Bergson in Mexican Literature and Film
This is the first book-length analysis of the influence of Henri Bergsonās philosophy in Mexican literature and film. Following the publication of Matter and Memory (1896) and Creative Evolution (1907), Bergsonās philosophy swept the world and was a touchstone for the voices of change during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920).
Bergsonās writing on time, memory, consciousness, and intuition found a receptive home with intellectuals confronting the ideology of positivism and the nationās syncretic pasts and futures. Against the assumption that Bergson quickly fell from favour, Penn demonstrates the enduring presence of his ideas in Mexican aesthetic production.
Over four chapters of in-depth analyses covering novels, short fiction, memoirs, poetry, and cinema, Penn moves from the Revolutionary period intellectuals of Alfonso Reyes and JosƩ Vasconcelos, the 1930s of JosƩ Gorostiza and the ContemporƔneos, to the Boom and post-Boom fiction of Carlos Fuentes, finishing with the contemporary films of Carlos Reygadas.
Pennās penetrating analyses of temporally āmobileā images uncover a continuous, Bergsonian aesthetic unfolding questions of time, memory, and identity in Mexico. The study extends our understanding of Bergson's place in the international arts and the role played by his philosophy of pure duration in postcolonial and hybrid cultures.
Description
This is the first book-length analysis of the influence of Henri Bergsonās philosophy in Mexican literature and film. Following the publication of Matter and Memory (1896) and Creative Evolution (1907), Bergsonās philosophy swept the world and was a touchstone for the voices of change during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1920).
Bergsonās writing on time, memory, consciousness, and intuition found a receptive home with intellectuals confronting the ideology of positivism and the nationās syncretic pasts and futures. Against the assumption that Bergson quickly fell from favour, Penn demonstrates the enduring presence of his ideas in Mexican aesthetic production.
Over four chapters of in-depth analyses covering novels, short fiction, memoirs, poetry, and cinema, Penn moves from the Revolutionary period intellectuals of Alfonso Reyes and JosƩ Vasconcelos, the 1930s of JosƩ Gorostiza and the ContemporƔneos, to the Boom and post-Boom fiction of Carlos Fuentes, finishing with the contemporary films of Carlos Reygadas.
Pennās penetrating analyses of temporally āmobileā images uncover a continuous, Bergsonian aesthetic unfolding questions of time, memory, and identity in Mexico. The study extends our understanding of Bergson's place in the international arts and the role played by his philosophy of pure duration in postcolonial and hybrid cultures.
