Synopses & Reviews
A study of Spanish American autobiography from the post-colonial nineteenth century to the present day.
Synopsis
This is a study of Spanish American autobiography from its beginnings in the post-colonial nineteenth century to the present day. Spanish American autobiographies are shown to be fascinating hybrids, aspiring to documentary status while unabashedly exalting the self, and dwelling on personal experience while purporting to be exercises in historiography.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 256-266) and index.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments; Introduction; Part I. The Scene of Reading: 1. The reader with the book in his hand; 2. From serf to self: the autobiography of Juan Francisco Manzano; 3. The theatrics of reading: body and book in Victoria Ocampo; Part II. Childhood and Family Tales: 4. Childhood and exile: the Cuban paradise of the Countess of Merlin; 5. A school for life: Miguel Cane's Juvenilia; 6. The search for Utopia: Picón Salas looks forward to the past; 7. A game of cutouts: Norah Lange's Cuadernos de infancia; Part III. Memory, Lineage and Representation: 8. Autobiography as history: a statue for posterity; 9. Shrines and labyrinths: a place to remember; 10. First memories, first myths: Vasconcelos' Ulises criollo; Notes; Bibliography; Index.