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The
Body, Subject & Subjected
has won the South Central Modern Language Association book prize
for 2016
Hominids have always been obsessed with representing their own bodies.
The first “selfies” were prehistoric negative hand images and human
stick figures, followed by stone and ceramic representations of
the human figure. Thousands of years later, moving via historic
art and literature to contemporary social media, the contemporary
term “selfie” was self-generated.
The Body, Subject & Subjected illuminates some “selfies.”
This collection of critical essays about the fixation on the human
self addresses a multi-faceted geographic set of cultures – the
Iberian Peninsula to pre-Columbian America and Hispanic America
– analyzing such representations from medical, literal and metaphorical
perspectives over centuries. Chapter contributions address the representation
of the body itself as subject, in both visual and textual manners,
and illuminate attempts at control of the environment, of perception,
of behavior and of actions, by artists and authors. Other chapters
address the body as subjected to circumstance, representing the
body as affected by factors such as illness, injury, treatment and
death. These myriad effects on the body are interpreted through
the brushes of painters and the pens of authors for social and/or
personal control purposes. The essays reveal critics’ insights when
“selfies” are examined through a focused “lens” over a breadth of
cultures. The result, complex and unique, is that what is viewed
– the visual art and literature under discussion – becomes a mirror
image, indistinguishable from the component viewing apparatus, the
“lens”.
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Part I. Introduction to the Body
as Subject: The Body Itself & Its Functions
I. The Body and Indigenous Control of Environment. The Fluids
of Life: Blood, Water, Power and Bugs a la Tlaxcalteca, Jeanne
Gillespie, PhD
II. The Body and Control via Artistic Exercise. Pablo Picasso:
From Physical to Mental Dissection of the Human Body, Enrique
Mallen, PhD
III. The Female Body and Control via Transformation: The Beauty
and the Beast, Debra D. Andrist, PhD
IV. The Body and Caricature for Socio-Political Control. Aesthetically
Resilient: Josep Bartolí Guiu’s Political Cartoons in España
Libre (1939-1977 NYC), a Spanish Civil War Exile Newspaper,
María Montserrat Feu López, PhD
Part II. Introduction to the Body as Subjected to
Dysfunctions, Illness & Injury
V. Control of the Dysfunctional Body. Seeing With Eyes Shut:
Representations of Blindness in Pablo Picasso, Enrique Mallén,
PhD
VI. Control of the Female Body. Threats and Violence vs. Strategies,
Debra D. Andrist, PhD
VII. Control of the “Gay” Male Body. Ravaged by Disease, AIDS
in the Latin-American Literature Scenario, Jorge Chavarro,
MD, MA (co-translated by Debra D. Andrist, PhD)
Part III. Introduction to the Body as Subjected: Prescriptions
for Treatment/Cures (Medical and/or Other Interventions)
VIII. The Body Cured by Cleansing: Washing Away the Evidence:
Midwives and Ritual Cleansing in Mesoamerica and Colonial
New Spain, Jeanne Gillespie, PhD
IX. The Body Cured by Plants: Where Have all the (Chocolate
and Popcorn) Flowers Gone? Recovering Healing Botanicals in
Nahuatl Poetry, Jeanne Gillespie, PhD
X. The (Spiritual) Body Cured by Alchemy: Francisco de Quevedo
and His Knowledge of Alchemy, RoseMary Salum-Nemer, MA (translated
by Debra D. Andrist, PhD)
Part IV. The Body as Subjected: Death
XI. The Body as Sacrifice for the Future: La Llorona: Death
of a Boy, Birth of a Nation, Norma A. Mouton, PhD
XII. The (Dead) Body as Catharsis in Art: Death & the
Mask in Pablo Picasso, Enrique Mallen, PhD
XIII. The Transcendence of the Body: Gabriel García Márquez’s
Love in the Time of Cholera: Love and Death as New-World Mosaic,
Lauren M. P. Derby, ABD
Conclusions
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“A fascinating tour across genres and cultures of the Hispanic
and Pre-Colombian worlds, illuminating concepts and depictions
of the body as identity, conscience and the subject of art and
literature. How has a subject so basic been ignored for so long?
Andrist now corrects the record.” Nicolás Kanellos, Ph.D., Brown
Foundation Professor, Director of Arte Público Press and Recovering
the U.S. Hispanic Literary Heritage
“This very original and ground-breaking
book consists of two primary themes: the human body and its
functions as a subject and the body as it becomes subjected
to external factors. The second theme includes three sub-themes
which show how the body is subjected to illness, injury and
the treatments and interventions and the eventual death in
some cases. This is the best book available on the subject.”
Genaro J. Pérez, Ph.D., Professor of Spanish, Co-Editor, Monographic
Review, monographicreview.org
“The Body Subject and Subjected
is a salient contribution to the field of carnal hermeneutics.
The contributors of this provocative volume engage the reality
of embodiment as experienced in the Hispanic lifeworld. The
range of topics, including environmental, political, perceptual,
and medical concerns are engaged from multiple forms of Hispanic
aesthetics. Anyone fascinated by the aesthetic rationality
that emerges from Hispanic life and culture will find these
articles invaluable.” John Francis Burke, author of Mestizo
Democracy: The Politics of Crossing Borders
“This collection of critical essays meticulously provides
insightful examination on social and artistic life over a
grand dimension of multi-cultural, trans-historic, and trans-Atlantic
significance, which facilitates the reader profound understanding
of the values and (self) challenges in the Hispanic world
as well as for the whole humanity.” Haiqing Sun, Ph.D., Associate
Professor of Spanish, Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages,
Texas Southern University
“This book is a compelling exploration
of aesthetic representations and interpretations of the human
body in the Indigenous, Hispanic American, and Spanish traditions.
The thirteen essays based on varying methodological approaches
provide thought-provoking material for both students and academics
as the essays underscore how artists portray the body as both
subject itself, and subjected to, a multitude of external
factors.” Kimberly A. Habegger, Associate Professor of Spanish,
Department of Modern & Classical Languages, Regis University
“This book is unique in scope and focus, as it covers a wide
range of Hispanic cultures and time periods brought together
by the common denominator of attitudes and perspectives toward
medicine. The interdisciplinary nature of the work offers
a wide range of potential readers and academic fields. I have
had the opportunity to hear Dr. Andrist speak on this topic
in several conferences I have attended and found the work
highly original, as well as intellectually stimulating. I
teach Comparative Literature and this is a work I will consider
integrating into my syllabus.” Gwendolyn Díaz, St. Mary’s
University, San Antonio, Texas
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Publication Details
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Hardback ISBN: |
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978-1-84519-740-7 |
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Page Extent / Format: |
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256 pp. / 229 x 152 mm |
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Release Date: |
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January 2016 |
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Illustrated: |
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Yes |
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Hardback Price: |
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£55.00 / $69.95 |
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Order book by phone or online
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UK, Europe, Asia and Rest of the World:
Gazelle Book Services
tel. 44 (0)1524-528513 |
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tel. 1-800-944-6190 |
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PDF titles can be downloaded using the link below |
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