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The Writings of Carlos Fuentes
RAYMOND LESLIE WILLIAMS
Copyright Date: 1996
Published by: University of Texas Press
https://doi.org/10.7560/790971
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7560/790971
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Book Info
The Writings of Carlos Fuentes
Book Description:

Smitten by the modernity of Cervantes and Borges at an early age, Carlos Fuentes has written extensively on the cultures of the Americas and elsewhere. His work includes over a dozen novels, among themThe Death of Artemio Cruz,Christopher Unborn,The Old Gringo, andTerra Nostra, several volumes of short stories, numerous essays on literary, cultural, and political topics, and some theater.

In this book, Raymond Leslie Williams traces the themes of history, culture, and identity in Fuentes' work, particularly in his complex, major novelTerra Nostra. He opens with a biography of Fuentes that links his works to his intellectual life. The heart of the study is Williams' extensive reading of the novelTerra Nostra, in which Fuentes explores the presence of Spanish culture and history in Latin America. Williams concludes with a look at how Fuentes' other fiction relates toTerra Nostra, including Fuentes' own division of his work into fourteen cycles that he calls "La Edad del Tiempo," and with an interview in which Fuentes discusses his concept of this cyclical division.

eISBN: 978-0-292-79792-5
Subjects: Language & Literature
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  1. Front Matter
    Front Matter (pp. i-vi)
  2. Table of Contents
    Table of Contents (pp. vii-viii)
  3. PREFACE
    PREFACE (pp. ix-xiv)
  4. ABBREVIATIONS
    ABBREVIATIONS (pp. xv-xviii)
  5. PART I
    • An Intellectual Biography: The Journey to El Escorial and Terra Nostra
      An Intellectual Biography: The Journey to El Escorial and Terra Nostra (pp. 1-46)

      In the sixteenth century, the Spanish Crown spread its language, as well as its cultural and political practices, across the vast geographical stretch of the Americas identified today as Latin America. In the second half of the century, the Spanish King Philip II built El Escorial as a monument to God, to the Spanish Empire, to Spain, and, of course, to himself. Philip II was born in 1527. Almost exactly four centuries later, in 1928, the Mexican intellectual Carlos Fuentes was born in Panama City. He has dedicated a lifetime to the analysis and critique of the language, culture, and...

  6. PART II
    • Rereading Terra Nostra
      Rereading Terra Nostra (pp. 47-108)

      Asumma of three decades of Carlos Fuentes’ writing career,Terra Nostrawas born in the mid-sixties, even though references in his previous work, from as early asLos días enmascaradosandWhere the Air Is Clear, allude to some of the concerns ofTerra Nostra.¹ This novel represents the culmination of his modern project, begun withLos días enmascaradosand offering his exhaustive readings of the culture and history of the Americas. At the same time,Terra Nostrais a postmodern exercise, for this novel holds relationships with both modern and postmodern writing. Above all,Terra Nostrabears an intimate relationship...

  7. PART III
    • Rereading Fuentes
      Rereading Fuentes (pp. 109-146)

      Terra Nostraand El Escorial are central to an understanding of Fuentes. Nevertheless, the importance of Fuentes as a major writer of the century rests not in this one work only but in the entirety of his oeuvre.Terra Nostracontributes to the significance of his total work, and vice versa.Terra Nostraelucidates much of his other fiction, while an awareness of his other works affects the reading ofTerra Nostra. Fuentes’ other fiction and this mutual interaction are the subject of Part III.Terra Nostrais a major foundational work in the history of Latin American literature; Fuentes’...

  8. APPENDIX I La Edad del Tiempo:An Interview with Carlos Fuentes, Los Angeles, California, April 1994
    APPENDIX I La Edad del Tiempo:An Interview with Carlos Fuentes, Los Angeles, California, April 1994 (pp. 147-154)
  9. APPENDIX II ‘‘La Edad del Tiempo’’
    APPENDIX II ‘‘La Edad del Tiempo’’ (pp. 155-160)
  10. NOTES
    NOTES (pp. 161-168)
  11. SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
    SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY (pp. 169-178)
  12. INDEX
    INDEX (pp. 179-185)
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