The Literature of Catastrophe: Nature, Disaster and Revolution in Latin America - Paperback

by Carlos Fonseca (Author)

This book investigates how nature and history intertwined during the violent aftermath of the Latin American Wars of Independence. Synthesizing intellectual history and readings of textual production, The Literature of Catastrophereimagines the emergence of the modern Latin American nation-states beyond the scope of the harmonious "foundational fictions" that marked the emergence of the nation as an organic community. Through a study of philosophical, literary and artistic representations of three catastrophic figures - earthquakes, volcanoes and epidemics - this book provides a critical model through which to refute these state-sponsored "happy narratives," proposing instead that the emergence of the modern state in Latin America was indeed a violent event whose aftershocks are still felt today.

Engaging a variety of sources and protagonists, from Simón Bolívar's manifestoes to Cesar Aira's use of landscape in his novels, from the revolutionary role mosquitoes had within the Haitian Revolution to the role AIDS played in the writing of Reinaldo Arenas' posthumous novel, Carlos Fonseca offers an original retelling of this foundational moment, recounting how history has become a site where the modern division between nature and culture collapses.

Author Biography

Carlos Fonseca is Lecturer in Latin American Literature and Culture and Fellow of Trinity College, University of Cambridge, UK. He is the author of Coronel Lágrimas (2015), Museo animal (2017), and the book of essays La lucidez del miope (2017), which won the National Prize for Literature in Costa Rica.