|
Book Info | | | enlarge picture
| Childhood and the Nation in Latin American Literature: Allende, Reinaldo Arenas, Bosch, Bryce Echenique, Cortazar, Manuel Galvan, Federico Gamboa, S. Ocampo, Peri Rossi, Salurrue | | Author: | Richard L. Browning | ISBN: | 0820442593 | Format: | Handover | Publish Date: | June, 2005 | | | | | | | | | Book Review | | |
Book Description This truly interdisciplinary work utilizes literature as a primary resource in examining the concept of childhood and how it is exploited and explored in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Latin America. Little has been published on the history of childhood or children in Latin America. Whether equating the child's potentiality with that of the nation, or drawing an analogy between parent-child and state-citizen relationships; whether using the child as representative of marginalized sectors of society, or equating the status and role of the author in society with those of the child, in the end such literary treatments of childhood result in a dehumanization of the child performed in the name of constructing a national identity.
Childhood and the Nation in Latin American Literature: Allende, Reinaldo Arenas, Bosch, Bryce Echenique, Cortazar, Manuel Galvan, Federico Gamboa, S. Ocampo, Peri Rossi, Salurrue FROM THE CRITICS Booknews Uses literature as a primary resource in examining the concept of childhood and how it is exploited and explored in 19th- and 20th- century Latin America. Argues that literary treatments of childhood, whether equating the child's potential with that of the nation, using the child as a representative of marginalized sectors of society, or drawing an analogy between parent-child and state-citizen relationships, result in a dehumanization of the child performed in the name of constructing a national identity. Browning teaches Spanish at Linfield College. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
| |
|