down further for the students — and to “touch work” for me

Rapacious grammar

More from Piedra (I love his English, I think it is Cuban and under the influence of Golden Age Spanish, but the marvel of it is, it is ultra-perfect English): To become Hispanic was to acquire “literary whiteness.” The concept of the Hispanic “race” grew in print … but there are Afro-Hispanic writings throughout the … More Rapacious grammar

Fugue states

Time time time: to some extent it is true, one is as harried as one wants to be. My overwhelmed friend teaches community college, 15 hours of class a week, 3 courses 5 days a week, plus meetings, office hours, planning, grading, and the exhaustion of working in a turbulent institution. That is of course plenty … More Fugue states