Gothic Imagination in Latin American Fiction and Film - by Carmen A Serrano (Paperback)

About the Book

This work traces how Gothic imagination from the literature and culture of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe and twentieth-century US and European film has impacted Latin American literature and film culture.

Book Synopsis

This work traces how Gothic imagination from the literature and culture of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe and twentieth-century US and European film has impacted Latin American literature and film culture.

Review Quotes

[Serrano] shows how vampiric entities speak to the corrosive effects of power and the societal nightmares they engender. This is a must read for all Latin Americanists and vampire enthusiasts everywhere.--John V. Waldron, author of The Fantasy of Globalism: The Latin American Neo-Baroque

In this engaging discussion of a wide range of authors, Serrano compellingly demonstrates that their texts use the Gothic imagination to articulate social and political realities of their times, especially the corrosiveness of power.--Dorothea Fischer-Hornung, coeditor of Vampires and Zombies: Transcultural Migrations and Transnational Interpretations

Serrano offers a timely and ambitious study that rereads classic texts from late nineteenth- and twentieth-century Spanish America. Her analysis astutely identifies the Gothic imagination as a contextually redefined liberating force that speaks truth to power.--Norma Klahn, coeditor of Translocalities/Translocalidades: Feminist Politics of Translation in the Latin/a Américas

Ultimately, the monograph becomes an indispensable addition to existing criticism. Its success lies in its effective elucidation of significant aspects of Latin American texts that had been overshadowed (or willingly disregarded) by magical-realist and fantastic readings. Thus, Serrano's arguments attest to the ability of the Gothic mode to deepen and enhance academic approaches to international fictions and, particularly, Latin American literature and film.--Inés Ordiz, Brumal: Revista de Investigación sobre lo Fantástico / Research Journal on the Fantastic

About the Author

Carmen A. Serrano is an associate professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures at the University at Albany-SUNY.