Carlos Fuentes, Mexico and Modernity by Maarten Van Delden

Carlos Fuentes, Mexico and Modernity by Maarten Van Delden

This study of the work of the Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes argues that there is a fundamental paradox at the heart of Fuentes's vision of Mexico and in his role as novelist and critic in putting forth that vision. This paradox hinges on the tension between national identity and modernity. A significant internal conflict, van Delden contends, emerges in Fuentes's work from his attempt to stake out two different positions for himself, as experimental novelist and as politicallly engaged and responsible intellectual. Drawing on his fiction, literary essays and political journalism, the book places these tensions in Fuentes's work in relation to the larger debates about modernity and postmodernity in Latin America. It concludes that Fuentes is fundamentally a modernist writer, in spite of the fact that he occasionally gravitates toward the postmodernist position in literature and politics.

Van Delden's thorough command of the subject matter, his innovative and sometimes iconoclastic conclusions, and his clear and engaging writing style make this study more than just an interpretation of Fuentes's workCarlos Fuentes, Mexico, and Modernity offers nothing less than a comprehensive analysis of Fuentes's intellectual development in the contaxt of modern Mexican political and cultural life. Van Delden effectively explores the paradox at the heart of Fuentes's vision of Mexico: the tension between national identity, on the one hand, and cosmopolitanism and modernity, on the other. Eloquent and insightful, this book helps the reader grasp the essayistic and analytical qualities at the heart of Fuentes's fiction. It is required reading for anyone interested in contemporary Mexican and Latin American letters. - George Yudice, New York University

MAARTEN VAN DELDEN, Rice University, Houston, Texas

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780853236030
ISBN 10	0853236038
Title	Carlos Fuentes, Mexico and Modernity
Author	Maarten Van Delden
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Liverpool University Press
Year published	1998-05-05
Number of pages	256
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.