Description
Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1989. In New World Soundings, cultural historian Richard Morse takes a series of sharply focused looks at the Americas. He inquires into the ways in which speech and poetry evoke the common historical experience of North and South America and examines the transatlantic sea changes of European languages. He uses political ideology to contrast the traditions of Anglo and Latin America, while surveying contemporary pressures for ideological change. In the book's final sections, he addresses the North-South transaction from yet three more angles, ruminating on the problems involved in conveying the Latin American experience to U.S. students, considering the impediments to U.S.-Puerto Rican understanding, and recounting the mythic adventures of McLuhanaima, the world's first Brazilianist, as he travels through the exotic land he has chosen for definitive research.
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements
Antecedents and Sources
Introduction
Part I. Speech and Expression
Chapter 1. Language in America
Chapter 2. Four American Poets: A Cat's Cradle
Part II. Ideology and Political Culture
Chapter 3. Claims of Political Tradition
Chapter 4. Notes Toward Fresh Ideology
Part III. The North-South Transaction
Chapter 5. On Grooming Latin Americanists
Chapter 6. Puerto Rico: Eternal Crossroads
Notes
Index
