Incomparable Empires

Modernism and the Translation of Spanish and American Literature

Fiction & Literature, Literary Theory & Criticism, European, Spanish & Portuguese, Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Language Arts, Translating & Interpreting, American
Cover of the book Incomparable Empires by Gayle Rogers, Columbia University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Gayle Rogers ISBN: 9780231542982
Publisher: Columbia University Press Publication: November 1, 2016
Imprint: Columbia University Press Language: English
Author: Gayle Rogers
ISBN: 9780231542982
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Publication: November 1, 2016
Imprint: Columbia University Press
Language: English

The Spanish-American War of 1898 seems to mark a turning point in both geopolitical and literary histories. The victorious American empire ascended and began its cultural domination of the globe in the twentieth century, while the once-mighty Spanish empire declined and became a minor state in the world republic of letters. But what if this narrative relies on several faulty assumptions, and what if key modernist figures in both America and Spain radically rewrote these histories at a foundational moment of modern literary studies?

Following networks of American and Spanish writers, translators, and movements, Gayle Rogers uncovers the arguments that forged the politics and aesthetics of modernism. He revisits the role of empire—from its institutions to its cognitive effects—in shaping a nation's literature and culture. Ranging from universities to comparative practices, from Ezra Pound's failed ambitions as a Hispanist to Juan Ramón Jiménez's multilingual maps of modernismo, Rogers illuminates modernists' profound engagements with the formative dynamics of exceptionalist American and Spanish literary studies. He reads the provocative, often counterintuitive arguments of John Dos Passos, who held that "American literature" could only flourish if the expanding U.S. empire collapsed like Spain's did. And he also details both a controversial theorization of a Harlem–Havana–Madrid nexus for black modernist writing and Ernest Hemingway's unorthodox development of a version of cubist Spanglish in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Bringing together revisionary literary historiography and rich textual analyses, Rogers offers a striking account of why foreign literatures mattered so much to two dramatically changing countries at a pivotal moment in history.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Spanish-American War of 1898 seems to mark a turning point in both geopolitical and literary histories. The victorious American empire ascended and began its cultural domination of the globe in the twentieth century, while the once-mighty Spanish empire declined and became a minor state in the world republic of letters. But what if this narrative relies on several faulty assumptions, and what if key modernist figures in both America and Spain radically rewrote these histories at a foundational moment of modern literary studies?

Following networks of American and Spanish writers, translators, and movements, Gayle Rogers uncovers the arguments that forged the politics and aesthetics of modernism. He revisits the role of empire—from its institutions to its cognitive effects—in shaping a nation's literature and culture. Ranging from universities to comparative practices, from Ezra Pound's failed ambitions as a Hispanist to Juan Ramón Jiménez's multilingual maps of modernismo, Rogers illuminates modernists' profound engagements with the formative dynamics of exceptionalist American and Spanish literary studies. He reads the provocative, often counterintuitive arguments of John Dos Passos, who held that "American literature" could only flourish if the expanding U.S. empire collapsed like Spain's did. And he also details both a controversial theorization of a Harlem–Havana–Madrid nexus for black modernist writing and Ernest Hemingway's unorthodox development of a version of cubist Spanglish in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Bringing together revisionary literary historiography and rich textual analyses, Rogers offers a striking account of why foreign literatures mattered so much to two dramatically changing countries at a pivotal moment in history.

More books from Columbia University Press

Cover of the book The Lovelorn Ghost and the Magical Monk by Gayle Rogers
Cover of the book China and India by Gayle Rogers
Cover of the book Frontier Investor by Gayle Rogers
Cover of the book How East Asians View Democracy by Gayle Rogers
Cover of the book Globalizing the Streets by Gayle Rogers
Cover of the book How Women Got Their Curves and Other Just-So Stories by Gayle Rogers
Cover of the book The End of the West and Other Cautionary Tales by Gayle Rogers
Cover of the book Hermeneutic Communism by Gayle Rogers
Cover of the book "Do You Have a Band?" by Gayle Rogers
Cover of the book Believing History by Gayle Rogers
Cover of the book Feminist Film Studies by Gayle Rogers
Cover of the book China's Hegemony by Gayle Rogers
Cover of the book The Columbia Guide to Central African Literature in English Since 1945 by Gayle Rogers
Cover of the book China's Uncertain Future by Gayle Rogers
Cover of the book Kinship and Killing by Gayle Rogers
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy