| Araceli Tinajero’s Orientalismo
en el modernismo hispanoamericano falls within the present
revisionist trend with respect to Spanish American modernism of the late
nineteenth and early twentieth century. The text’s uniqueness stems
from its focus on allusions to images, artifacts, and thought from the
East—primarily Japan—found in central and peripheral writings
within the Spanish American movement. The author knows Japanese language
and culture and brings her knowledge to bear in her discussion of modernist
writers who, chiefly as chroniclers and correspondents, made their way
to the East, and there invented-constructed a form of exoticism (Orientalism,
following but diverging from Edward Said) while discovering affinities
between non-European tendencies within their own American environment
and Eastern culture. The result of this encounter was a unique, non-European
Orientalism.
Drawing on ethnography, postcolonial studies, literary theory, art history,
and travel theory, Tinajero analyzes a selection of modernist texts to
show how writing at the “margin” of Western modernism-modernity
is at once within and without the mainstream. The examination of Oriental
cultural artifacts in modernista texts contributes to our understanding
of modernism, of the East-West encounter, and of the culturally specific
configurations of these phenomena in South America.
Tinajero’s concept of “Orientalism” focused on Spanish
American modernism is a fresh approach. It represents a valuable contribution
to Spanish American modernist scholarship.
"Orientalismo en el modernismo hispanoamericano consciously
builds on pre-existing criticism, while offering an original and well-focused
take on the discursive representation of Oriental images and artifacts
in a vast array of modernista writings, from poetry, short
stories, and essays to travel narratives and chronicles....
"What further sets the current project apart from existing bibliography
is its promise to emphasize the original and imaginative rather
than derivative character of Spanish American modernista
orientalist discourse. [Tinajero] succeeds in fulfilling this
promise through a combination of strategies: literary criticism,
cultural anthropology, postcolonial studies, art history, and
an ample but manageable selection of primary texts.... This well-researched
and timely study is likely to enrich the bibliography on modernismo,
exoticism, orientalism, and Latin American studies in general."
—Elzbieta Sklodowska, author of La parodia en la nueva
novela hispanoamericana
“In a much needed book length project that furthers the
study of Orientalism from the Spanish American viewpoint, Araceli
Tinajero focuses on the representations of Oriental subjects in
19th-century travel literature and poetry, written both by those
who experienced the Orient firsthand and those who responded to
stimuli from texts and cultural artifacts. ... Returning to a
definition of Orientalism that emphasizes the Other’s influence
on the West, this study is interested in Orientalism as an appreciation
of cultural artifacts rather than a polemic of representation,
and in this measure distinguishes itself from Said’s work.”
—Julia A. Kushigian, Revista de Estudios Hispánicos
For the full review, see Revista de Estudios Hispánicos
38.3 (Oct. 2004): 624-26.
“Orientalismo en el modernismo hispanoamericano
... explores previously unexamined aspects of this well-recognized
feature of modernista discourse. Based at least in part
on the knowledge that she acquired during her years of living
in Japan, Tinajero reveals subtleties of the Asian world present
in modernista texts that the uninitiated reader would
tend to overlook. ... This book brings a great deal to the attention
of Western readers and certainly is an important contribution
to the area of Asian influences on modernista art. It is clearly
written and directly presented. While some of its textual interpretations
could have gone further, students of nineteenth-century Spanish-American
literature will benefit from the knowledge and insights contained
within the study.” —Cathy L. Jrade, Hispania
For the full review, see Hispania 87.4 (Dec. 2004): 737-38.
“[the author] has unearthed fascinating historical research
concerning the Silk Route to Manila and the consequent trade in
artifacts that re-appear in Darío’s prose. ... Tinajero
deals knowledgeably with Japanese terms and cultural contexts.”
—Jason Wilson, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies
For the full text, see Bulletin of Hispanic Studies 82.3
(July 2005): 403-04.
“En este caso nos encontramos con una revisión de
algunos aspectos concretos del modernismo, tal y como la crítica
tradicional lo había definido, que se apoya en los datos
obtenidos después de analizar e interpretar diversos textos
escritos por autores modernistas hispanoamericanos ... e inspirados
en artefactos o temática oriental. ... El libro ... resulta
pues novedoso en cuanto a que expone de una manera clara y amena
las características principales del modernismo vistas a
la luz de la utilización que algunos escritores hispanoamericanos
hicieron de motivos y temas orientales con fines artísticos.”
—María López González, Hispanic
Horizon
For the full text, see Hispanic Horizon No. 25 (2006).
“... Tinajero’s readings of texts clearly establish
the mechanisms through which Latin American orientalism constituted
itself, and offers us exciting and adroit readings of canonical
and lesser-known texts. ... Araceli Tinajero’s book illuminates
a key facet of Latin American Modernism that has not received
the attention it deserves until now. Tinajero’s examination
of “oriental” voices in conjunction with those of
Modernists, and her insightful exploration of the visual arts
and the impact of commerce on culture make this book necessary
reading for scholars of the Latin American fin-du-siècle.”
— Christopher Conway, Hispanófila
For the full text, see Hispanófila No. 147 (May
2006): 109-11.
“Por dos razones deseo sin reservas recomendar este libro
al lector. En primer lugar porque sus argumentos, a pesar de lo
extensamente publicado al respecto, son interesantes y originales.
En segundo lugar, por razones editoriales, ya que es encomiable
que Purdue University Press haya tenido el coraje intelectual
y comercial de editar en castellano en un medio editorial donde
ello no es común—muy por el contrario, es casi inexistente.”—Claudio
Canaparo, Bulletin of Spanish Studies
For the full text, see Bulletin of Spanish Studies 83.5
(July 2006): 732-33.
For more reviews of this book, see:
Revista de Crítica Literaria Latinoamericana 31.61
(2005): 273-77.
Araceli Tinajero received her PhD in Latin American Literature
from Rutgers University and is a member of the Spanish and Portuguese
faculty of Yale University. She has taught Latin American literature
at Middlebury College and Japanese language at the University of
Wales, UK. She is the co-founder of The Yale International Haiku
Club. Her profound interest in Japanese culture led her to travel
to Japan, where she lived for two years while she learned Japanese
aesthetics, language, and literature.
1-55753-326-1 Paper $29.95
2003. Vol. 27. x, 173 pp.
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