By one of the most original and learned critical voices in
Hispanic studies-- a timely and ambitious study of authority as
theme and authority as authorial strategy in modern Latin American
literature.
An ideology is implicit in modern Latin American literature,
argues Roberto Gonzalez Echevarria, through which both the
literature itself and criticism of it define what Latin American
literature is and how it ought to be read. In the works themselves
this ideology is constantly subjected to a radical critique, and
that critique renders the ideology productive and in a sense is
what constitutes the work. In literary criticism, however, too
frequently the ideology merely serves as support for an
authoritative discourse that seriously misrepresents Latin American
literature.
In The Voice of the Masters, Gonzalez Echevarria attempts to
uncover the workings of modern Latin American literature by
creating a dialogue of texts, a dynamic whole whose parts are seven
illuminating essays on seminal texts in the tradition. As he says,
"To have written a sustained, expository book ... would have led me
to make the same kind of critical error that I attribute to most
criticism of Latin American literature.... I would have naively
assumed an authoritative voice while attempting a critique of
precisely that critical gesture."
Instead, major works by Barnet, Cabrera Infante, Carpentier,
Cortazar, Fuentes, Gallegos, Garcia Marquez, Roa Bastos, and Rodo
are the object of a set of independent deconstructive (and
reconstructive) readings. Writing in the tradition of Derrida and
de Man, Gonzalez Echevarria brings to these readings both the
penetrative brilliance of the French master and a profound
understanding of historical and cultural context. His insightful
annotation of Cabrera Infante's "Meta-End," the full text of which
is presented at the close of the study, clearly demonstrates these
qualities and exemplifies his particular approach to the text.
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