Book dossier

The logic of fetishism

by James J. Pancrazio

"Cuban author Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980) was a key figure in the foundation of contemporary Latin American fiction. By taking a critical position vis-a-vis the restitutionary current in Latin American studies (e.g., to focus on the myths of the noble savage, lost paradises, black legends, and good revolutionaries), James Pancrazio provides a highly innovative re-reading of Carpentier's work." "Through a logic of fetishism, Carpentier's characters and narrators are always at the crossroads: they are self and other, Latin American and European, African and American, contrite and unrepentant, masculine and feminine. Literary fetishism, surprisingly, not only marks the space of representation, but also provides a powerful critical lens to examine Carpentier's fiction."--Jacket.