Urban Spaces in Contemporary Latin American Literature [Hardcover]

This collection of essays studies the depiction of contemporary urban space in twenty-first century Latin American fiction. The contributors to this volume seek to understand the characteristics that make the representation of the postmodern city in a Latin American context unique. The chapters focus on cities from a wide variety of countries in the region, highlighting the cultural and political effects of neoliberalism and globalization in the contemporary urban scene. Twenty-first century authors share an interest for images of ruins and dystopian landscapes and their view of the damaging effects of the global market in Latin America tends to be pessimistic. As the book demonstrates, however, utopian elements or spaces of hope can also be found in these narrations, which suggest the possibility of transforming a capitalist-dominated living space.

1. The Spatial Turn and Twenty-First Century Latin American Fiction (Jos? Eduardo Gonz?lez).- 2. Beyond the Ruins of the Organized City: Urban Experiences through the Metro in Contemporary Mexican Literature (Liesbeth Fran?ois).- 3. Spectral Spaces: Haunting in the Latin American City (Marta Sierra).- 4. A Tale of Three Cities. Urban Space in the Crack Novels (1995-97) (Tom?s Regalado L?pez).- 5. The Night That Repeats Itself: Social Dystopia in Managua, Salsa City (?Dev?rame otra vez!), by Franz Galich (Magdalena Perkowska).- 6. Urban Debris and Networking Imperialism in Un Arte de hacer ruinas by Antonio Jos? Ponte (Eduard Arriaga).- 7. Place Making in the Solitude of the City: Valeria Luiselli's Los ingr?vidos (Cecily Raynor).- 8. Dislocated Subjects in the Global City: Santiago Gamboas Hotel Pek?n (Camilo A. Malag?n).- 9. Roberto Bola?os Urban Labyrinths: The City as Metaphor for the Silenl3+