This is my idea for the IILI conference at the Colegio de México. It would build on a piece I am giving here. It would revisit Schwarz’ concept of “misplaced ideas” — which may be somewhat outdated or limited or something, such that it is worth discussing and revising. The concept really does apply to … More Cecilia Valdés y las ideas fuera de lugar
♦ There is little distance between exogamy and incest since Don Cándido is everyone’s father (as it were). ♦ There is no compatibility between the hierarchical, slaveowning society and the bourgeois, modern one. The secrets that must be kept from the bourgeois society cause problems: it cannot be said that Cecilia is Leonardo’s sister, so their romance … More Cecilia Valdés, again
What Danny said about Doris’ book: In terms of its announced project, Doris Sommer’s Foundational Fictions turns to the canonical novels of the nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth. Through a synthesis of writings about sexuality, nationalism, family history, and allegory, Sommer develops a theory of a nineteenth-century “erotic code” in order to explain … More So twentieth century
I am looking for negative reviews of Doris Sommer, Foundational Fictions. If I do not find more by using Web of Knowledge and the MLA Bibliography I will call a reference librarian. I have already found an interesting one by Nancy Vogeley, in Modern Philology 91:3 (February 1994): 390-394. Danny Anderson has a review essay … More Research Wednesday
There is a new, 13th century Andalusi manuscript. The tales, set in India, are to be told on street corners, and in coffeehouses and orange groves. “It is certainly not by chance that this backdrop has something Oriental about it when seen from an Arabic perspective. It is an image of an Orient that is far … More Andalusian Orientalism
Joshua Goode says Spain attributed its 1898 defeat to the racial inferiority of its soldiers — they were not mixed enough. Mixing the blood of Spaniards would also help dissolve regional divisions in the country. They reasoned that when you choose the most robust youths for soldiers, you then remove their genes from the general … More Insufficient mestizaje
José Luis Sampedro died April 8, at 96. Axé.
I am an advisor in my own right now, because I am actually coaching someone. For free, like a priest serving the gods, I offer what I have. I know standard advice but I also give another view. Everyone always says I am true and my views are inspiring. I am here to conquer and thrive; … More That contrarian coach
I would quite like to see this book. I really should not buy books but we do not have them in the library. They have it at Rice. We can not only construct and resist Spanish modernity; we can also visualize it, and that book would also be fun to read. Axé.
Here is a portfolio of references for The Brief, Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Do you like this book? I see why one should like it and that it is admirable but it reminds me of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love which was, once again, interesting but not lasting. I am much, much more … More Junot Díaz
coldhearted scientist وداد 