| dc.description.abstract | Literary cosmopolitanism, an esthetic mode whose proponents defined themselves oppositionally to regional, provincial, and revolutionary narratives, achieved a prominent position in Mexican letters at midcentury. One of the institutions most responsible for the new literary mode was a series of texts known as the "Los Presentes" collection. Beginning in the latter months of 1954, Juan Jose Arreola directed the publication of Carlos Fuentes's first collection of short stories, Los dias enmascarados; Elena Poniatowska's first novel, Lilus Kikus; and Tomas Segovia's first novel, Primavera muda. In addition to these three titles, Arreola published his own drama, La hora de todos, and the first installment of Alfonso Reyes's extensive autobiographical project, Parentalia. This study examines the role of Los Presentes in the struggle to establish cosmopolitanism as the dominant literary style of the period.The first chapter traces the general outlines of the cultural-literary field in Mexico at midcentury and provides an institutional history of Los Presentes. Chapter 2 begins with a close reading of the first three books published by Arreola and finishes with an examination of the subversive positions they take with respect to traditional formulations of the notion of mestizaje. In the third chapter, an analysis of Arreola's own drama and Reyes's autobiography illuminate the complex web of alliances and compromises that undergirded the editorial strategy of the series. Chapter 4 places the first Los Presentes texts into a broader context through an examination of two other novels written in 1954, Magdalena Mondragon's Tenemos sed and Ramon Rubin's La bruma lo vuelve azul. The fourth chapter concludes with a reading of critical reviews and essays by Los Presentes writers concerning other novels and the esthetic positions of the era. | en_US |
