Another book I have never read is the History of Sexuality — I was bored with Foucault when it came out and could not take him seriously, and I have never gotten back to it. I should probably read it now along with everything else there is about the body, because race is about bodies, … More Corpus delicti
Modernism in literature is (often) the effort of a national elite to develop a theory of national identity that is both modern and traditionalist, that negotiates claims of exceptionalism / universality. Modernism is distinctively peripheral, not prototypically metropolitan, in that it is interested in those romantic notions of identity that are more distinctive around the … More Wir sind soweit
→ Kraniauskas essay in the Archivos edition of El Señor Presidente. This book is not about the origins of the state but its nationalization. I have never read it but now want to. It is avant-garde and about the state, so I cannot lose. → Misplaced ideas. Roberto Schwarz came up with this term and … More Fragments, and a proto-theory of Spain
3-9 work on a class, six hours, category teaching, and that is it. On the theory of touching research every day, I hereby commit to read something useful starting at 11 PM, one hour, category research, making this a seven hour day which is respectable. I have some service I really must do soon. Six … More Work Monday
Are triangulation, encroachment and enmeshment particularly Latin, or are they just epiphenomena of any patriarchal system? Man 1, at work: wants me to ally with him against Woman 1. I refuse so I am a “Puritan.” Man 2, at work: wants me to ally with him against Man 1 and with Woman 1. I refuse … More A serious question
I have ordered this book. Everything is conspiring to help me with my project. Axé.
Did Dr. Phil send a memo saying men have to call women every day? I do not mean the obsessive calling of controlling types. In old Latin America you had to be home to be visited briefly each evening, and current phone customs remind me of this. My phone is lost, though, and I tend … More On helicopter people
Our petition still needs signatures. I do not favor life without parole but it is the best we can do now. Please sign as this is a serious date. Please also consider writing a paper letter, sending a fax or making a telephone call. February 13, the execution date, is Ash Wednesday and it is easy to … More Death watch Louisiana
Atención, pueblo tababé, que con las tripas vacías he traído en jasayé las ordenanzas de este día. Yo, que con tanto empeño, he querido con razón a este pueblo cruceño alegrarle el corazón (…) –Recopilado por Nino Gandarilla Guardia; fragmento del libro inédito 450 años de la Fundación y del Carnaval Cruceño, Sta. Cruz de la Sierra, … More El correo del carnaval
There are so many things I must visit here, sugar mills and Creole plantations. I understand why I have not visited more but this was an error. The crumbling brick ruins of a sugar mill built in 1829 by Bernard de Marigny de Mandeville, founder of the nearby town of Mandeville, suggest an interesting history … More Fontainebleau
