The Object of the Atlantic: Concrete Aesthetics in Cuba, Brazil, and Spain, 18681968 (Volume 19) (FlashPoints)

The Object of the Atlantic is a wide-ranging study of the transition from a concern with sovereignty to a concern with things in Iberian Atlantic literature and art produced between 1868 and 1968. Rachel Price uncovers the surprising ways that concrete aesthetics from Cuba, Brazil, and Spain drew not only on global forms of constructivism but also on a history of empire, slavery, and media technologies from the Atlantic world. Analyzing Jose Marti’s notebooks, Joaquim de Sousandrade’s poetry, Ramiro de Maeztu’s essays on things and on slavery, 1920s Cuban literature on economic restructuring, Ferreira Gullar’s theory of the “non-object,” and neoconcrete art, Price shows that the turn to objects—and from these to new media networks—was rooted in the very philosophies of history that helped form the Atlantic world itself. The Object of the Atlantic is a wide-ranging study of the transition from a concern with sovereignty to a concern with things in Iberian Atlantic literature and art produced between 1868 and 1968. Rachel Price uncovers the surprising ways that concrete aesthetics from Cuba, Brazil, and Spain drew not only on global forms of constructivism but also on a history of empire, slavery, and media technologies from the Atlantic world. Analyzing Jose Marti{u2019}s notebooks, Joaquim de Sousandrade{u2019}s poetry, Ramiro de Maeztu{u2019}s essays on things and on slavery, 1920s Cuban literature on economic restructuring, Ferreira Gullar{u2019}s theory of the non-object, and neoconcrete art, Price shows that the turn to object--and from these to new media network--as rooted in the very philosophies of history that helped form the Atlantic world itself.--Cover page 4 The Object of the Atlantic is a wide-ranging study of the transition from a concern with sovereignty to a concern with things in Iberian Atlantic literature and art produced between 1868 and 1968 Rachel Price uncovers the surprising ways that concrete aesthetics from Cuba, Brazil, and Spain drew not only on global forms of constructivism but also on a history of empire, slavery, and media technologies from the Atlantic world. Analyzing lose Marti's notebooks, Joachim de Sousandrade's poetry. Ramiro de Maeztu's essays on things and on slavery, 1920s Cuban literature on economic restructuring, Ferreira Gullar's theory of the "non-object," and neoconcrete art, Price shows that the turn to objects-and from these to new media networks-was rooted in the very philosophies of history that helped form the Atlantic world itself. Book jacket Cover 1 Contents 6 Illustrations 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 16 1. Espiral Negra: Concretude in the Atlantic 38 2. José Martí’s Material Traces 60 3. The Writing on the Walls: Babylon, Wall Street, Canudos 89 4. Ramiro de Maeztu’s Primacy of Things 122 5. The Spirit of Martí in the Land of Coaybay 146 6. Object, Non-object, Trans-object, Relational Object: From Concrete Poetry to A Nova Objetividade 177 Epilogue: Hacia Post-Concretude 212 Notes 216 Works Cited 250 Index 272