Carpentier's Baroque Fiction: Returning Medusa's Gaze
Carpentier was one of the first novelists to introduce a version of magical realism and the neo-baroque into Latin American fiction.

This study focuses on one of the first novelists to introduce a version of magical realism and the neo-baroque into Latin American fiction. Original research colours eyewitness accounts of Alejo Carpentier's travels through Spainbefore and during the Spanish Civil War and the inspiration that he drew from the Baroque architecture he encountered there. The origins of Carpentier's uniquely 'baroque' style are found in his endeavour to create a period ambience in his historical fictions through descriptions of visual arts and architectural settings, and parodies of the literary style of Spanish Golden Age writers. 'Medusa's gaze' is used as a metaphor for the petrifying power of theBaroque as a weapon of European dominance. By wielding the same weapon in an act of postcolonial defiance, Carpentier enabled a reassertion of Latin American culture, and laid the foundations for the 1960s 'Boom' in the Latin American novel.

STEVE WAKEFIELD is Visiting Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales, Australia
1110926245
Carpentier's Baroque Fiction: Returning Medusa's Gaze
Carpentier was one of the first novelists to introduce a version of magical realism and the neo-baroque into Latin American fiction.

This study focuses on one of the first novelists to introduce a version of magical realism and the neo-baroque into Latin American fiction. Original research colours eyewitness accounts of Alejo Carpentier's travels through Spainbefore and during the Spanish Civil War and the inspiration that he drew from the Baroque architecture he encountered there. The origins of Carpentier's uniquely 'baroque' style are found in his endeavour to create a period ambience in his historical fictions through descriptions of visual arts and architectural settings, and parodies of the literary style of Spanish Golden Age writers. 'Medusa's gaze' is used as a metaphor for the petrifying power of theBaroque as a weapon of European dominance. By wielding the same weapon in an act of postcolonial defiance, Carpentier enabled a reassertion of Latin American culture, and laid the foundations for the 1960s 'Boom' in the Latin American novel.

STEVE WAKEFIELD is Visiting Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales, Australia
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Carpentier's Baroque Fiction: Returning Medusa's Gaze

Carpentier's Baroque Fiction: Returning Medusa's Gaze

by Steve Wakefield
Carpentier's Baroque Fiction: Returning Medusa's Gaze

Carpentier's Baroque Fiction: Returning Medusa's Gaze

by Steve Wakefield

Hardcover

$115.00 
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Overview

Carpentier was one of the first novelists to introduce a version of magical realism and the neo-baroque into Latin American fiction.

This study focuses on one of the first novelists to introduce a version of magical realism and the neo-baroque into Latin American fiction. Original research colours eyewitness accounts of Alejo Carpentier's travels through Spainbefore and during the Spanish Civil War and the inspiration that he drew from the Baroque architecture he encountered there. The origins of Carpentier's uniquely 'baroque' style are found in his endeavour to create a period ambience in his historical fictions through descriptions of visual arts and architectural settings, and parodies of the literary style of Spanish Golden Age writers. 'Medusa's gaze' is used as a metaphor for the petrifying power of theBaroque as a weapon of European dominance. By wielding the same weapon in an act of postcolonial defiance, Carpentier enabled a reassertion of Latin American culture, and laid the foundations for the 1960s 'Boom' in the Latin American novel.

STEVE WAKEFIELD is Visiting Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales, Australia

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781855661073
Publisher: BOYDELL & BREWER INC
Publication date: 11/11/2004
Series: ISSN , #208
Pages: 228
Product dimensions: 6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)

About the Author

Steve Wakefield is a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales, Australia
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