Determinations Essays on Theory, Narrative and Nation in the Americas

by Larsen, Neil

• ISBN13: 9781859843291
• ISBN10: 1859843298
• Edition: 00
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-17
• Publisher: VERSO

Summary

Determinations employs a Marxist approach to examine postcolonial theory and provides critical readings of a range of postcolonial narratives, mainly Latin American. It argues that the national question remains an unresolved problem in this field, particularly in light of the confusions engendered by concepts of globalization, and that the cultural link between the ideas of nation and narrative remains a fruitful avenue of study. Taking issue with the approaches of theorists such as Homi Bhabha and Gayatri Spivak, Larsen takes the reader through the work of writers such as Cortazar, Carpentier, Garcia Marquez, Rulfo and Vargas Llosa. He concludes with a pungent reassessment of Benedict Anderson's classic work, Imagined Communities.

Author Biography

Neil Larsen teaches at the University of California, Davis, where he chairs the Department of Spanish and Classics and directs the Program in Critical Theory

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	v
Preface	vii
Part I Theory in the ``Post''-Colony	1	(96)
Imperialism, Colonialism, Postcolonialism: An Introduction	3	(29)
DetermiNation: Postcolonialism, Poststructuralism, and the Problem of Ideology	32	(16)
Poverties of Nation: The Ends of the Earth, ``Monetary Subjects Without Money'' and Postcolonial Theory	48	(10)
Marxism, Postcolonialism and The Eighteenth Brumaire	58	(17)
Roberto Schwarz: A Quiet (Brazilian) Revolution in Critical Theory	75	(8)
The ``Hybrid'' Fallacy, or, Culture and the Question of Historical Necessity	83	(14)
Part II Nation and Narration on a North/South Axis: Case Studies for a Regionally and Historically Grounded ``Postcolonial'' Studies	97	(87)
Cortazar and Postmodernity: New Interpretive Liabilities	99	(16)
Alejo Carpentier: Modernism as Epic	115	(12)
Preselective Affinities: Surrealism (and Marxism) in Latin America	127	(10)
Rulfo and the Transcultural: A Revised View	137	(6)
Mario Vargas Llosa: The Realist as Neo-Liberal	143	(26)
Nation and Novel: Critical-Theoretical Speculations and a North/South Postscript	169	(15)
Notes	184	(19)
Index	203