{"product_id":"the-lettered-city-angel-rama-9780822317661","title":"The Lettered City","description":"Posthumously published to wide acclaim, \u003ci\u003eThe Lettered City\u003c\/i\u003e is a vitally important work by one of Latin America's most highly respected theorists. Angel Rama's groundbreaking study-presented here in its first English translation-provides an overview of the power of written discourse in the historical formation of Latin American societies, and highlights the central role of cities in deploying and reproducing that power. To impose order on a vast New World empire, the Iberian monarchs created carefully planned cities where institutional and legal powers were administered through a specialized cadre of elite men called \u003ci\u003eletrados;\u003c\/i\u003e it is the urban nexus of lettered culture and state power that Rama calls \"the lettered city.\"\u003cbr\u003eStarting with the colonial period, Rama undertakes a historical analysis of the hegemonic influences of the written word. He explores the place of writing and urbanization in the imperial designs of the Iberian colonialists and views the city both as a rational order of signs representative of Enlightenment progress and as the site where the Old World is transformed-according to detailed written instructions-in the New. His analysis continues by recounting the social and political challenges faced by the \u003ci\u003eletrados\u003c\/i\u003e as their roles in society widened to include those of journalist, fiction writer, essayist, and political leader, and how those roles changed through the independence movements of the nineteenth century. The coming of the twentieth century, and especially the gradual emergence of a mass reading public, brought further challenges. Through a discussion of the currents and countercurrents in turn-of-the-century literary life, Rama shows how the city of letters was finally \"revolutionized.\"\u003cbr\u003eAlready crucial in setting the terms for debate concerning the complex relationships among intellectuals, national formations, and the state, this elegantly written and translated work will be read by Latin American scholars in a wide range of disciplines, and by students and scholars in the fields of anthropology, cultural geography, and postcolonial studies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Angel Rama\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0822317664\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780822317661\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Duke University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/25\/1996\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 160\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.60lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.77h x 5.46w x 0.47d","brand":"Angel Rama","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43986733334783,"sku":"9780822317661","price":23.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_28ec54b6-56da-41ea-95c3-1474bac77ff7.jpg?v=1683284878","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-lettered-city-angel-rama-9780822317661","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}