EVENT DETAILS

"Reading Atrocity"

Jean Franco
Professor Emerita at Columbia University


Jean Franco has been writing on Latin American Literature since the early sixties. She has published The Modern Culture of Latin America (1967), An Introduction to Latin American Literature (1969), Plotting Women: Gender and Representation in Mexico (1989), and Marcando diferencias: Cruzando Fronteras (1996). A selection of essays, Critical Passions, edited by Mary Louise Pratt and Kathleen Newman was published in October 1999 by Duke University Press. Her book, The Decline and Fall of the Lettered City: Latin America and the Cold War was published by Harvard University Press in 2001 and was translated into Spanish as Decadencia y caída de la ciudad letrada in the collection, Debates. The book was awarded the Bolton-Johnson Prize by the Conference of Latin American Historians for the best work in English on the History of Latin America published in 2003. She has been decorated by the governments of Mexico, Chile, and Venezuela for her work on Latin American literature and has received awards from PEN and from the Latin American Studies Association for lifetime achievement. She has served as President of the Latin American Studies Association in Great Britain and of the Latin American Studies Association in the U.S. Her most recent books include Cruel Modernity (Duke UP, 2013) and Ensayos impertinentes (Océano/Debate Feminista, 2014).

An informal reading group will meet on Friday, February 21st at noon in HH 344 to prepare for the lecture by discussing sections of Cruel Modernity. All are welcome to attend. For reading materials, please contact Angélica Enríquez at enriquea@uci.edu.

Organized by the Research Cluster in Latin American Studies, with the generous support of the Dean, School of Humanities.