The Sentimental Politics of Language: Ralph Waldo Emerson's and José María Sánchez's Texan Stories
In 1828, Mexican President Guadalupe Victoria assigned General Manuel de Mier y Terán to survey the Texan boundary between Mexico and the United States and to assess the situation of Anglo-American settlers in the territory. Traveling with Terán was Lieutenant José María Sánchez, whose diary of the expedition has long been recognized as an important source document for histories of the period and region. This article asserts the literary value of Sánchez’s diary for a hemispheric study of American Romanticism. In his description of landscape as spiritual experience and his emphasis on language as creative political force, Sánchez enacts the core tenets of an Emersonian Transcendental subject, an artistic sensibility at variance with the Byronic Romantic hero of Mexican and Latin American literature of the period. This article investigates the Mexican political tensions such a Romantic position evokes while exploring the inter-American potential of a hemispheric Romanticism.
Plotting Women: Gender and Representation in Mexico
Where is the common ground for feminist theory and Latin American culture? Jean Franco explores Mexican women's struggle for interpretive power in relation to the Catholic religion, the nation, and post-modern society; and examines the writings of women who wrote under the shadow of recognized male writers, as well as the works of more marginal figures. In this original and skillfully written book Franco demonstrates the many feminisms that emerge in apparently rigid and adverse situations, and provides the foundation for a more comprehensive, less ethnocentric feminst theory.
Writing About Theatre
1.Distinctive Challenges in Writing about Theater. Our Sense of the Reader. The Two Modes of the Play. Criticism and Reviewing: Capturing the Evanescence of Performance. Play Analysis and the Performing Text. Theater History. Dramatic Theory and the Theatrical Essay. Summary: The Five Major Kinds of Writing about Theater. 2.Writing Techniques to Increase Learning. A Question of Attitude: Writing for Yourself. Writing and Memory: Taking Good Notes. Writing to Improve Reading: Marginalia and other Annotations. Writing to Improve Reading: Keeping the Reading Response Log. Writing to Improve Observation. Writing to Experiment with Style and Format. Going Public: From Writing for Yourself to Writing for others. 3.The Writing Process: Predrafting, Drafting, Revising, Editing. General Principles but No Single Formula. Predrafting and Data Collection. Drafting: A Change in Attitude. Planning the Draft: The Three Keys. Effective Revision. Editing the Revised Draft. 4.The Theater Review and Dramatic Criticism. Reviewers and Critics. The Shape of a Review. Suiting the Review to the Audience: The Three Elements. "Critical Mass": Achieving Effective Argument in the Review. The Practical Critic: A Few Hints. 5.Text Analysis. Connecting the Stage and the Study. The Text as Blueprint for Production. Literary Analysis and Functional Analysis. The Audience, Real and Imaginary. The Special Characteristics of Plays. Structure and World View. Writing the Play Analysis: A Checklist. Formats. A Final Word on Final Words: Crafting a Strong Conclusion. 6.Theater History. The Theatrical Lens. Types of Theater History. Researching and Writing the Theater History Paper. Summary: The Three Main Principles. Sample Theater History Paper. 7.Dramatic Theory and the Theatrical Essay. Theory or Essay? A Case Study. Practicing Theory: The Framing Questions. The Theatrical Essay. 8.Sources for Research in Theater and How to Cite Them. Theater Bibliography. Rules for Citation of Sources. MLA "Works Cited" Guide. Index.