Produktdetaljer
Om bidragsyterne
Jean Franco (1924-2022) was Professor Emerita of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. She was the winner of the 1996 PEN award for lifetime contribution to disseminating Latin American literature in English, and has been recognized by both the Chilean and Venezuelan governments with the Gabriela Mistral Medal and the Andres Bello Medal for advancing literary scholarship on Latin American literature in the United States. Her previous books include Plotting Women: Gender and Representation in Mexico, César Vallejo: The Dialectics of Poetry and Silence, and A Literary History of Spain and Spanish.
“Franco, an esteemed pioneer in Latin American studies renowned for her erudition, has created a remarkable work. Copious notes accompany each chapter of this outstanding, thoroughly documented opus . . . . A superb book—in fact a classic.”
- F. Colecchia, Choice
“Transcending disciplinary genres of literary criticism or political commentary, <i>Cruel Modernity</i> is sophisticated yet raw, at once history, sociology, cultural analysis, and moral indictment. The result is haunting, elegant, and tough to read if one is not girded to deal with just how awful humans can be to others. . . . In the vast literature about atrocity and holocaust, Jean Franco is one of the few scholars whose prose connects the stories of victims, the artists and writers summoned to represent them, the author, and her reader. Some may find <i>Cruel Modernity</i> dispiriting. But there is no denying its majestic pathos.”
- Jeremy Adelman, Public Books
“Impeccably researched and provocative in tone, <i>Cruel Modernit</i>y is a significant addition to contemporary discourses on the brutality of totalitarian states and criminal gangs. Only by better understanding what leads individuals and governments to practise extreme cruelty can we hope to deter future atrocities.”
- Lucy Popescu, TLS
“A tour de force on its own terms, thanks to its clarity of exposition, its empathy toward the victimized, and its commitment to understand unspeakable crimes.”
- Jorge I. Domínguez, Journal of Interdisciplinary History
“This is a book as lucid as it is harrowing; it remains clear in its argument even as the extensive, exacting evidence it presents boggles the mind.”
- Marguerite Feitlowitz, The Americas
“I consider this book as essential reading for all those interested in the field of human rights, especially those interested in the ways in which state terrorism remains too often unpunished. It is also fundamental to all who study Latin America, as I consider this book among the very best in Franco’s multiple writings.”
- Marjorie Agosin, Human Rights Quarterly
“Although it is a challenge to read the book and to become witness, through its pages, to cruelties from which we wish to turn away, it is precisely because of this that <i>Cruel Modernity</i> is an important volume destined to become a classic work for both professionals and the general public.”
- Roger Davis, History: Reviews of New Books
"Jean Franco’s <i>Cruel Modernity</i> is wide-ranging and theoretically ambitious. . . . <i>Cruel Modernity</i> is a stunning achievement, brilliant and unflinching. Perhaps its greatest strength is Franco’s relentless pursuit of an ethical response to these acts of violence."
- Molly Geidel, American Quarterly
Franco draws on human-rights documents, memoirs, testimonials, novels, and films, as well as photographs and art works, to explore not only cruel acts but the discriminatory thinking that made them possible, their long-term effects, the precariousness of memory, and the pathos of survival.
Introduction 1
1. The "Insignificant Incident" and Its Aftermath 23
2. Alien to Modernity 45
3. Raping the Dead 77
4. Killers, Torturers, Sadists, and Collaborators 93
5. Revolutionary Justice 100
6. Cruel Survival 152
7. Tortured Souls 172
8. The Ghostly Arts 192
9. Apocalypse Now 214
Afterword. Hypocrite Modernity 247
Notes 253
Bibliography 279
Index 297
Produktdetaljer
Om bidragsyterne
Jean Franco (1924-2022) was Professor Emerita of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. She was the winner of the 1996 PEN award for lifetime contribution to disseminating Latin American literature in English, and has been recognized by both the Chilean and Venezuelan governments with the Gabriela Mistral Medal and the Andres Bello Medal for advancing literary scholarship on Latin American literature in the United States. Her previous books include Plotting Women: Gender and Representation in Mexico, César Vallejo: The Dialectics of Poetry and Silence, and A Literary History of Spain and Spanish.