Divergent Modernities: Culture and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Latin America (Latin America in Translation) [Paperback]

Julio Ramos (Author), John D. Blanco (Translator)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 082231990X | ISBN-13: 978-0822319900 | Publication Date: June 22, 2001

With a Foreword by José David Saldívar

Since its first publication in Spanish nearly a decade ago, Julio Ramos’s Desenucuentros de la modernidad en America Latina por el siglo XIX has been recognized as one of the most important studies of modernity in the western hemisphere. Available for the first time in English—and now published with new material—Ramos’s study not only offers an analysis of the complex relationships between history, literature, and nation-building in the modern Latin American context but also takes crucial steps toward the development of a truly comparative inter-American cultural criticism.
With his focus on the nineteenth century, Ramos begins his genealogy of an emerging Latin Americanism with an examination of Argentinean Domingo Sarmiento and Chilean Andrés Bello, representing the “enlightened letrados” of tradition. In contrast to these “lettered men,” he turns to Cuban journalist, revolutionary, and poet José Martí, who, Ramos suggests, inaugurated a new kind of intellectual subject for the Americas. Though tracing Latin American modernity in general, it is the analysis of Martí—particularly his work in the United States—that becomes the focal point of Ramos’s study. Martí’s confrontation with the unequal modernization of the New World, the dependent status of Latin America, and the contrast between Latin America’s culture of elites and the northern mass culture of commodification are, for Ramos, key elements in understanding the complex Latin American experience of modernity.
Including two new chapters written for this edition, as well as translations of three of Martí’s most important works, Divergent Modernities will be indispensable for anyone seeking to understand development and modernity across the Americas.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“What makes Divergent Modernities unique are not only its many subtle textual analyses, but also the effectiveness with which Ramos lends his unmatched mastery of the historical context of Latin America’s encounter with modernity to illuminate in original and important ways the process of literary creation itself.”—Tulio Halperín Donghi, author of The Contemporary History of Latin America

“With an innovative approach to the foundational intellectuals of Latin American modernity, Julio Ramos contributes to a rethinking of the intersections that constitute Latinoamericanismo of the twentieth century.”—Nestor G. Canclini, author of Hybrid Cultures: Strategies for Entering and Leaving Modernity

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Spanish --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: Duke University Press Books (June 22, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 082231990X
• ISBN-13: 978-0822319900
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,629,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Excelent!, September 22, 2010

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This review is from: Divergent Modernities: Culture and Politics in Nineteenth-Century Latin America (Latin America in Translation) (Paperback)

It's a fundamental reading to understand 19th century latin-american literature and the importance of journalism and the urban chronicle. Ramos' work on José Martí is excelent