Disaster Writing: The Cultural Politics of Catastrophe in Latin America (New World Studies)

In the aftermath of disaster, literary and other cultural representations of the event can play a role in the renegotiation of political power. In Disaster Writing, Mark D. Anderson analyzes four natural disasters in Latin America that acquired national significance and symbolism through literary mediation: the 1930 cyclone in the Dominican Republic, volcanic eruptions in Central America, the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City, and recurring drought in northeastern Brazil. Taking a comparative and interdisciplinary approach to the disaster narratives, Anderson explores concepts such as the social construction of risk, landscape as political and cultural geography, vulnerability as the convergence of natural hazard and social marginalization, and the cultural mediation of trauma and loss. He shows how the political and historical contexts suggest a systematic link between natural disaster and cultural politics. In the aftermath of disaster, literary and other cultural representations of the event can play a role in the renegotiation of political power. In __Disaster Writing,__ Mark D. Anderson analyzes four natural disasters in Latin America that acquired national significance and symbolism through literary mediation: the 1930 cyclone in the Dominican Republic, volcanic eruptions in Central America, the 1985 earthquake in Mexico City, and recurring drought in northeastern Brazil. Approaching disaster Disaster and the "New patria": Cyclone San Zenón and Trujillo's rewriting of the Dominican Republic Drought and the literary construction of risk in northeastern Brazil Volcanic identities: explosive nationalism and the disastered subject in Central American literature Fault lines: Mexico's 1985 earthquake and the politics of narration On writing and the nationalization of catastrophe. Annotation In the aftermath of disaster, literary and other cultural representations of the event can play a role in the renegotiation of political power. Here, the author analyses four natural disasters in Latin America that acquired national significance and symbolism through literary mediation Contents Acknowledgments Introduction 1 Disaster and the “New Patria” 2 Drought and the Literary Construction of Risk in Northeastern Brazil 3 Volcanic Identities 4 Fault Lines Conclusion Notes Works Cited Index