
Americo Paredes
Culture and Critique
Jose E. Limon(Author)
University of Texas Press
Published on 15. October 2012
Book
Hardback
247 pages
978-0-292-73877-5 (ISBN)
Description
Several biographies of Americo Paredes have been published over the last decade, yet they generally overlook the paradoxical nature of his life's work. Embarking on an in-depth, critical exploration of the significant body of work produced by Paredes, Jose E. Limon (one of Paredes's students and now himself one of the world's leading scholars in Mexican American studies) puts the spotlight on Paredes as a scholar/citizen who bridged multiple arenas of Mexican American cultural life during a time of intense social change and cultural renaissance. Serving as a counterpoint to hagiographic commentaries, Americo Paredes challenges and corrects prevailing readings by contemporary critics of Paredes's Asian period and of such works as the novel George Washington Gomez, illuminating new facets in Paredes's role as a folklorist and public intellectual. Limon also explores how the field of cultural studies has drifted away from folklore, or "the poetics of everyday life," while he examines the traits of Mexican American expressive culture.
He also investigates the scholarly paradigm of ethnography itself, a stimulating inquiry that enhances readings of Paredes's best-known study, "With His Pistol in His Hand," and other works. Underscoring Paredes's place in folklore and Mexican American literary production, the book questions the shifting reception of Paredes throughout his academic career, ultimately providing a deep hermeneutics of widely varied work. Offering new conceptions, interpretations, and perspectives, Americo Paredes gives this pivotal literary figure and his legacy the critical analysis they deserve.
He also investigates the scholarly paradigm of ethnography itself, a stimulating inquiry that enhances readings of Paredes's best-known study, "With His Pistol in His Hand," and other works. Underscoring Paredes's place in folklore and Mexican American literary production, the book questions the shifting reception of Paredes throughout his academic career, ultimately providing a deep hermeneutics of widely varied work. Offering new conceptions, interpretations, and perspectives, Americo Paredes gives this pivotal literary figure and his legacy the critical analysis they deserve.
Reviews / Votes
"Americo Paredes: Culture and Critique is itself central to any in-depth study of folklore and of Paredes himself." Bulletin of Spanish StudiesMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Austin, TX
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
With dust jacket
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-292-73877-5 (9780292738775)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jose Limon is Notre Dame Professor of American Literature at the University of Notre Dame and the former Mody C. Boatright Regents Professor of English and American Literature at the University of Texas at Austin. He also served as Director of UT-Austin's Center for Mexican American Studies.
Content
Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1. Radical Hope Chapter 2. Asian Americo Chapter 3. The Folklorist Chapter 4. Cultural Studies Chapter 5. Tracking Culture Chapter 6. Valor Civil Despedida Notes Bibliography Index