THIS COURSE IS TAUGHT AT GUADALAJARA

Neoliberalism and Latin American Literature

The unparalleled economic transformations of the last three decades in Latin America have had a profound cultural impact that this course will explore through recent literary production. It will specifically focus on the intersection among the literary, cultural, and economic imaginations in the period of implementation of neoliberal policies in the region. Throughout the course we will examine the so-called “alfaguarización” of Spanish American literature; the fall of the lettered city; and the prevalence of the audiovisual media in competition with written discourses. Some of the questions to respond to are: How does neoliberal ideology permeate both contemporary fiction and the literary market as a whole? How has such an ideology impacted cultural production and altered critical discourses? What kind of new subjectivities, anxieties, and discursive functions have emerged as a reaction to economic change? What are the limits of the neoliberal project? Some of the authors included in the program are Mario Bellatín, Xavier Velasco, the Crack literary group, the McOndo anthology, Alicia Yáñez, Guadalupe Loaeza, and Rodrigo Fresán, among others. (1 Unit)