Spanish American Literature in the Age of Machines and Other Essays

"This volume marks a major contribution to the materialist critique of literary history. Taking a transnational approach to Latin American literature from the nineteenth century to 'the Boom' of the 1960s and 70s, when interest in writing from the region exploded, Rama underscores the indispensable role of literary systems for grasping the complexity and contradictions of cultural phenomena." — Gorica Majstorovic, author of Global South Modernities: Modernist Literature and the Avant-Garde in Latin America

"Spanish American Literature in the Age of Machines and Other Essays brings together a superb selection of classic and lesser-known essays. It invites us to read Rama's renowned books, The Lettered City and Writing across Cultures—his primary works previously translated into English—within the totality of his oeuvre and reconsider the multiple relationships his writing draws among critical theory, sociology of culture, anthropology, and print culture. José Eduardo González's excellent introduction offers a valuable guide for these endeavors and a solid overview of scholarship on Rama. This book will appeal to a broad array of scholars interested in Latin American literary and cultural history, world literature, and the subtle relation between society and literature." — Javier García-Liendo, author of El Intelectual y la Cultura de Masas: Argumentos Latinoamericanos en Torno a Ángel Rama y José María Arguedas